cons of the hot rod world often share a love for speed, but very few can compare to the lifelong passion of Jerry Kugel and his gearhead family. Not only has Jerry conquered many milestones at Bonneville, but he has also provided innovative products for hot rodders around the world. His company, Kugel Komponents, is known for its independent front and rear suspension systems. We recently had the chance to visit the shop in La Habra, California, and a closer look reveals a multitude of problem-solving hot rod parts and a shop packed with great project vehicles.
From a wicked ’64 Ford Fairlane project with a 427ci Ford SOHC engine to Jerry’s personal record-breaking Bonneville cars, the shop has a wide variety of eye candy. The shop is also where parts are designed, developed, and built, and then go through real-world testing before entering the marketplace. While Kugel Komponents is the brainchild of Jerry Kugel, he relies on his sons, Jeff and Joe, as well as his daughter Jerilyn to keep the business rolling. The other employees in the company feel like part of the family and have decades of experience.
Kugel was the first to offer fully packaged independent suspension systems for street rods and continues to crank out high-end suspension kits for all sorts of applications. This includes full-fendered and highboy hot rods, as well as C10 trucks and Tri-Five Chevys. In addition to chassis and suspension parts, Kugel Komponents manufactures a wide variety of parts and pieces, including pedal assemblies, hood prop kits, shift arm kits, line clamps, and much more.
Jerry Kugel started his journey like many other hot rodders, but he took it well beyond a hobby and turned it into a very successful business. Now, more than 35 years after making the move to La Habra, he and his family are still building high-end hot rod parts and living the hot rod dream every day.
erry Kugel got his first real taste of Bonneville when Mickey Thompson’s four-engine Challenger I screamed past him at the 3-mile mark. That moment inspired him to build his own land speed racer, which led to several more race cars throughout the ’60s and ’70s. During the ’80s, Jerry’s sons, Jeff and Joe, became victims of the speed obsession and joined the fun by wrenching on record-breaking hot rods and piloting them on occasion. After eclipsing many milestones and setting records with a Model A on Deuce ’rails, the next logical step was to go faster. The Kugel family accomplished that with a ’92 Pontiac Firebird with a twin-turbocharged small-block Chevy engine. In August of 1999, Joe piloted the Firebird to the first 300-mph average in a production-bodied vehicle. It was a milestone that the Kugel family holds near and dear.
Perhaps Jerry’s most intense “product” is a complete body and rolling chassis, which he called the “Muroc Roadster.” Only 20 were built, utilizing hand-formed bodies by the late Marcel De Ley, and a completely custom chassis with the top-of-the-line Kugel suspension. Jerry built one of his Muroc roadsters for himself and set out to accomplish a personal goal: to drive a ’32 Ford roadster to Bonneville, run over 200 mph, and then drive it back home. He did exactly that and exceeded his goal by quite a big margin with a 225-mph blast on the salt.
The Kugel family continues to pursue record runs at the Bonneville Salt Flats. It’s an obsession that runs deep and will likely makes its way through the generations. In fact, Jeff and Stefani Kugel’s youngest daughter Jourdin piloted the Muroc Roadster to a 205.691-mph speed back in 2011. With a rich history at Bonneville and an influential position as a parts manufacturer, Jerry and his Kugel Komponents will forever hold a place in hot rodding history.