F and F Speed's Story

Fred Graefe III was born in 1976 into a family of rodders. As a child, Fred and his sister, Arlene, would pile into their parent's 1941 Ford Coupe and hit the car show circuit. Every couple of weeks they found themselves joining other hot rod and custom car enthusiasts at shows throughout his native Maryland. It was because of these family excursions that Fred fell in love with the art of the hot rod.

When it was time for him to drive and get a job, his folks gave him his first taste of custom car building and design. They offered him the opportunity to finish their 31 Model A Highboy.  It was his responsibility to fix her up and make her road worthy (which he did by working on her every day after school.) This was a teenager’s dream! When the car was finished, it had a Mustang II front suspension, 9" four bar rear, shaved handles, a roll pan, three piece hood, and a van roof.  Fred’s folks were thrilled. The car rolled out of his garage "shop" with red primer and his folks happily drove the Highboy for five years!

Fred credits his father for his interest in building cars.  In fact, F and F speed shop stands for Fred and Fred. Fred’s father, Fred II, did a lot of repair work when Fred III was growing up, and while he did bodywork, the younger watched his every move. Fred’s father likes to brag that by the time his son was 6, he had learned to arc weld and by the time he was 12, had become a first class metal fabricator. It was during this time that Fred III discovered that metal work came naturally to him--like clay for a sculptor. If he has a piece of metal, it comes alive and he can create the shapes he designs. Fred loves the process of transforming a piece of sheet metal into a sleek fender or a custom dash.

In 1993, at the age of 15, Fred bought himself a 1986 low rider Ford Ranger. He built a removable hard top, installed a Mustang II front suspension, 302, and C-4 transmission. He drove that car for three years until at the age of 18 when he decided to build his first rod.  It took almost two years to find all of the steel sheet metal he needed to customize his 1937 Ford 2 door Slant Back, but while he searched, he boxed the frame, installed a Mustang II front suspension, 8" rear, Ford 302, C4 transmission, auto meter gauges, Walker radiator and Billet wheels (17' and 20"). He finished the car in 1997 with grey primer and hit the road. He was now officially a rodder and officially "hooked."

In 1996, he graduated from Lincoln Technical Institute with a certification in automotive repair. He worked at NAPA Auto Parts while taking their Management program. At this time, he missed working in the garage along with the challenge of designing and building cars. So, he went to work in a automotive repair shop to gain experience and worked at home on side jobs repairing hot rods. He earned his state inspection license, passed other multiple ASE tests and got the experience he felt he needed to open his own shop. As the side work grew, so did his confidence. It was time to stop working for someone else and open his own place.

That was 1998. 10 years later, Fred has a thriving build shop. The small by choice shop is a 4500 sq ft boutique operation. Each car that F and F Speed builds is handcrafted and receives undivided attention from the day the car enters the shop until the day it rolls out.

F and F Speed’s 4500 sq. ft. facility includes a large assembly room, storage facility, modern state of the art tooling, a down draft paint room and radiant heating.


The F and F Speed Team

Fred’s full time team consists of three; Fred, his father-in-law, Butch, and his brother-in-law, Dale. They make a great team. They produce top of the line and uniquely designed-custom rods.  They truly enjoy the work and limit the number of cars they work on each year in order to focus on the special needs of the particular custom car and rod they are building.


Fred’s Family



As you can see, Fred’s family has always been an important part of his success. Today, his lovely wife, Kelli, and their three children, Cassidy, Cameron, and Caleigh, live in a house next to the shop. The kids enjoy seeing the "old cars" come in and the hot rods roll out. With special thanks to his wonderful wife, Kelli, for understanding what it means to be married to a builder.

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