Speed & Custom Shop Speed and Custom Division Shop , more commonly abbreviated , and referenced to as Speed & Custom Shop , was a relatively short - lived construction company , specialized in manufacturing wooden mock - ups , that has provided production assets for the production of . The Phoenix , Arizona based , Speed and Custom Division Shop , was established by Gene Winfield in 1966 at the request of his employer , model kit company Aluminum Metal Toys ( AMT ) . Incorporated as a subsidiary , AMT needed the company to build both full - scale and scaled automobile mock - ups ( typically out of wood at the time ) to promotional ends , as well as to manufacture the templates or masters in order to construct the molds from which the parts for their model kits were extracted or cast . Winfield headed the subsidiary company as production manager . It was in this time that Stephen Edward Poe managed to broker a deal between Gene Roddenberry and AMT . The agreement entailed that AMT were given the exclusive rights to manufacture model kits based on the new " Star Trek " television series in return for helping out Desilu Studios with the construction of set pieces when the need arose . As it turned out that proviso was invoked upon on two occasions , and AMT reverted this task to its subsidiary . The first time was already in the year of the company ' s establishment , when it was tasked with the construction of the full scale exterior as well as the full scale interior mock - up of the Class F shuttlecraft , what was to become the " Galileo " 7 , complemented by an accompanying scaled filming model , all slated to appear in the first season episode , . Winfield headed a team of 20 - 25 craftsmen for the two full scale mockups , as well as a team of three for the scaled miniature . ( " The Ships of Star Trek " , p . 108 ) Producer Robert Justman in particular has expressed his satisfaction over the deal struck with AMT , " " It was a full - scale model that the actors could walk and talk in . All it costs us was the expanse to truck it from Arizona to the set in Los Angeles . " " ( " " , p . 84 ) Justman had reasons to be elated , as the total construction cost came in at $ 24 , 000 , double of what Production Designer Matt Jefferies had initially estimated . The fact that the costs were fully absorbed by AMT , as per agreement , served the studio well as , despite the financial windfall , the total cost of the production tallied up to $ 232 , 690 , an excess of $ 39 , 190 over the average per - episode budget , initially set ( shortly later lowered to $ 185 , 000 ) by the studio . It was the third most expensive episode of the first season . ( " " , 1st ed . , pp . 307 , 312 ) The second instance occurred over one year later , when the company was tasked to build the D7 - class model , at first at the behest of AMT itself , that wanted to do a follow - up of their highly successful model kit . Nevertheless one of their two master tooling models was appropriated by the studio to function as a filming model for the series ' third season . In both instances , Gene Winfield served as lead builder and supervisor . While their creations became signature features of the franchise , neither Speed & Custom Shop nor Supervisor Winfield , as subcontractors , were ever accorded with official credit for their contributions . Toward the end of the 1960s , the company was relocated to Santa Monica , California . Gene Winfield left the company in 1970 in order to pursue projects of his own . AMT closed down Speed & Custom Shop the following year , due to a recession in nation wide sales of model kits . Winfield recalled , " " Although the facility has never been intended to make a profit on its own , and existed only for research , development and publicity , I managed to bring the operation to break - even point before it was closed . " " ( " " , issue 53 , p . 28 ) . " Star Trek " has been the only motion picture industry production , the company provided services to .