Duke’s Mission

The members of the Duke’s Garage team are true car enthusiasts who are passionate about quality, creativity and sustainability. We believe that the original lines of cars are meant to be preserved – keeping a classic icon alive. And, by converting some of our cars to 100% electric, we offer sustainable choices for today’s modern world.

About Duke’s Garage

Duke’s Garage is an innovative company based in Westminster, Colorado that specializes in restoring and selling classic and vintage cars, sales of Beck Porsche Speedsters and Spyders, sales of 100% electric cars and customer conversions from gasoline engines to 100% electric vehicles.

Duke’s Garage was founded in 2005 as a way for its owners to fulfill their passion of collecting classic cars. Soon after, Duke’s Garage began restoring and selling some of the classic cars in our fleet. Duke’s has purchased more than 185 cars for restoration in the past few years and we now showcase more than 25 unique vehicles in our classic collection.

In 2008, we began converting some of these classic cars from gasoline fueled to 100% electric vehicles. This new technology has allowed us to produce a car that is not only aesthetically appealing, but also economical to drive, free of emissions and independent of foreign oil. Throughout the years, we have worked on a variety of electric conversions including: a number of VW bugs, numerous mid-size trucks and a 1965 Mustang convertible. Duke’s Garage has also recently converted a right-hand drive four-wheel drive Jeep Wrangler to electric for the City of Denver’s Parking Enforcement Division as well as a 2008 Ford Ranger for the City of Littleton. In 2011, Duke’s Garage introduced our eSpeedster and 550 Spyder Porsche replica vehicles.

Duke’s Garage joined forces with Special Edition to create Beck Automotive Manufacturing in 2011. The two entities add financial strength and more ability to promote sales West of the Mississippi for Beck Products. This brings a combined total of 40 years of experience. Both businesses are family owned and operated bringing a strong work ethic and the love of cars to further the sales and service of Beck Speedster and Spyder vehicles. We are firm believers in quality of product and customer satisfaction. We strive for providing sales and service of the best product possible.

Duke’s Garage is co-owned by husband and wife, Duke Altschuler and Melisse Perré, both of whom bring close to 25 years of diverse business and management experience, as well as a true passion for cars to the Company.

Our Staff

Melisse Perré
President and Co-Founder
Melisse Perré co-founded Duke’s Garage with husband Duke after working for 20 years for a local homebuilder whose commitment to green building and smart growth influenced her “green” mindfulness. She finished her prior employment as Director of Finance, while through the years also gaining expertise in Project Management, Human Resources and Purchasing. Passionate about using “green” technology to power vehicles, Melisse was the inspiration behind the fully restored, all-electric 1965 Convertible Mustang, dubbed the “Electric Pony”. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder in Geography as well as post-graduate work in Finance. Melisse considers herself an “entrepreneur at heart” ever since she opened and ran a small bakery in Eureka, California. She sold this business after two years in 1987 when she moved with her daughter to Boulder, Colorado.

Duke Altschuler
Co-Founder
Duke Altschuler is co-founder of Duke’s Garage and is involved in every process of restoration and conversion of the cars at the Garage as well as the day-to-day business management of the company. In 1985, Duke started CTAP LLC, a distributor of OCTG pipe and a well-known pipe distribution and oilfield service. Duke currently serves as Managing Partner of CTAP. Prior to founding CTAP, Duke spent years in the steel and auto manufacturing industries, as well as classic car restoration and sales. His career initially began in heavy-duty truck manufacturing in 1974 where he served as both a design engineer and production supervisor with White Motor’s Autocar division. After building a business and career based on oil, Duke decided it was time to focus his attention on “off-oil” development, and he and his wife, Melisse Perré, founded Duke’s Garage in 2005. Duke holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering and an M.B.A.

Dave Altschuler
Project Manager
As an Electric Conversion Specialist and Project Manager at Duke’s Garage, Dave Altschuler restores classic and custom automobiles, and performs full electric conversions. Dave is also an artist specializing in graphic design and illustration, and he uses his artistic talents to create conversions that are well crafted as well as functional. Prior to joining the Duke’s Garage team, Dave served seven years in the US Navy as an Aviation Structural Mechanic, performing maintenance and repairs on F-14 and F/A-18 aircrafts. Dave’s experience and expertise in mechanics and design led him to his current career at Duke’s Garage where he heads up the restoration and conversion of Duke’s unique automobiles.

Carl Putnam
Technical Lead
Carl Putnam has always had a deep passion for cars in fact, some of his earliest memories include tinkering with cars and he painted his first car when he was 10 years old – a 1970 Maverick! At Duke’s Garage, Carl serves as Technical Lead where he specializes in metal work, metal fabrication and metal finishing without fillers (a dying art). He welds and does trim repair on aluminum, stainless steel, and metal. His experience includes not only, bodywork and paint, mechanical and suspension repairs, but also electrical work. Basically, Carl can do anything to a car and do it to perfection! Prior to joining Duke’s Garage, Carl owned his own shop and managed every aspect of the business for 22 years. His motto was “catering to the discriminating collector.” He won several awards for his work and also become a master judge for model A’s. Some of Carl’s awards include: National First and Mark of Excellence for a 1929 Ford AA Tow Truck and for several other model A’s, Best of Show on a National level for a 1930 Gram, a 1932 Reo, and a 1971 Ford Ranchero GT. Recently, Duke’s Garage took two Platinum awards for its 1965 all electric Convertible Mustang, and 1970 Chevelle SS 296, completely restored and painted by Carl himself.

Allen Antonucci
Technician and Sales
Allen has been a true car enthusiast since he was a little boy. He is essentially a jack-of-all-trades at Duke’s Garage, and has served as a technician and sales representative for the company since 2009. Allen serves as a mechanic, helps with converting gasoline engine cars to electric, assists in restoration of classic vehicles, car assembly, body work, painting and more. In addition, with his wealth car knowledge, Allen operates as a sales representative for the company. Allen brought 13 years of experience as a mechanic and 10 years of experience as a car painter to his position at Duke’s Garage. He has a degree from Boulder Technical Institute. Allen also is a musician and used to work as a DJ and special events coordinator.

Mike Holt
Office Manager and Sales
Mike has been in sales for more than 15 years selling everything from Appliances to Guitars and Pianos. Deciding to turn his love of cars into a full time career was an easy decision. Mike has also spent the last 25 years as a musician. Spending his 20′s touring in bars and clubs all accross the midwest was about as much fun as he could take. You can still catch him jamming on nights and weekends as a solo artist or singing with the popular local cover band “Rooster”.