ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. — Rick Murray treats his life like the cars and motorcycles in it - custom.
“Full custom. I don’t like normal cars at all,” he said.
Murray’s daily driver is hand-painted candy apple red with pagan gold, his wife’s car is a 1963 bright green Oldsmobile, and his current project is Frankensteining together a moving truck and a Chevy Suburban.
“When people see it I want them to think, 'Crazy Rick built that,'” he said.
Over four decades in the custom car and motorcycle business, Murray can’t even estimate the number of cars he’s built or sold, nor the number of trophies he’s won at car shows across the country.
“I got a pretty good name in the industry because of the craziness and uniqueness of a build,” he explained. “I can go to any state pretty much anywhere and people know and have heard of Krazy Kreations.”
His family-run business has been featured in magazines, books, on the Discovery Channel, and more. But after all that time and all those accolades, even the craziest creator can take his foot off the gas pedal.
“Now that I’m older I wanna go at it at a slower speed and enjoy my horses and enjoy life already,” he said.
Murray moved to Adams County and semi-retired.
“I’m at a point in my life that I want to do something different,” he said.
And for the local king of customs, that had to be very different.
“I literally just did it just messing around” he explained. “I’m gonna paint toilet seats and sell 'em.”
Murray started airbrushing the lids to the toilet seats in his basement.
“I don’t know why. I don’t understand it. It was just something that got under my skin,” he said with a smile.
Murray explained that the skill is pretty much the same to work on a car or motorcycle. It involves taping shapes and freehand airbrushing in different colors and designs. The creativity is also there, according to Murray, making shapes and designs as he goes.
“I mean they’re different,” he said, showing off several finished products.
Several finished seats sat on the floor in his living room. One was a "Day of the Dead’ seat with kissing skulls on a red background. Another was a blue, silver, and black pattern that you might usually see on a custom motorcycle’s gas tank.
“Turns out there's a market for them,” Murray said.
He has made a few custom orders for friends out of state but is also selling the custom lids to people on Facebook Marketplace.
“They’re like $19 to $20 for the toilet seat and I try to sell them for $220 just to make $200,” he explained.
The car builder knows he’d make more money customizing a car or motorcycle (which he still does in some of his spare time), but that’s not what it’s about for him anymore.
“What good’s the money if you’re not having fun,” he said.
And there is no end in sight for Crazy Rick's newest hobby.
“I went and bought a toilet, I’m gonna do a toilet next,” he said.
This story was first published by Jason Gruenauer at KMGH.
