John "Johnny" Ambrose

Owner

Since he was a kid, John has been completely fascinated with all things mechanical. He recalled attending his first drag race with his uncle at the impressionable age of 8. The smell of Nitro, flames shooting from zoomie headers, the sound of a big block red-lining on the top end, the outrageous colors of the candy paint jobs, all were deeply ingrained in him that day. 

While others gravitated towards baseball, football and other team sports, John worked on motorized projects and continued to refine his mechanical skills. He built a minibike from a spare frame and a scrap pile of parts when he was 14 years old.  At age 16, he rebuilt a small block Chevy motor and performed his first engine swap. He still owns that same small block to this day. Throughout his life, there has always been a project that John works on, despite having to earn a living at a real job.

Another of John’s passions is scuba diving and the undersea world. John was able to combine his mechanical skills with the ocean when he pursued a career as a professional diver. He has logged thousands of hours underwater as a Mixed Gas Commercial Diver, PADI Master Instructor and a Hyperbaric Technician; and is a highly experienced, factory trained, diving equipment technician. John still enjoys sport diving and is usually first in the water, last on the deck and deepest of the group.

After escaping from the Bronx in 1988, with his NY accent in tow, John had the privilege of living and working in the four corners of this country, as well as calling St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands and two cruise ship home. The Bay area is now called home. In 2019 the opportunity arose to stop leasing shop space and to purchase the building on Amphlett Blvd and permanently set up shop there.

All the years of building engines, motorcycles, hot rods and basically pissing off the neighbors has finally culminated with the opening of M1 Kustoms. It has always been a dream of John’s to open a design and build shop in a clean, professional and friendly environment. A shop where you are greeted on the phone - not answered with a gruff “who the f#ck is this?!” A shop where beautiful custom bikes, showcasing old school workmanship, are built with pride. A shop where you can embrace your inner punk or have that mid-life-crisis dream bike built!

Johnny says: stop in, we’ll buy you a beer and let’s talk motors…just keep that YouTube knowledge shit to yourself.