When searching for the inspiration to build this month’s featured kit, Travis Wenzel of Elk Mound, Wisconsin, looked no further than his band’s rehearsal space. “This project started out as a 125th-anniversary Sonor Force 2001 drumset,” Wenzel says. “At the time my band was practicing in my bass player’s garage, where he worked on building custom hot-rod cars as a hobby. The idea sunk in to create a drumkit in the style of a hot rod.”

Wenzel based the visual components of the set on the car that appears on the cover of ZZ Top’s diamond-certified eighth studio album, Eliminator. And the drummer used vintage-style vehicle parts to get the look just right.

“The front grill and radiator shroud are aftermarket pieces meant for a 1932 Ford, and they mount on a microphone stand,” Wenzel explains. “The headlights are also 1930s-style aftermarket pieces, and they have working low- and high-beam bulbs. I run a small fog machine behind the grill to give the illusion of a car overheating or burning out. For the tires and wheels, I worked with drumart.com to come up with custom bass drum heads to complete the look.”

Drummers holding down the driver’s seat behind this setup should certainly have no problem making their band roar.