Luxury car mover has seen, driven it all

Katy Resident and owner of New World Auto Transport, Steve Wells, is pictured alongside a Lamborghini, one of the many high-end vehicles his company specializes in moving. Wells has also been a professional motorcycle racer and semi-professional barefoot

Zooming at 165 mph down the straightaway at the Texas World Speedway in a gray 2011 Lamborghini Gallardo several weeks ago was the most fun Katy resident Steven Wells said he has had lately.

Being a passenger in this adrenalin-packed scenario was relatively rare for Wells, as usually he would be the driver.

Wells is currently the owner of the two-year-old company New World Auto Transport, a business that specializes in moving luxury automobiles and caters to those who own them. "I do all the high-end cars," he said, "Bentley, Rolls Royce, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, just to name a few.

"We're an automotive transport, shipping and logistics business. We transport a lot of exotic vehicles. We specialize in moving anything that has wheels wherever in the world it needs to go. I came up with the slogan, 'New World Auto Transport -- if it has wheels, we'll move it.'"

Some of the more "exotic" vehicles are attached to correspondingly exotic or at least interesting owners, ranging from Hollywood movie companies to celebrities, from the just plain wealthy to the U.S. government.

Ticking off a few examples, Wells said, "We moved the original 1966 Batmobile and the 2006 Batmobile to the Michael Dresser Car Museum in Miami. We did others too; we moved cars and equipment for the 'Fast and Furious,' 'The Expendables,' 'The Transformers.'"

Wells said his current company is a specialized, somewhat reinvented version of his first business, an auto custom and design company called New World Vans and Trucks. Having a self-described passion for customizing, Wells said he began the business, "when I was 17, back in the 1970s when vans were portholed, windowed, custom-painted dens of iniquity."

That business grew exponentially over the years, also having its share of interesting vehicles and equally interesting clientele.

Although Wells' company was outfitting specialty vehicles for police departments and others such as homicide forensic vehicles, petro chemical response command vehicles, racing cars and living trailers for top celebrities such as Garth Brooks, Toby Keith and Tammy Wynette, his main focus was on what could be called extreme vehicle safety.

"I did a lot of bulletproof autos for sheiks in Dubai. I built 14 military support vehicles to support mine detonations -- explosives, some military ops vehicles that went over to Dubai. That's how I got interested in logistics, having to transport these vehicles all over the U.S. and all over the world."

After selling his company in 1999, but before founding his latest business, Wells took some time to pursue other interests. "I basically stepped out of that industry to pursue more racing. I raced for Lyle Lovett Motorsports and Cycle Shack, a Yamaha dealer here in Houston. I also did some semi-professional barefoot water skiing and some motorcycle racing."

When Wells plays, it looks a lot like when he works. He said of his wife and himself, "We love fast boats and fast cars. I have a Liberator tunnel hull boat that can go an excess of 125 miles an hour. I drive a Viper."

You can keep up with Wells on his blog at www.newworldautotransport.com.

Name: Steve Wells

Age: "54 years old, but I'm really 18. I'm a little immature, but what can you do?"

Occupation: Auto Transport Logistics Specialist

Fast Fact: Wells' first vehicle was a customized Mini Cooper gifted to him by his father when he was 16, while living in England.

Julia Bishop Beautie is a freelance journalist. She can be reached at reporterontheborder@gmail.com.