"I like taking history, restoring that history, bringing the old school stuff back, but modernize it, and giving it today's technology," Bodie Stroud, a custom hot rod builder, says in the opening shots of The Real Thing. Julian King's short documentary follows Stroud's quest to transform a classic muscle car -- a fire-engine red 1969 Mustang -- into a modern day phenomenon. The secret? A very rare, powerful engine, specially designed for racecar driver Mario Andretti the same year. After being taken apart, customized, and reassembled, it's a whole new car. "It's not just a '69 Mustang anymore," Stroud says. "We've created this piece of art, if you will, that will handle way better than it did in '69!"  

For more work by Julian King, visit http://unionhz.tv/