Bio of Daniel R Short, Creator of FantomWorks
In 1967, Dan was 5 years old. He saw the new Camaro, and that vision never left him.
Military Background:
- Born 7 Sep 1962. He was the son of an Air Force officer who’d served in WWII as bomber crew. Dan graduated in
1980 from high school and joined the US Army 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) serving at Fort Bragg NC, as a
medic with advanced surgical training. Assigned to a Military Free-fall Team, he learned French & Arabic, and
performed surgery during combat operations on US and foreign nationals throughout North Africa. In 1986, Dan
attended Special Forces Underwater Operations training followed by becoming a sniper school instructor. - In 1987 he received a scholarship and completed a degree in biology with follow-on training at the US Army Flight
School. Upon completion, he was reassigned to Ft. Bragg where he received his Master Parachutist Qualification and
an assignment to attend the AH-64 Apache transition followed by the maintenance test pilot program. In 1996, Dan
was assigned to combat duties in Kuwait, followed by an assignment to Naval Postgraduate School at in Monterrey
CA. In 2002, Dan was assigned to Special Operations Command as Program Manager of the Spec Ops “Little Bird”
fleet with brief Combat duties in Afghanistan. Dan’s final assignment was the program manager of the MH-60 fleet’s
conversion to the MH-60M configuration.
It was while Dan was stationed at Ft. Bragg NC the first time, he saw a smoking, beat up, 1967 RS SS Camaro running
down highway 210 in Spring Lake NC. After chasing the owner down and badgering him into selling it, Dan spent a few
years hanging out at shops and taking classes to learn everything he could about restorations. Two years later, it was the
showpiece that would ultimately inspire the creation of FantomWorks. And yes, it resides inside the FantomWorks shop
today.
Dan retired from the Army and with his best friend and wife, Melissa by his side, created an amazing restoration shop that
was “discovered” by New Dominion Pictures. The production company hired the creator of Myth Busters to film a 3
minute video that was picked up by Discovery Velocity channel. In 2012, the Television Series began that would air in 67
countries & 190 million homes. The series Set global viewership records and received 4 National awards. Unfortunately
no good deed goes unpunished and although the series was a global phenomenon, the toll it took on Dan and the crew was
staggering. Employee turnover skyrocketed, crew happiness vanished, and the stress of maintaining a hit series and
keeping more than 100 cars in build at a time was staggering. On top of that, the production company refused to
adequately fund the series which magnified the stress of production. After nine seasons, the shop had suffered millions of
dollars in losses because of the show and was grossly in debt. At that time, Dan was forced to either go bankrupt or quit
the show. At the height of the success of the show, Dan wrote a letter to the production company and the discover network
informing them that the series had to end. Dan’s concerns then shifted ensuring the termination of the show would not
result in the termination of his company.
Today, FantomWorks is the company that Dan had always dreamed of. The employees are happy and retention is
basically 100%. We build about 60 cars at a time, and overall, the customer satisfaction is close to 100%. We’re opening a
second shop to repair boats, large equipment, and RVs.
Quitting the show was the toughest and best thing I’ve ever done. Although most would think that building stunning cars
on a hit television series would be high on their list of dreams, I awoke to find that the show’s success was the biggest
nightmare I’d ever faced. It is for this reason, I’ve adopted this mantra below.
“Few will ever realize just how many people will come to hate you, for nothing more than perceived success…”
Dan Short