Founded by George Kryssing, also known as Mr. Kook, Kooks Headers was established in 1962. Before this company became what it is today, Mr. Kook was working double time being both a Milkman and focusing his passion on the newly developing exhaust company in Levittown, NY. When the time was right, he and his wife Carol Kryssing made the move to Madison Ave in Brentwood, NY where it eventually became the hometown of Kooks Headers. As for most enthusiasts, George had a strong passion for Motorsports as he started racing his Model A with a 301”Chevy and was towed buy his 55’ Nomad (Blue Light). Tow Truck Day came around with a hefty cash prize on the line so he took out the Chevy engine and acquired a Richard Petty 440 wedge and ended up taking podium in that class with a 10.90 (1966). As a result to that, the tow car ended up being faster than the race car. George was a grease monkey himself, as he used to do his own engine work, (chassis work and traction bars). In 1966, his mother bought a 66’ 442 Oldsmobile which ended up being transformed into the Pumpkin Eater (Mr. Kooks race car) when it was swapped with a 440” Chevy with custom fabricated set of cross over headers that gave the
... car a unique sound and performance. Mr. Kook won over 200 races with that car from 1966-1970!
Being driven by passion, he continued to work from his home shop until 1970’ when he officially opened Kooks Headers in Suffolk Ave, Brentwood N.Y. Being only 5,000 sq./ft with 5 employees in the beginning, Mr. Kook was able to expand his company in 1972 when he moved to Pine Aire Drive where he doubled the size of the shop with a staff of 15 employees. With the growth of his company, Mr. Kook broadened up his spectrum and got involved with motorcycle headers which at the time he called Screaming Eagle Headers. During this time; he also developed the 180* firing order which was designed to set mph record at Daytona! George resided at the shop until 1975 when he merged with a company in City of Industry in California and after 1976 that partnership took a different direction. Mr. Kook went into more of an entrepreneurship roll and ended starting a Gas station car wash combination until 1987. Kooks Headers went on a small hiatus until George Kook Jr. purchased a 66’ Box Nova. The name of Kooks started to come back as he had a 3 car shop at his home in Ft. Salonga , NY where he fabricated a set of headers and exhaust systems (J Bends & Gas torch) until 1990 when we bought a used TIG welder. The word eventually spread to the public and Kooks started to establish a New/Old customer base. In 1989’ the 87’ Monte Carlo whiplash was built and we race it in Division1 SC/SP Until Kooks Alky Altered was built in 1993 which we won a Wally at Maple Grove for best engineered., Jr helped part time until 1991 when Kooks moved to a 59 Cleveland Ave. By 1993, a staff of 5 employees, Pines Bending machine and 2 lifts each J bend was cut with a pipe cutter and hand trimmed with a sheared into a piece and then TIG welded together and all the ports were shaped with a torch as we had no expanding equipment. Fabrication got a lot easier when the company purchased a Huth expanding/Exhaust machine in 1994.
As time went on, the company kept progressing and in 2001 Kooks moved into a bigger building with a growing number of staff members. Eventually, in 2004 the 59 Cleveland shop was sold in order to purchase a 20,000 3 acre location which housed 30 employees and 3 tube bending machines by 2009 Kook then relocated to Statesville, NC into a 45,000 sq/ft. with 12 acres of property and by 2011 the company purchased 2 more CNC machines and employed 50 employees. With the rapid growth of the company, in 2015 we purchased the 1st Haas Machine, Collector machine and also another CNC bender along with 3D scanners and a CMM arm. By 2017, Kooks moved to South Mooresville New R&D location that was 20K and also 20k UPS shipping facility (85K total) with a staff of 80 Employees. The move was fueled by upcoming expansion of machinery that introduced the 6K Mitsubishi laser (Flanges) cuts up to 1-1/2” Stainless, 60 ton Break press (Brackets) and also a stainless wire bending machine (Hanger).
In 2018 we are proud to have grown to a 90 employee staff with a VF4 Haas and currently owning 5 stack electric benders with a double robot cell. Kooks continues to expand with every year being able to purchase new equipment and employ more staffing, 2019 is looking bright for the company. Today, Kooks Headers is one of the most well-known exhaust companies in the market supplying customers with top quality performance parts!
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