All fueled up: El Paso shop produces world-class gas tanks

It doesn’t matter if it’s an everyday ride, a weekend muscle car or a vintage model only to be driven on Sunday afternoons – rarely does anyone give it a second thought.

Occasionally a vintage car project may require a custom gas tank.

That’s where El Paso car enthusiast Rick Guerrero comes in.

“We’ve been doing tanks since 2006 but it really ramped up when our product line evolved and we developed it further to make it the best, well-built, well-thought-out product in the market,” said Guerrero, who runs Rick’s Tanks. “It’s something we are very passionate about.”

Guerrero and his crew weld and bend stainless-steel fuel tanks in his 3,000-square feet warehouse in the Upper Valley.

From Japan to Norway and throughout the United States, car enthusiasts seek custom-made stainless-steel tanks and accessories for their prized cars from Rick’s Tanks.

“We wanted to be involved in the after-market automotive community on a national and global level,” Guerrero said, shouting over the screeching sound of metal. “The more eyes we got on our product; it just took off from there.”

The tank-making process begins with flat, 5-foot stainless steel sheet that is special ordered. The tank body is then cut into its specified shape. There are a couple of machines that are set up to complete the bending process. At this stage the tanks begin to take shape.

Once that’s done, it gets pulled into the welding department where it gets fitted for proprietary baffling.

“We can build the tank top to a number of different specifications depending on the end use, whether if it’s a normal street cruiser or if it’s going to get pushed hard by any kind of road racing,” he said. “We don’t just build a generic vessel that’s open on the inside. There is a whole bunch of science that goes on in the inside that people don’t see.” 

But people like David Carroll know.

“All the vehicles I own have a Rick’s tank in them,” said Carroll, who runs NorCal Garage in Morgan Hill, Calif. “My tanks are specifically made for me.”

Carroll, who races in events such as the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational and Goodguys AutoCross competitions, owns several vehicles including a 1973 Chevy Vega, a 1975 Datsun 280Z, a 1973 Nova Wagon and a 1974 Blazer – not your normal hot rods.

“The quality of the tanks is what sets them apart,” he said. “He will customize his product to what my needs are. They are very personable, plus, they are car guys. It’s not just a business, they actually understand the industry and what we’re looking for.”

Guerrero said 60% of his business comes from people like Carroll.

“We’re big on targeting the end-use customer, the guy who is in his garage working on his car,” he said. “That way he doesn’t have to go to a big box store. We really enjoy dealing with the customer directly, one-on-one, to get more details on what they are working on.”

The other 40% comes from wholesale, catalog accounts such as Summit Racing and JEGS Automotive.

He said there is demand for the Rick’s Tanks business model.

“There are a lot of unsafe products that were being hodge podged together,” he said. “Before we started doing this, there were a lot of shops that where doing it in house. If your shop is not set up for building tanks, it could take an entire week to complete. It’s not cost effective for a shop to stop what they’re doing and build one, so we decided to put our entire focus on them.”

A custom stainless steel tank averages $2,000.

“For the most part, every tank is going to be custom built,” he said. “But I want to use the word ‘custom’ loosely. We have a lot of the information already as far as what a particular engine needs. It’s custom in the sense that it’s not a stock tank. The biggest reason why you would go with one of our tanks is, if you are doing a fuel-injection retro fit, the stock tanks were not designed to keep the pumps internally; ours do.”

The shop produces about 120 units a month. The average wait time for customers for a new tank is six to eight weeks.

“We are not an automotive shop, we are a manufacturing facility, so we send the tank to the customer,” he said. “Once they receive it, they have to get it installed or they can install it themselves. We provided them instructions.”

Guerrero takes pride in every fuel tank that comes out of the shop.

“Our tanks aren’t just a vessel,” he said. “They aren’t just a body of metal. There is a science, a thought process and engineering that goes into the internal components of it. Cars from 50, 60 years ago never intended to run on fuel injection. To actually have a properly working fuel injection system, you need pump in the tank. But not just any pump. It’s the backbone to everything else goes into it.”

Never in his wildest dreams did Guerrero think he would be standing here today as one of the leading fuel-tank manufactures in the country.

“Growing up in this industry and flipping through Hot Rod Magazine when I was 10 and seeing a famous car builder, and now to be able to do work for them is mind boggling,” he said. “It went from exciting to not even thinking about it anymore. A very good friend of mine put it this way, ‘people that I once admired, I am working with now.’”

Email El Paso Inc. features editor Victor R. Martinez at vmartinez@elpasoinc.com or call 915-534-4442 ext. 134.