E.C.D. History

from humble beginnings

Our facility is over 100,000 square feet and growing with over 70 full-time employees building the best award-winning custom vehicles in the USA. Our founders grew up in England, the Midlands, some 40 miles from the famous Lode Lane factory where Land Rover Defenders were produced. They were surrounded by these original vehicles from an early age, mostly driving around on friends’ farms, sometimes riding along with bales of hay, the family dog, or the occasional farm animal.

legacy inpired

Our founders, Tom, Elliot, Scott, quickly developed an interest in vehicles, specifically classic English vehicles. Elliot’s first vehicle was a 1987 Austin Mini. Tom’s was a 1967 MGB Roadster. When Tom and Emily, his wife, moved to the USA in 2012, they decided to open a dealership and import some of the vehicles about which they had been so passionate over the years.

In 2013, ECD Automotive Design opened its workshop/showroom for its first few staff and a couple of trucks. Tom, his brother Elliot and the first employee, Brandon, would work 18 hour days, stripping these trucks down and rebuilding them to the clients’ taste. ECD outsourced some of the major works locally, and quickly learned this wasn’t ideal. An extreme decision about the work had to be made at that point.

one trip to wawa

Enter Scott, also English but Scottish when it suits him, a private investor with a Blue Chip corporate background and a passion for cars that started with a Porsche mug at 10 years old. It was his drive along to the local Wawa that started a pivotal moment for ECD Automotive Design. In a meeting between gas pumps, it was there that our founders determined that if ECD wanted to do this right and become known for the best custom builds on the planet, they had to have complete control.

E.C.D.

We have a great blend of English owners and American staff, we have different views on how the perfect custom vehicle should look, but that truly is what makes our vehicles so special. Our goal is to challenge perfection on a daily basis.