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Painter/Car Restorer Miguel Perez Produces a Podcast and Creates a Brand

Many painters are content when they’re able to get their work done on time while keeping the quality high, but that’s just the beginning for Miguel Perez, head painter and manager at Extreme Paint Shop, a division of Extreme Performance in South Florida.

While running a paint crew and working on some of the world’s most unique and expensive vehicles, Perez has created a large following of painters, metal shapers/fabricators and other collision repair and automotive restoration professionals worldwide with podcasts, merchandising and videos.

His brand is Refinisher Porn (@ refinisherporn on Instagram) and his merchandising company is Refinish Kulture (@refinishkulture), and currently more than 100,000 followers have joined the network.

Perez, 34, began his career in paint/restoration as a teenager, where he was exposed to working on cars and boats.

“My dad retired from the Coast Guard and he started a boat restoration business called Marine Perfection,” he said. “I was working there after school and I learned a lot. Restoring boats helped me with my abilities, but working on cars was where I wanted to be.”

While attending Martin County High School in Stuart, FL, Perez took auto tech classes and worked on one particular vehicle for several years, he said.

“My brother’s 1989 BMW blew up, so I took it to school and we worked on it there. We thought that we were doing an awesome job, but when I look at that project now, I have to laugh. It shows how far I’ve come and how much I’ve improved my skills and processes over the years.”

After graduating from high school, Perez took a year off to regroup and figure out his next move. Then he enrolled at WyoTech, majoring in collision refinishing with a minor in metal fabrication. It was a good experience where he learned more, but he also realized school is only a platform and not just a ticket to employment. “Some people graduate from WyoTech and think they’re going to enter the industry as a tech or a painter,” Perez said. “But the reality is that they’re going to start at an entry level and it might take five to 10 years to get to where you think you want to be. I tell people that school gives you the basics and builds a foundation, but it’s only the beginning.”

Refinisher Porn is a brand that can relate to any refinish technician in the world, not only those in North America. It’s also not limited to painting automobiles either, Perez said.

“It can be cars, trucks, boats, planes―anything that moves and can be custom painted is on our list. We’re a strong and very connected group because we share the same goals and dreams. I use Refinisher Porn to showcase work that has been done by some of the finest refinishers on the planet. They value the feedback and we often discuss things like processes, paint, tools and equipment to do a better job and create an amazing product every time.”

Perez is a busy man, as the head of the paint department at Extreme Performance, a huge operation in Palm City, FL, that employs more than 30 people in several buildings equaling in excess of 66,000 square feet.

Extreme Performance is known

The Legal View as one of the top custom shops in the U.S., and if you’ve ever attended a SEMA show, you’ve seen more than with Gary Wickert a few of their game changing creations. Perez was on teams that played roles in restoring vehicles for Michael Jor-

Product and Process dan, Vanilla Ice and actor/ comic/podcaster Joe Rowith Stacey Phillips gan, who inspired Perez to eventually produce a series of podcasts himself. But despite all of the

Industry Training work this busy shop generates, Perez still finds time to manage his popular Instagwith Stacey Phillips ram account while creating mega-cool T-shirts, hoodies and other products emblazoned with his Refinish Kulture logo, available

Shop Secrets and Strategies at www.refinisherporn.bigcartel.com. To interact with his Instagram with Stacey Phillips followers, many of whom are conShop ServicesMiguel Perez, head painter and manager at Extreme Paint with Stacey PhillipsShop in South Florida during the day, hosts a podcast at night

National Events with Stacey Phillips

Western Associations with Victoria Antonelli

Western Events with Victoria Antonelli

When he’s not in a paint booth or doing metal work, Perez shares ideas, photos and short videos with a huge network he created six years ago on @RefinisherPorn The RIGHT

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