A parking space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of Indiana State University English instructor Mike Harrold. His ongoing mission: to modify his white 2004 Saturn so it subtly pays tribute to “Star Trek,” to seek out new designs to add, and to boldly drive where rush hour traffic has gone before.

It started so simply. Relieved he’d paid off his car, Harrold sought a distinct way to express his individuality through his vehicle. No fanatical Trekkie, he blanches at the thought of being lumped in with extreme fans who’d wear Starfleet uniforms to work.

“That’s for Halloween,” he laughs. ”I just like the show.”

But eyeing the simple white paint job of his car, he caught the fever so many motorheads have: how could he make that car his own?

The decorations started simply. Red stripes along the Saturn reminded him of Captain Kirk’s ride, the Starship Enterprise. Soon enough he’d procured lettering matching the ship’s identification markings, NCC- 1701, along with lettering like the show’s to spell “U.S.S. Enterprise” and stickers for two Delta shields, the familiar badge worn by the “Star Trek” cast.

Adding “Star Trek” license plates and decorating the hood and sunroof, Harrold began making a car that was uniquely his own.

“I just kept accumulating things for it,” he laughs. “I guess it’s because when I was a kid, I wasn’t one of those guys in high school who had a cool car. I always had to drive my parents’ car, which was something embarrassing like a station wagon. I think it was a Horizon.”

He found stickers, designed from online companies and local firms. From there, he began a project that’s won him anonymous admirers who’ve left notes on his car telling him “Great car! Live long and prosper.”

He’s even had strangers stop the car during a trek to St. Louis, asking to take a photo. And every semester, sooner or later he hears the question: “Did you see that Star Trek car someone’s got on campus?” Sometimes he just smiles, looking around his office that’s decorated with memorabilia from the show.

Still, it’s subtle. His work’s easy to overlook, unless you know what you’re looking at, as the car passes by. The numbers and stripes on his Saturn aren’t over the top, even though he’s mulled the idea of adding blue neon ground effects to better create an extraterrestrial effect. He’s seen cars where other “Star Trek” fans removed the rear spoilers and installed two nacelles, resembling the starship’s engines. But that, he admits, is a bit extreme. “That could get tacky,” he says.

“Basically, once it was paid off, I decided I’d do something different. It was just a plain white Saturn…all I wanted to do was give it a little color. I never had the experience of making a car something to show off, and once I got started, I really got a kick out of it.”

However, Harrold admits not all the attention he’s gotten was entirely fun. He remembers the policeman who pulled him over for speeding.

“On the same trip to St.Louis where a guy asked me if he could take a picture of the car, this officer pulled me over for speeding. I won’t say how fast I was going,” he laughs. “But the policeman said, ‘The reason I pulled you over is the Warp Speed around here is 65 mph, and you were going a little faster than that,’” Harrold laughs. “He was nice about it. He still gave me a ticket, but he said just the right thing, so at least we got a laugh out of it.”

Harrold’s bit-by-bit customizing is the other end of the galaxy, however, compared to the work Dynamic Auto Restoration does.

Between owner Darrin Cooper, 28, and his shop manager Andrew Lee, 24, the pair has turned the cars of the stars into a thriving refit business providing custom car collectors with the rides they dreamed of, sitting in front of classic TV shows.

Now, the two men dream of starring in their own reality show someday, aiming to film a pilot which shows what two guys in their 20s running a unique auto customization shop worth a half million dollars can do.

“It’d be very interesting,” Cooper suggests. “There are days I literally work from sun up to sun down. It’d be pure comedy, what a race our lives are, as we’re running every which way, and in every direction to get this stuff done.”

You may not know their names, yet. But anybody passing by the Lafayette Avenue shop certainly recognizes the car outside it-- the General Lee. Sitting in front of the company’s shop is a vintage 1969 Dodge Charger’s painted orange, topped with a Rebel flag decal familiar to any fan of “The Dukes of Hazzard.”

“We contract to do the restoration work,” Cooper explains. “Half down up front, and half on completion.” The work’s pricey, but the results justify the cost, Cooper believes.

“When a person buys one of these cars, he’s more or less a collector. These can run $30,000 to $40,000, but we try to get our prices down as much as we can,” Cooper explains. “Ours run between $27,000 and $30,000.”

Think he’s only fixed up one General Lee? Try three, with a fourth project on the way, and a fifth driven by John “Bo Duke” Schneider coming from California. If all goes as planned, that Dodge Charger, signed by most of the show’s original cast, will be on display for fundraisers through the Valley, including July events outside the Zorah Shrine Temple, Cooper explains.

If he ever strikes it rich, Cooper aims to keep that autographed car, along with building a custom-made replica of the Batmobile made famous by Michael Keaton’s 1989 “Batman” movie.

“Those are some of my dream cars,” he suggests, laughing.

For now, he’s busying himself making others’ dreams come true, though he loves the looks he gets from passers-by who recognize the cars he crafts.

Vintage Dodge Chargers were never easy to find. The show crashed so many in stunts which sent the Duke boys airborne that demand outstripped supply easily. And that was back in the 1980s. ”With the age of these vehicles, they’re kind of getting harder to find, and we search around the country, and the world.”

He’s also crafted replicas of K.I.T.T., the famous Trans Am from “Knight Rider,” as well as the custom Ford Mustang from the show’s short-lived remake.

They’re the cars dreams are made of. In time, if he makes the TV show he dreams of reality, he’d like to see John Schneider race “Knight Rider” star David Hasselhoff in two of his custom creations. “The General Lee versus K.I.T.T., just to find out who’s faster,” he says. “We’d have to pay them to do it, sure. But wouldn’t that be something?”