ATEQ TPMS invites celebrity guest to SEMA, Paul Ireson, custom vehicle restorer and champion race car driver

Photo credit: bhirten on Flicker

Meet and chat with Paul Ireson, Wednesday, October 31, 12:00 – 3:00 pm

ATEQ TPMS Tools is proud to have Paul Ireson, world-famous custom vehicle restorer, and champion race car driver, at SEMA booth 40217. Paul Ireson, owner of Ireson Motorsports and co-founder of Royal Defenders, has worked with ATEQ TPMS Tools since 2015, bringing his famous British sports cars to Las Vegas. This year, Paul, Dave Spinney, ATEQ sales representative, and Tripp King, co-founder of Royal Defenders, will be driving three custom restored vehicles to the show, including:

• 1966 Jaguar XKE, ATEQ’s SEMA booth 40217, the James Bond-esque car
• 1992 Land Rover Defender, ATEQ’s SEMA booth V63 (outdoors), replica of Defender in the James Bond firm, Spectre
• 1965 Mini, featured at the Myers Tire Supply, SEMA booth 43167

Jaguar XKE (1966)

Land Rover Defender (1992)

Mini (1965)

Stop by the ATEQ TPMS Tools SEMA booth 40217 on Wednesday, October 31, 12:00 – 3:00 pm, to chat with Paul about his life-long career as a professional mechanic and automotive restorer and designer. Paul has many accomplishments that mechanics can only dream of; his most notable was his debut on Speed TV’s Car Warriors, a show where two mechanic shops compete to build a car in 48 hours. He lead his team, Ireson Motorsports, to win first place, restoring an Oldsmobile Cutlass, which was overhauled mechanically, new interior installed, body worked and painted in under 48 hours.

Paul, originally from North Yorkshire, England, is the first in the family to have a professional career in the automotive industry. However, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, as his father was an accountant by day and vintage Motorcycles restorer by night.

“My father was brilliant at customizing and restoring bikes, I decided to restore and build my first motorbike, a Café Racer, at 16 years old. After that, I was hooked!” said Paul. “At 18 years old, I started to build and race classic cars in Circuit Racing events. My first car restoration and race was a Sunbeam Alpine, then an MGB GT I fitted a V8 in the front, and added an XKE rear axle. The project that really changed things for me was when I restored a 1949 Ford Pop, V8 engine with a supercharger, I re-engineered the entire vehicle from adding an independent XKE rear axle, remanufacturing the drive, and much more. It debuted at the Olympia Show in London. Street Machine Magazine was at the show, and they fell in love with the custom design of the vehicle. To my surprise, they wrote an entire article about the vehicle restoration, and it was on the front and center page! Then, the requests from customers began pouring in, and I never stopped working with custom restorations and designs from that moment on.”

Mini 1969, featured at ATEQs SEMA booth in 2017

After visiting the United States, Paul met his wife Kathryn (Kat) in Sanibel Island, Florida, and soon moved to the United States, Paul had two children to his first marriage, Nick and Abbie, Nick moved to America with Paul and Abbie stayed in England, He owned and operated Ireson Classic Autosports  for many years, and recently moved to Sevierville, Tennessee. He still owns the shop, where he re-opened it in Tennessee and has many vehicles he is currently restoring, including many Land Rovers with his new shop, Royal Defenders with his partner Tripp King. He is now a proud grandfather to his first grandson, George.

ATEQ feels like Paul is part of our family, and we are honored to have worked with him for many years and appreciate all the hard work and creativity he puts into his work every day. Please stop by our booths to take a look at the beautiful vehicles and say hello to Paul, a legend in automotive custom-restoration.

Current and former sponsors and partners

• Shell V-Power
• 3M
• Tripp King, co-founder with Paul Ireson of Royal Defenders
• Fred Shutrump, professional painter. Fred custom airbrushed the twin-engine Mini with an airbrush. Visit Fred’s Facebook and Instagram.

Fred Shutrump, professional vehicle airbrush painter

Awards won and other mentions

20+ NOPI Awards won since 2007

Mini Austin Cooper Truck (1969)

Matthew Spinney and Dave Spinney at SEMA 2016 with ATEQ’s outdoor vehicle booth

• Featured at the SEMA show, ATEQ TPMS Tools outdoor booth in 2016

Twin Engine Mini (1965)

• Best of Show, Best engineering, best interior, best European, and Best Display at the Hot Import Nights in L.A. (2006)
• Featured at SEMA twice at the ATEQ TPMS booth, and will be featured at the Myers Tire Supply booth in 2018.
• In 2016 at the SEMA Show, Fox Sports Network filmed the Mini as one of the top 10 vehicles at the show
• Featured at the exclusive MATCO show as demonstration and display vehicle
• Featured My Classic Car with Planet color
• Featured in numerous magazines, TV shows and commercials, and car shows across the US including Puerto Rico.
• Featured in Truck Trend Network Magazine (Vol. 33, No.1, 2007. Pgs 198-203)
• Featured in My Classic Car, 2007 episode

Rear Engine Mini (1969)

• Featured at the SEMA Show in 2017 at the ATEQ TPMS Tools booth
• Won the George Barris Award at the Autorama Show in Detroit
• Featured in numerous magazines, T.V shows, and commercials, SEMA, and car shows across the U.S.

Jaguar XKE (1966)

• This James Bond-esque vehicle be featured at the SEMA show in 2018 at the ATEQ TPMS Tools booth 40217

Red Jaguar E-Type

• JCNA Concours winner with a score of 99.56 Champion Class (Suncoast Jaguar Club Concours), and Best of Show Awards

Magazine and media mentions

• Street Machine, Ford POP
• Performance audio sound
• Mini Scene international
• Mini World
• Import Racer
• B-Scene
• Fast Car
• Truck Trend Network
• Twin engine mini was filmed with Dennis Gage