No Limits Metalworks stretches the boundaries on creativity

By ROGER AMSDEN, LACONIA DAILY SUN

LACONIA — Shawn Dudek of No Limits Metalworks likes to push the envelope in creative ways and his approach has been vindicated by recent successes in collaboration with Gearhouse on a unique Good Humor ice cream truck and work with Duracell batteries on its van fleet.

The Good Humor project, which culminated with the unique truck he worked on being unveiled to the public in front of Radio City Music Hall in New York City, is just the kind of work Dudek is working on to expand his repertoire and develop a reputation as a high-end metal fabricator.

“My background has always been building wild out of the box things using nothing but what I've learned for skills and immense amount of craftsmanship and drive,” says Dudek, a self-taught metal fabricator who is fascinated by the opportunities his chosen profession offers for creative ventures.

The Good Humor truck project involved 1966 Ford F-100 pickup truck which he attached to a 2014 F-150 chassis, creating a unique chassis/body swap which captured the best of both eras for Good Humor, whose ice cream utility trucks from the 1950s are still an icon of design and functionality and an instantly recognized advertising symbol.

He's also been a part of the Duracell battery fleet redesign and just a few weeks ago a display he did for JBL Audio was shown at a trade show Las Vegas attended by thousands.

Dudek formed the No Limits brand about 15 years ago. There have been a few different variances of the name from No limits Racing, No limits Customs, and currently and existing automotive repair shop, No Limits Motorsports LLC. Metalworks is a branch of the No Limits brand that is focusing on the high-end custom world from automotive builds to welding and fabrication projects big and small.

He said he's done a lot, from the ground-up restoration of classics to fully hand-built Rat Rods, which has earned him a reputation as the “Car Guy,” but it's not something he wants to focus exclusively on.

One of his current projects is building a Rat Rod around a Model A body which will feature 24-inch wheels and a unique front end suspension which he has designed himself.

“I love working on the old stuff better. I've built kit cars before and I don't like working by bolting together someone else's ideas. I like working with people who give me the freedom to use my creative and artistic side,” said Dudek.

After graduating from Laconia High School, Dudek attended Plymouth State University as a business major for one year but decided that wasn't the kind of career he wanted.

He then worked at Lewis and Saunders, where he convinced some of the older workers to teach him all that they knew about welding and metal fabrication and that helped him in his early work at No Limits Motorsports.

"I'm not a factory worker," he said. "I like to get out in the field and work on different projects.”

He currently works out of the White Oaks road property that he bought from his parents, where he has a large, fully equipped garage and is outfitted to handle any form of welding, be it in his shop or out of a tricked-out box truck with portable equipment.

He also does custom furniture, fancy gates, hand rails, metal art and interior decoration and recently started working with a CNC plasma table, which he says gives him the capability of creating and replicating artistic designs provided by his wife, Cassandra, who does design work for the business.

Shawn Dudek shows a recent creation at No Limits Metalworks on White Oaks Road in Laconia. (Roger Amsden/Laconia Daily Sun)

A Good Humor ice cream truck fabricated by Shawn Dudek features a 1965 F-100 Ford pickup mounted on a 2014 F-150 Ford chassis. (Roger Amsden/Laconia Daily Sun)