Our Story
It started with one bus.
The bus
A 1964 bus and 20 years of Saturdays.
My dad and I didn’t buy a finished bus. We bought a project. Over 20 years we rebuilt it piece by piece: the engine, the seats, the paint. Somewhere along the way it stopped being a project and became part of the family.
The drive
Down the coast, and through Candy Cane Lane.
I grew up riding in that bus along the Southern California coast, windows down. Every December we’d drive it through Candy Cane Lane in Redondo Beach, the lights reflecting off the paint while people waved from their lawns. Those are some of my favorite memories.
The name
Why Thad’s Garage.
Ted was my grandfather. He was a machinist in Southern California who built things with his hands and never stopped tinkering. Naming the company after him felt right. Every bus I make carries a little of that: built by hand, tinkered with until it’s just right on the tree.
The ornament
Bringing it home for the holidays.
In 2026 I started building small ornaments in the image of that bus so other people could hang a piece of that drive on their own tree.
Sold where it belongs.
You won’t find Thad’s Garage Co on a big online marketplace. It’s sold only at independent shops in our community, the kind of places you wander into on a Saturday. I hope you find one on a tree near you.