THE CREATOR

Don Abenante

Don Abenante is the creator and founder of Retro Fabworks — a fabrication shop and creative platform built around engineering, storytelling, and bringing impossible ideas to life.

From one-off builds and custom chassis work to wild experiments and full vehicle transformations, Don approaches every project with the same mindset: build something real, push the limits, and learn along the way.

Whether in the shop, on the road, or behind the camera, Retro Fabworks is rooted in the belief that engineering and creativity should go hand in hand.

BUILDER. MAKER. PROBLEM SOLVER. TV PERSONALITY. DREAM CHASER.

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My Story

What Drives Me

A custom fan-powered car speeding on a road with a surprised man in the foreground.

A man leans against a classic red and black muscle car in the desert at sunset.

A bearded technician wearing safety glasses operates a CNC machine control console in a metal workshop.

I grew up taking things apart, figuring out how they worked, and usually trying to make them cooler in the process. That curiosity never really left me.

A lot of that came from my dad. Some of my best memories growing up were built around cars, motorcycles, boats, fabrication, and the simple idea that if you could dream something up, you could probably figure out how to build it. That mindset shaped a huge part of who I am today.

My love for engineering, problem solving, and creating pushed me toward automotive tech school, where I was able to sharpen my fabrication skills and learn how to turn wild ideas into real-world projects. But for me, building was never just about fixing things — it was always about creativity, experimentation, and bringing ideas to life.

After school I had the opportunity to step into television and media, and I quickly fell in love with storytelling. Not because of fame, but because it gave me a way to share the process, teach others, entertain people, and document the chaos, failures, and victories that come with building ambitious things.

Retro Fabworks became the combination of all of those worlds — engineering, fabrication, storytelling, and creativity. It’s more than a shop to me. It’s my playground, my outlet, and a place where impossible ideas slowly become real.

Whether it’s a one-off build, a strange experiment, a race car, a handmade part, or a late-night bad idea that somehow works, the goal has always stayed the same: keep creating, keep learning, and keep pushing forward.