Why I started Ireland Made
I am Kevin Reid and I have a life-long interest in all things mechanical. These are my stories of Irish transport past & present. Through our video-blogs and community newsletter we bring you transport stories from individuals, museums and companies. If it has wings, wheels or it floats, you will find it here.
My mechanical passions come from my parents as their interests were long-distance road-trips on motorbikes, cars and vans throughout Ireland and beyond. From Ireland, our family road-trips took us as far afield as Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. I was sitting on the back of my Father’s Jawa 350 and later his Suzuki GS850 and Dermot, my brother was strapped onto my Mothers Honda CB250 and then later her Yamaha XS400. These days I am keeping the family tradition going as I now have custody of my Dad’s Suzuki GS850 and my Mum’s Yamaha XS400.
Founder Kevin Reid
It was when I met a girl from Co Leitrim in the north-west of Ireland that I was exposed to and surrounded by lots of people making magnificent things in their sheds. That girl is Martina and she is now my wife.
In 2018, I decided to showcase the stories of interesting projects being built by neighbors and friends in Co Leitrim and I launched ‘Leitrim Made’ as a website. What began as a small picture-based website with the stories of a Kioti tracked-tractor, MZ motorcycle with trailer, the respray of our Land Rover Series 3 and a 1936 Wolseley ‘Wacky Racer’ was then relaunched in 2020 as a lockdown hobby to cover the entire island and we then renamed as Ireland Made.
In renaming the site as Ireland Made we chose as our logo the great Irish Elk. Resplendent in St Patrick’s blue this magnificent animal would have roamed unencumbered across the island of Ireland. Ireland Made improved again in 2021 with a new website, a community newsletter and our ever-growing collection of video-blogs.
Twice per week we share video stories of Irish transport past & present from individuals, museums and companies. If it has wings, wheels or it floats you will find it here.
I hope that you will enjoy our stories.
Best regards,
My partners
