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MEET
MARK MHILDERBRAND
ost of the time, a passion between man and machine is formed at a young age; a bond that often withstands the test of time, failing to be broken. Things were no different for longtime Missouri native Mark Hilderbrand as he rst swung his leg over a dirt bike at the age of ve years old, not aware at the time that it would serve to be a de ning moment of his life. Hilderbrand
works in the midwest as an independent sales representative, a traveling salesman slingin’ motorcycle parts and accessories throughout the heartland
of America. In addition to his day job, he has found passion in vintage bikes that he used
to dream about as a kid. Hilderbrand owns a company called Nightmare Racing which creates reproduction plastic for vintage Kawasaki motorcycles, allowing people to ful ll their childhood dreams by restoring old bikes to mint condition. It all started as a passion project in which he was attempting to restore a 1978 KX125, but he wasn’t able to locate any of the plastics. He was forced to order a production run of all the plastics himself and hope that he could get rid of them over time...in merely one month they were all gone. It was then that
he realized that a potential business was ripe for the picking and his collection of vintage Kawasakis began to take shape. In addition to fabricating plastics for other people’s vintage motorcycles, Hilderbrand has his own collection of old Kawasaki works bikes that he displays at various places around the country. We caught up with Mark to chat about his early days as a motorcycle enthusiast, getting ahold of his rst works bike, and what he prefers to ride out of
his collection.
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