About Off the Rails
Off the Rails
Featuring Don Abenante, Owner of Retro Fabworks
If you can dream it, that means you have to build it!
Every great build starts with an idea that probably made somebody else shake their head. At Retro Fabworks, those are usually the best ones.
Off the Rails follows Don Abenante as he combines engineering, fabrication, creativity, and a healthy dose of curiosity to build one-of-one hot rods and custom vehicles. Every project begins with a sketch, a CAD model, or a conversation that starts with, “I wonder if…”
From there, Don takes viewers through the complete process of bringing that idea to life. It means measuring, cutting, welding, machining, redesigning, solving unexpected problems, and sometimes starting over when the original plan doesn’t work.
Whether it’s building the world’s first all-wheel-drive 1959 El Camino, creating a Coyote-powered Chevelle, designing a custom chassis, or taking on whatever wild idea comes next, Off the Rails shows what it really takes to create something that has never existed before.
ABOUT DON ABENANTE
Don Abenante is a builder, fabricator, problem solver, television personality, and the owner of Retro Fabworks.
His passion for building began at an early age. Don grew up taking things apart, learning how they worked, and figuring out how to make them better. Many of those early experiences came from time spent with his father around cars, motorcycles, boats, and fabrication. They helped shape his belief that if you can dream something up, you can probably find a way to build it.
That curiosity led Don to automotive technical school, where he developed his fabrication skills and learned how to turn ambitious ideas into real-world projects. His career later expanded into television and media, allowing him to combine hands-on craftsmanship with storytelling, education, and entertainment.
Don created Retro Fabworks as a place where engineering and creativity could work together. More than a traditional fabrication shop, it is a creative platform for custom builds, original designs, automotive experiments, and ideas that challenge what people believe is possible.
Off the Rails takes viewers beyond the finished vehicle and into the real process behind each creation. The series captures the successes, setbacks, mistakes, breakthroughs, and humor that come with attempting something completely original.
Don’s goal is not simply to build impressive vehicles. He wants each project to make people smile, teach them something new, and inspire them to pursue ideas of their own.
Watch Off the Rails on POWERtube TV and see Don Abenante and Retro Fabworks turn ambitious ideas into one-of-one automotive creations.
