The Class of 2023

It takes skilled hands to build a Gateway Bronco vehicle, and the pipeline of talent from technical schools around the country has made a big impact as Gateway Bronco helps build the next generation of car builders. This summer marks the one-year anniversary for two students who joined our team last year as interns, one from McPherson College in Kansas, and the other from the Carroll Shelby Automotive Program at Northeast Texas Community College in Mt. Pleasant, Texas.

“We set up training and shadowing programs with master technicians for ‘Bronco Mike’ Kirkpatrick and ‘Magnum P.I.’ Cameron Boyce. Both have exceeded our expectations and beat the targets we set for them, at the six-month mark, and again at the one-year mark,” Gateway Bronco CEO Seth Burgett said.

“These men are an integral part of our culture at Gateway Bronco. ‘Magnum P.I.,’ has a ritual of wearing Hawaiian shirt every Friday. He provides a colorful personality to the assembly team, and you can find him at local and national car shows with an impressive Magnum P.I. mustache, smoking a stogie beside his favorite car.”

Bronco Mike has attended the Mid America Ford and Shelby Nationals, where he has taken ride-alongs in Burgett’s 1967 Shelby Mustang race car. After saving for a year, Bronco Mike now has his own 1967 Terlingua tribute Mustang built for spirited driving on the street and someday potentially as a car that he could take to the Mid America meet.

“In addition to McPherson College and Northeast Texas Community College that we’ve supported over the years, we have recruited interns and new hires from Colorado State, WyoTech and other respected auto tech schools,” Burgett continued. “We expect great results again this year and already have a strong start from our Wyotech student, a female autobody technician who came in and began straightening panels within the first month. She’s already a strong contributor to our team at Gateway Bronco.

“These schools have produced the best students we’ve seen so far who are true craftsmen specializing in autobody and paint, electrical as well as mechanical engineering, and business students. They are all contributing to the first-generation Broncos built at Gateway Bronco,” Burgett said.

Join us, as we celebrate the class of 2023!