Not many people can say they have a Hot Wheels toy made in homage to their car, but Gary Reid can. When the Vegas-based engineer paid $1,000 for a beat-up ’75 Corvette almost a decade ago, he had no way of knowing it would end up being featured at the prestgious SEMA car show. Inspired by Ed Roth and Rat Fink-era hot rods, Reid spent a year turning that Vette into the head-turning Bubble Ray, easily one of the most unique cars in Las Vegas—if not No. 1. Everything except the paint is Reid’s handiwork. “From the motor and transmission to the suspension and brakes—everything was done within one year,” he says.

Building cars has been his passion since he was 11 years old, working on soapbox derby cars with his dad. “Building that first soapbox derby car, I won the race in Golden, Colorado, went on to Akron, Ohio, and raced there,” he says. “I learned to work with my hands and tools, equipment, different types of materials. It was something that always kind of came natural, getting my hands greasy.”

The spoils of that talent have been featured in showrooms across the U.S., but the Bubble Ray is his magnum opus—for now. “After I built the Bubble Ray, there’s kind of no going back,” says Reid, who’s currently working on an all-electric, self-charging car. “Each one has to be bigger and better.”