RPM Blog - The Official Blog of the Carbon Fiber Club

The Car Stereo That Knocked Out Farrah Fawcett

noreply@blogger.com (tiff) — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:46:00 +0000

Talking about Crutchfield reminds me of one of the greatest marketing ploys in the history of car audio.

In 1976 two Kent State dropouts got in touch with a then-unknown actress about posing for a poster. Her name was Farrah Fawcett, and the poster of her in a red swimsuit sold millions upon millions of copies. (Car-related trivia: The backdrop was an Indian blanket that the photographer grabbed off the car seat of his '37 Chevy.) It was the #1 poster in the country.

This is how an audio company knocked Farrah out of the #1 slot in the Race for the Most Popular Poster in America.

That same year, Alpine Electronics was trying to break into the American car stereo market. They were well established in Japan, and among automotive audiophiles were well known since they only produced car stereos, unlike their competitors. But in the US, Sony, Pioneer, and Kenwood dominated the shelf space of every stereo retailer. (I should know, since I was running a high end audio store at the time.) How could Alpine establish a beachhead?

Well, like most problems, this one could be solved by buying a car. Alpine acquired a Lamborghini LP400 and created this iconic poster:

They sent them to retailers with instructions to plaster them above their car stereo displays. And it was a huge hit. Every car guy who walked in was drawn to that poster like a magnet. And every salesman would start talking to him about Lamborghinis -- the opening that would lead to a sale.

And that was the poster that became more popular than Farrah Fawcett, a staple of every college dorm and high school boy's bedroom.

The irony was that at the time, you couldn't even get an Alpine for a Lamborghini. (The print ad version cagily said "This Lamborghini is equipped with the high technology of Alpine Car Audio Systems," meaning "this particular car." Later, of course, all that changed, and Alpine did Lamborghini audio systems. And for every new Lambo model, there was of course a new Alpine poster.

Incidentally, today Alpine is a sponsor of Marco Andretti. CFC Members have the chance to drive with his uncle Jeff this month!

-RPM

The Car That Didn’t Kill Me

noreply@blogger.com (tiff) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:12:00 +0000

Every car has a story, but it’s not often that one comes out of the Twilight Zone.

In 1981 I bought my second Alfa Romeo, the GTV6. Alfa Romeo had taken the V6 2.5 liter engine from the Alfa 6 luxury sedan and put it into the GTV body, resulting in the distinctive bulge in the hood to clear the intake. It won a lot of races (European Touring Car Championship four years running, for instance) and could outrun the Turbo 280ZX and Porsche 924 Turbo. Even James Bond drove one. Read this article for more on the mechanical innovations under the hood.

Now my car was not only the only red GTV6 in Buffalo – it was the only GTV6 in Buffalo. Naturally, since it was Italian, the car spent plenty of time at the shop. I had an appointment to bring it in to the shop one day, and I asked one of my employees, Bob Hamme, to meet me there so he could drive me back to the office. (Bob, by the way, now heads up Stratmosphere – a performance parts provider for Audi, VW, Porsche and Mini – and one of the CFC’s featured merchants.)

He arrived before I did – and saw, with horror, a red GTV6 already there. Totaled. It had clearly smashed into a pole. The engine was sitting in the front seat, and it did not look like a car that the driver had just walked away from.

Bob went over to the nearest mechanic. “Is that Robert’s car?”

“Yeah, it’s Robert’s car. He got killed in it last night, right on I-90.”

Bob stood there in shock, sure I was dead.

He was even more shocked a minute later when I drove up, very much alive, in my red GTV6, very much intact.

He looked like he’d seen a ghost. After assuring Bob that I had not yet shuffled off this mortal coil, we got the whole story. As incredible as it may sound, the totaled GTV6 was also driven by a out-of-town guy named Robert, driving the exact same car.

I didn’t keep that car for much longer.

-RPM

The “Nail Down”

noreply@blogger.com (tiff) — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 17:30:00 +0000

I should have seen it coming.

Back when I started Trans Audio, selling hi-fi stereos, we'd use the sales technique called the "Nail Down." I'd advertise some Advents, a well-known speaker brand, at a good price. The customer would walk in and ask to hear them. (Trans Audio was one of the first high end stereo "Salons" featuring a living room environment instead of the vinyl and steel racks of the era.) While they were listening to the Advents, we'd switch the audio over to the EPI speakers, the ones we really wanted to sell. The EPIs sounded better, and they were cheaper than the Advents, and soon we had a sale.

We had to make sure those Advent speakers didn't gather dust on them from sitting there so long -- that is, until the day a rookie salesman actually sold our "nail down" speakers and we got some new ones (and a new salesman).

Fast forward to 1989. The Japanese Luxury Invasion had just begun with Infiniti and Lexus going after BMW and Mercedes, respectively. Despite the good press they were getting, I would have none of it. Or so I thought.

I was, instead, thinking about buying a BMW 7 Series. The new Infiniti dealership in southern Connecticut was running an ad for a 1988 BMW 7 Series, with low mileage, "recently traded in." The price was good so I drove over in my Porsche to check it out.

Now Infiniti's outlets didn't look like a dealership, sound like a dealership, or smell like a dealership. There were waterfalls. Rock gardens. And the Q45's looked strange, especially with that bizarre non-grille grille with the medallion in the middle.

But sitting there was the BMW.

The salesman was about as un-Japanese as they come, a six-foot tall Texan in cowboy boots and a suit. He was the best car salesman I've ever seen, and I've bought 49 cars so far. He called me "partner," which I loved, gave me the keys to the BMW. I took it for a test drive and loved it.

Back at the dealer's, I started talking turkey to the Texan. Of course, the first question on my mind was, why did the previous owner sell it with only 17,000 miles on it? "Well partner," he drawled, his boots up on the desk, "I'll tell ya. He traded it in for a Q-Car." For those of you who haven't spent time among the British, "Q-car" is their term for a "sleeper" car -- unassuming on the outside, but high performance on the inside and under the hood.

I was, to put it mildly, incredulous. Really? An Infiniti instead of a bimmer? "Tell you what," he said, and threw me the keys. "Take it home for the weekend. See for yourself." They had the Q45 already idling and ready for me at the curb.

I bought it on Monday. And that "Nail Down" BMW was still sitting there, months later.

If you're looking for a better way to buy a car, check out our most recent newsletter, “Our Biggest Deal”, where I talk about Zag.com’s awesome car buying service that will save you thousands when purchasing a new or used car.

The Porsche 928 S4

noreply@blogger.com (MEL) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:50:00 +0000

"Judging by the car you have chosen, you are a motorist of a special breed, and you are probably no novice when it comes to automobiles."

-- The Porsche 928 S4 owner's manual

Since we're featuring the color-customizable Forza Forged wheels this week, I started thinking about customizing, and how much the aftermarket world has grown. Case in point: my 1987 Porsche 928 S4.

Contrary to popular belief, the "P" in my initials "RPM" does not actually stand for "Porsche," but I do admit to being a Porsche guy. The 928 was the 5th Porsche I'd owned. In fact, it was the 2nd 928 Porsche -- I'd had one of the first ones sold in the U.S. back in '78. But more on that car later.

Not everyone knows this, but one of the uncredited "designers" of the 928 was Ralph Nader. In the early 70s, while they were designing the 928, Fuhrmann & Co. were concerned that after "Unsafe At Any Speed" the U.S. might ban the sale rear-engined cars. This was one of the reasons why the 928 became the company's only coupe powered by a front-mounted V8 engine. Most non-gearheads, though, knew of the 928 as the car that Tom Cruise drove in "Risky Business." (You could tell a gearhead because he was paying more attention to the Porsche than to Rebecca De Mornay -- check out this article in Excellence on one man's quest to find the car used in the movie.)

In 1987, Porsche introduced the S4, the fastest 928 to date. The S model had pushed the engine size to 5 liters; the S4 added dual-overhead cams and four aluminum valves per cylinder. It produced 316 SAE net bhp at 6000rpm. Porsche claimed that the 928 S4 was the fastest production car available at the time, which was soon proved by Al Holbert's speed record of 171 mph at Bonneville Salt Flats. I never pushed it quite that high, but I can tell you this car could leave everyone else in the dust.

So what about customization? Like most gearheads, wheels were first on my list. Back then, if you wanted a new set of wheels, there weren't a lot of options. You had maybe 4 or 5 different companies to buy from. BBS was one of them, having expanded beyond the racing market with the RS wheel a few years before. BBS offered two different centers, so I picked the ones with a gold center and silver rims to match the golden tan interior of my S4. Look at the picture, you can judge the results for yourself.

Nowadays, of course, the aftermarket wheel business has exploded, with more brands than you can shake a stick shift at. So you can find just the right wheels to turn "their" car into "your" car. And save yourself a bundle through the CFC while you're at it!

Turbocharged

noreply@blogger.com (MEL) — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:46:00 +0000

It was a case of love at first sight.

I was making my pilgrimage to the factory in Stuttgart when I saw her: the Porsche 930. The Turbo Carrera. Porsche's first turbocharged production sports car, and one of the first in the world. After picking my jaw up off the floor, I asked when I could get my hands on one. In a year, they told me, 500 would be offered in the U.S. next year, in 1976. And she would be mine.

When I returned to Buffalo, I went straight from the airport to the Porsche dealer in town. Brandishing "Car" (an English auto magazine), I showed them a picture of the 930. The salesmen there didn’t even know it existed.

And that’s how I got my hands on one of the first ten 930s brought to America. (They never would tell me which of the ten.)

The Turbo Carrera delivered 234 SAE horsepower at 5,500 rpm and 245 pound-feet of torque peaking at 4,000 rpm. It could go from 0 to 60 in 6.7 seconds, and cruise to 156 mph. It was almost as fast as my Ferrari.

Now Fuhrmann’s engineers knew their stuff, but this was still the first time they’d turbocharged a street-legal Porsche. The turbo wasn’t exactly refined. Engaging the turbo was roughly equivalent to having the Jolly Green Giant kick you in the ass. Plus it took a few seconds for it to spool up. Learning to drive the 930 was like learning to dance with Ginger Rogers on steroids.

This week the Carbon Fiber Club is featuring racecar office chairs, which set me off to thinking about my ’76 Turbo. In addition to the turbocharger, there were other innovations in the 930, one of which was the seats. To my knowledge, it was the first car to offer Recaro seats as standard equipment. These were designed to keep you in your seat so you didn’t slide around when that turbo kicked in. Maybe the office chair version will keep me at my desk, getting more deals for the Carbon Fiber Club...

Latest Carbon Fiber Club Newsletter

noreply@blogger.com (MEL) — Thu, 27 May 2010 18:16:00 +0000

Check out the latest CFC newsletter: Deals to Trick Out Your Office

My First Time on the Track

noreply@blogger.com (Nino Tasca) — Fri, 21 May 2010 02:01:00 +0000

A Post from the CFC Pit Crew:

My name is Nino Tasca and I’m the CTO of the Carbon Fiber Club. I love cars and come from a family of auto enthusiasts, but, I have a confession to make: I’ve never been on a race track. That is, I’ve never been on a race track… until last week. So today I’m highjacking the RPM blog today to tell the story of my first time getting sideways.

But first, a back story. A few years ago, my father decided to take his love of cars to a new level. He was perusing the Porsche message boards and, out of the blue, decided it was time to stop dreaming and start driving. He found a good deal on a white 1968 Porsche 912 and brought it home with him.

He enjoyed the car so much -– both driving it and rebuilding the engine –- that a few months later he bought another car. This time he found a silver 1972 Porsche 911. The car needed some work, so my father spent the better part of a year rebuilding the engine and getting it “track ready”.

Once the car was ready, boy did he get his money’s worth. He joined the local chapter of the Porsche Club of America and tracked the car whenever he could. He didn’t care if he was taking corners around orange cones in a parking lot or taking Driver’s Education classes. As long as he was in his 911 – he was happy. But he soon found his favorite place: the Mid-Ohio Race Track.

Mid-Ohio is a 2.5 mile track that sits in the middle of corn fields –- half way between Cleveland and Columbus. Despite its innocuous location -– the track is well known among racers and hosts events nearly every weekend. The track has 14 turns, multiple elevation changes and several straight-aways. In short, it’s heaven for a car guy like my father.

Now, let’s fast-forward to the present day. The Porsche Club rented out Mid-Ohio for a weekend and my father was planning on taking his 911 out for a couple of days. I had never seen him race because we live about 500 miles apart these days but, my schedule was open that weekend so I flew in to join him on the track.

When I first got to the track I saw people and cars of all different shapes and sizes. I saw old men driving brand new Boxsters, young guys prepping their classics, and everything in between. But they all had one thing in common -– they were all wearing a smile. Everyone was a true “car guy” and there was nowhere in the world they would rather be.

Since my father hasn’t reached the instructor level yet, I wasn’t able to go out in the car with him. But I did get to watch him go around the track more than a few times. I could tell he was having a blast and I could see what all the fuss was about. But I wouldn’t know for sure until I got in a race car myself.

I got hooked up with one of the local instructors. He was a former competitive racer and brought a 1991 Porsche 911 to the track that day. And, this was no ordinary run-of-the-mill Porsche. This car had raced professionally on the French circuit and was optimized for speed. It was brought to the US in 2002 and the engine has been revamped several times over.

When we first started going, I was surprised by how easy everything was. The acceleration was controlled, the turns were smooth and my heart rate remained relatively calm.

So that was lap 1. Then I realized he was just warming up the tires. Lap 2 is when all the fun started.

The famous quote from CFC Member Mario Andretti is "If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough". Now I completely understand what he was talking about.

Every single turn seemed like we were teetering on the edge of control and chaos. The instructor would accelerate to speeds that I’ve never reached before, hit the breaks, take hairpin turns left and right and do it all again. Over and over and over again. It was absolutely exhilarating. There was only one problem -– it was also nauseating.

On each lap, I could feel my stomach turn a little bit more. On laps 2- 4, it didn’t seem too bad. On laps 5-6, I realized that my stomach was not doing well at all. By laps 7-8, I stopped focusing on the track and just started counting down the turns until I was done. Right when we were about to start lap 9 –- I almost did the unthinkable. I almost “tapped out”. But my stupid pride wouldn’t let me. Fortunately, I was saved by the track! The flags came back and ushered us back to the pit. Our time was up.

I can’t recall the last time I was so happy. Not only did I finally get to take a few laps around the track, but I also avoided losing my lunch in a beautiful Porsche. A very good day all things considered.

There is just one problem. Now I’ve got the racing bug. And, next time, I don’t want to go around the track in the passenger seat, I need to be behind the wheel. I have to start practicing….

On a side note –- I feel it is important to mention that many people get nauseous their first time around the track in a passenger seat. If you are not used to the constant acceleration/deceleration, it can be rough on the stomach. I also learned that you need to keep your eyes straight ahead. If you start to look around (which I did) you lose your balance and get a bit of sea sickness.

But I blame my nausea on food. On the way down to the track I had a nice, big greasy McDonald’s breakfast. Fast food is very rarely part of my diet and I can honestly say that I’ve never had a McGriddle sober before. While I do believe that a McGriddle is an excellent breakfast choice when you are suffering from a particularly bad hangover, I find that it is an absolutely horrible choice when you are stone cold sober. The grease –- which soaks up the alcohol so well -– just sits in your stomach like a brick when you have nothing in there.

So, if you’ve learned one thing from this blog, it’s that racing is awesome. If you learned two things, it’s never to eat a McGriddle on a sober stomach.

The Ferrari and the Potato

noreply@blogger.com (MEL) — Mon, 17 May 2010 16:49:00 +0000

It's no exaggeration to say that the Carbon Fiber Club has deals on the finest selection of aftermarket exhaust systems available: ANSA, Borla, Fabspeed, MagnaFlow, Tubi, Billy Boat, and more.

But I can remember when you couldn't get an exhaust system made of stainless steel. Hell, no one had ever heard of titanium, let alone consider making a muffler out of it.

I remember on my 1972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 (previously blogged about here), the exhaust was canted upward. The angle was such that when you turned off the engine in a moist climate, the condensation that formed in the four tailpipes would collect and run down into the muffler. And it would sit in the bottom and rust it out.

This was a common problem, and there was a theory among many Ferrari owners that Enzo had done this on purpose, so we would have to buy a new muffler every few years. Planned obsolescence.

I was at Bobcor Motors in Buffalo, my home town, and talking with the Ferrari tech representative about this problem. Now this guy looked like he had come straight from central casting. He had the gold chains and the soft shoes. (Remember, this was the 70s.) He looked, and talked, just like Dean Martin.

"It's simple," he explained. "You get your girlfriend and four Idaho potatoes."

I resolved to get my hearing checked.

"Then, you get someone else to turn off the engine. As soon as you shut it off, you stuff two potatoes into two tailpipes, and she does the other two. The potatoes keep the water out, no problem. Just don't forget to take them out when you start her back up again."

I cancelled my resolution to get my hearing checked, and resolved instead to find a new service department. I started to go to Yonge Steeles Motors in Toronto, which presumably used more sophisticated technology than a potato.

Potatoes aren't a great source of fiber, and the Carbon Fiber Club is not a great source for potatoes. But we do have some great exhaust systems that you won't need to plug up with produce. (Check out the Performance Parts section of our garage for more; if you're not a member yet, sign up!)

Gearheads unite!

-- RPM

Bringing Andretti and Granatelli Together Again

noreply@blogger.com (MEL) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:59:00 +0000

At the Carbon Fiber Club, we work with some of the greatest names in the business.

Recently we added two new merchants to our "garage." One is Granatelli Motorsport, which is heaven for our muscle car aficionados looking for performance parts. The other is the Jeff Andretti Coaching Group, which offers high performance and racing driving instruction to individuals and groups across North America.*

As I was putting these deals together, something stuck in my head. Andretti... Granatelli... those names went together somehow. But why? Fortunately, I have this thing called the Internet. I'm convinced that it basically exists for guys like me who are trying to remember something. (That, and of course, for getting great deals on car stuff.) After some hunting and pecking, I found it: the 1969 Indy 500.

Everyone knows the story of the 1969 Indy 500. Mario Andretti (or as we call him, "CFC Member #0002") was racing for the Granatelli brothers: Andy (head of STP), Joe (head of Paxton Products), and Vince. Now Andy was a marketing genius. He took STP from from 7% to 85% of market share, in just seven years. He would slap the STP logo up on anything: it was as recognized as Coca Cola.

But one thing he and his brothers didn't have was an Indy 500 win. And neither did their driver.

In a practice run 10 days before the race, Andretti wrecked the Granatellis’ Lotus-Ford, a 4-wheel-drive car that had been getting a lot of attention. Fortunately, the Granatelli brothers had a backup car, a year-old Hawk-Ford back-up car. Burned but undaunted, Andretti raced that car to first place, in one of the great moments from the history of the race.

So now these two family names from that legendary event have joined us here at the Carbon Fiber Club.* Jeff is of course from America’s leading racing dynasty, and needs no introduction. And Joe Granatelli's son, J.R. Granatelli, went on to start Granatelli Motorsport. (Here's a piece on the Granatelli brothers' contributions to racing, and J.R. has written a great tribute to his father.)

More to come in the next post, so check back soon...

Gearheads unite!

-- RPM

*CFC Pole Position Members get a 25% discount at Jeff Andretti Coaching Group and all members get a 15% discount at Granatelli Motorsports

CFC Partner Spotlight: Carbon Fiber Gear

noreply@blogger.com (Nino Tasca) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 17:29:00 +0000

Carbon Fiber Gear is one of the CFC’s premier partners. They stock the CFC Store and provide all CFC members with great discounts on unique and – if we do say so ourselves – pretty darn cool carbon fiber products.

Recently, we had a chance to sit down with David Pitlyuk, the founder and president of Carbon Fiber Gear. Our conversation is below:

Why did you start the Carbon Fiber Gear business? What drew you to Carbon Fiber?

I’ve always been a huge car fanatic and back in 2003 I bought a Nissan 350Z. I did a bunch of work upgrading that car – including a bunch of carbon fiber parts. I appreciated the material – especially the look and the benefits that it had. Carbon Fiber is definitely tied to higher end automobiles – such as Ferrari and Lamborghini – so it goes hand in hand with an auto enthusiast.

So obviously I had an interest in the material from there. Then, one day, I found a carbon fiber wallet online. I thought it was really cool so I searched the Internet to find what other non-automotive carbon fiber products were out there. I ended up finding a pretty good handful.

I figured if I was so amazed by these carbon fiber products, I knew that other people would be too. So I decided to start the blog. That’s how the blog started and, for the first year or so, that’s exactly what the web site was. But, over time, we upgraded and turned it into a store.

Where do you get your products from?

We basically “source the world” for our products. We work directly with a lot of manufacturers. And, we have close ties with some of these manufactures. So, if we have a product idea, we can work with them to make it come to fruition.

Recently, a lot of companies have been coming to us. If you search the keywords “carbon fiber” on Google, we’re the second result – right below the Wikipedia page for carbon fiber.

What’s your best selling and most unique products?

The most unique is probably the carbon fiber toilet seat. That’s definitely the one that most people find amusing.

Another recent one that we added on was carbon fiber chop sticks. Those ended up getting a good amount of media coverage – especially in Japan and China. It’s pretty cool because they are actually made out of a solid piece of carbon fiber (it’s actually excess material from an aerospace company). It’s an extremely high quality, rare and expensive piece of carbon fiber. The chopsticks cost $150 – so it’s expensive for a pair of chopsticks – but we’ve gotten a lot of positive buzz about them.

The best selling products are a lot of the apple products, such as the MacBook and iPhone cases.

What’s the future hold for carbon fiber?

Carbon Fiber has been around since 1958 – so it’s not brand new. But a lot of people don’t know about it from a consumer aspect. I talk to a lot of people and if you’re not an automotive fan or motorcycle fan or even a boat fan, then you may not have ever even heard of the material before.

So, there is a big growth opportunity from a consumer product perspective. Fashion, interior design, etc. We’re doing a big marketing push to make carbon fiber the next stainless steel.

The problem is that it’s still a very expensive material to produce – even though the cost has dropped considerably since it was first introduced. In the automotive industry, a lot of the high end cars are using it because of its light weight properties.

I foresee that more “regular cars” in the future will use more and more carbon fiber. The light weight nature gives the car better gas mileage. As more government regulations force better gas mileage out of the automotive industry, you’re going to see it used more frequently.

That being said, there is no automated way to make carbon fiber. The manufacturing process is still very much “hands on”. So I don’t see the prices of carbon fiber dropping too much anytime soon.

And what about the future of Carbon Fiber Gear?

We’re always on the lookout for the latest and greatest carbon fiber products. Our inventory is always expanding – so keep checking back.

Remember – all CFC members are entitled to discounts at the Carbon Fiber Gear Store. Standard CFC Members get 5% off their entire inventory while CFC Pole Position Members get 10% off. Join the CFC today for savings on this and many other products and services in the automotive industry.

Club Members Don't Pay Retail

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Paul Minnick) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:22:00 +0000

Our challenge at the Carbon Fiber Club is to turn our new and different business platform into an obviously better way to connect car enthusiast buyers with sellers. That’s our BHAG (and if you don’t know what a BHAG is, go to my 12/24/09 Blog in the Archives below).

We all prefer the simple or obvious to the complex or complicated. What is obvious? A dictionary definition says: easy to see or understand, plain, evident. The obvious was so obvious that I never thought about it until I had a professor who encouraged his students to look at complicated problems until they became obvious. I took that to heart, and I’ve built a career around searching for new business solutions that snatch the obvious from the obfuscated, around monetizing solutions that are simple, easy to understand and evident, and ones that work and become so obvious to all.

More than 20 years ago I built ComponentGuard, Inc. around transforming a complicated, intangible, and difficult to sell “service” into an easy to understand, readily usable, and portable “product”. We traded a tree’s worth of paper full of “wherefores” and conditions that consumer electronics buyers were offered so they could file it away in a forgotten drawer, for a credit card sized piece of plastic with a magnetic strip containing all the information needed to service a warranty claim. And, we made it 1000% easier to sell; all things that now seem all very obvious.

Later at H&M Management, we created a specialty motorcycle owners credit card program for MBNA. It was offered to prospective customers while they were on the sales floor at motorcycle dealerships rather than weeks later through the mail. Pretty obvious – go fish where the fish are and all of that. More obvious – offer the customer a credit card with benefits he wants, like free motorcycle towing instead of some generic towing. And even more obvious – provide them with on-the-spot credit as they were surrounded by everything they were planning to purchase. All intuitively obvious. Now.

Just when it seems like marketing has lost its mind with print ads that look like art, online marketing that looks like entertainment, and other silly people tricks that don’t seem to communicate much at all, I believe it is more important than ever to remember the objective: We want someone to buy something. The solution is to create a new business tool or marketing platform to make that possible…and hopefully very obvious.

I’m always being hailed as “The Marketing Guy”. Over the years I’ve read and collected more books on marketing and business strategy than I care to admit. I’m asked frequently "what’s the best book on marketing?" The book I really like is almost 100 years old. It’s called Obvious Adam, The Story of a Successful Businessman, by Robert Updegraff. Old Bob delivers a much needed and highly refreshing dose of common and not so common sense, and reminds us that no matter what the “marketing gurus” are teaching today, now more than ever we need to focus on the fundamentals of marketing.

I’m pretty sure old Bob would like what we’re doing with the Carbon Fiber Club. First, if he were a car guy and joined the Club, he could buy most of, if not all of his performance parts and services at a discount. I think he’d like that. Or, if he were the owner of a performance part store he would like the Club because we wouldn’t charge him to advertise on the CFC site. Instead, we’d ask him to offer CFC members a small discount. His benefit from this is that this would turn an indirect marketing cost into a direct sales expense and lower his overall cost of doing business. Those same marketing gurus call this “pay for performance.” As an owner he would keep more of his money. We’re pretty sure he’d like that too.

If Old Bob were an investor, we think he would like the CFC platform. Merchants pay only when they sell something, and buyers pay us a small fee to create the platform and keep it fresh. Everybody wins, especially Old Bob, because this new platform works for every enthusiast product business. Investors like businesses with no upfront costs and expenses driven by sales volumes – no downside and a potentially huge upside. They like businesses that are obviously better. It’s a new and more efficient way to connect buyers and sellers.

It’s obviously better than the way things are being done now, isn’t it?

-Robert Paul Minnick

The Smoking Tire: Carbon Fiber Club Promo

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Paul Minnick) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:49:00 +0000

This is the original Smoking Tire CFC promo video. This is not final, as the model of the CFC has changed slightly since this was made. Check it out, it's pretty cool.

-Carbon Fiber Club

"Won't Get Dissed Again, Oh No!" (Played to the tune of The Who's 'Won't Get Fooled Again')

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Paul Minnick) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:16:00 +0000

Most people dismiss what they don’t understand.

Or worse they simply reject it. As a serial entrepreneur, you get used to rejection and people dismissing your wild and crazy ideas. Over time you begin to accept it and not let it affect your judgment. You develop a thick skin and rely on your own experiences - not what someone told you or the prevailing conventional wisdom – to guide you. When your new business works, you’re called a genius, but until that time you're just some nut job with some half-baked crazy ideas. You just annoy them when you keep bringing it up – "What’s WRONG with the way we’re doing it?"

I’ m annoying some people right now when I talk to them about CFC, but it doesn’t bother me.

I have done my fair share of dismissing people and new ideas. I will always remember the day back in the 70’s at my stereo store, when three serious looking dudes walk in, two wearing dark suits. The skinny guy wearing jeans (very radial at the time) was carrying an ugly pale tan box with a small TV screen and a keyboard in front. They referred to it as a “personal computer”. "Ok," I replied, “what does this personal computer do and why would anyone want it? Besides, it’s seriously ugly…” They told me it could store lists, like recipe lists, and that they were exploring where to sell their “list–storer”. The personal list-storer computer was a new category of electronic products and they had no channel of distribution to sell them. At the stereo store, we basically sold sexy black boxes that plugged into the wall and made you smile/ helped you meet females.

The Apple II computer did none of those things so we told them to hit the road. As they were walking out, the skinny guy asked if that was my Black 450SL parked in front of the store. He was a car guy and wanted to sit in it to hear the prototype of the first Nakamki/ADS car audio sound system. Me, the super sales guy I am, got in and gave him a killer demo and asked for his card to ship him his system. He had a BMW back in San Francisco at the time.

Well, he gave me his card, which of course I no longer have, but I do remember his unusual name. It was Jobs, and I sometimes wonder if I didn’t dismiss Steve, how my life would be different. It took me over 20 years to start using a computer. Anyhow, Steve's net worth exceeds mine by about 5 billion dollars, but I have all my hair and a crack at catching back up to Mr. Jobs with The Carbon Fiber Club.

-Robert Paul Minnick

The Curse

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Paul Minnick) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:33:00 +0000

Clemson University Professor, Wayne Stewart, has closely studied how serial entrepreneurs differ from their more novice counterparts. In addition to the general belief that everyone understands “marketing”, we now have a whole new generation of internet enabled “entrepreneurs” who claim to be innovators. The vast majority of them are using the web as a solution to problems that they either created themselves or simply just don't exist -- (don’t worry, “we sell ads” to pay for it).

I say, “Bull.” Virtually every business I've ever started had a path to revenue. I’m not claiming they were all winners. In fact, several were real stinkers, but they were conceived around a differentiating innovation and a top line.

I am proud to say I’m a serial entrepreneur. Every company I’ve started I put my heart and soul into. All of them, except one, were successful and validated my need to keep doing it. The one that failed (and almost wiped me out) ultimately made me stronger. Yeah, I know…Freddy Nietzsche and all that.

In one of Stewart’s studies, he concluded that serial entrepreneurs are bigger risk takers, more achievement oriented and have a higher preference for innovation. “The result” he says, “suggests that there is a psychological profile that drives serial entrepreneurs, predisposing them to multiple venturing.”

Being a serial entrepreneur is like explaining how water feels to someone who has never been in it. Ask Branson, Jobs or Ted Turner. Only they know the true answer. It’s a curse. A true entrepreneur sees the opportunity and can’t help but act on it. And only he or she understands it in the beginning. They are not completely sure it will work, but they are powerless to stop. And I can share with you; it’s as powerful an emotion as love or hate. It takes over your life, making the impossible possible.

When I created the ComponentGuard Blister Pack Warranty Program over twenty years ago, my employees, board members, and shareholders were sure I had lost my mind. I wanted to turn this “warranty service” into a “product” with a plastic card and a UPC code. Today, when you go into bookstores, convenience stores, and supermarkets you are surrounded by thousands of a plastic credit-like cards mounted on cardboard. They call them “gift cards.” We successfully took the company public on that radical but simple innovation.

Since that time, I’ve come down with the dreaded curse several more times and was forced to act on it. Well, the curse is back (I’m getting too old for this stuff, starting companies is a young person’s game). Just as Facebook is not a book, the Carbon Fiber Club is not just a club.

I’m seeing a major game changer. Hopefully you will soon.

-Robert Paul Minnick

Bentley S1 Saloon - The Bentley Bar Car

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Paul Minnick) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:43:00 +0000

In 1974 I purchased a 1956 Bentley S1 Saloon for $6000.00 from Anderson Auctions located in Buffalo, NY. It was Dove Grey with grey leather hides, had an outstanding two-tone wood dash, and two veneered tray tables mounted to the back of each front seat.

I was going through my trying to be like Paul McCartney period and had also just acquired two English Sheep Dogs and inappropriately named them Enzo and Dino. The Bentley joined the Minnick stable. The dogs ate me out of house and home.

I bought the car at the auction without driving it, which proved to be my first mistake. Not only was it slow (0-60 in a day and a half) but it handled like a whale out of water and leaked oil like a Harley. For months it sat in my garage like King George, staring at the other cars and collecting dust.

It took one of my more enterprising friends to discover its true purpose. One day we were out in my garage talking “cars” when my friend, Mike, got into the back seat of George, pulled down the tray tables and placed his gin and tonic on the table. He then proclaimed, “It’s a Bentley Bar Car! The BBC!” From this day forward, we all agreed the BBC would hit the streets as our bar hopper car of choice.

Long before the term “designated driver” came into vogue (remember this is 1974), we would appoint one of us as the “driver” for the night – usually with a striped hat, shorts and a bow tie – while the other three passengers would have cocktails on their trays as we drove from bar to bar. Remember, boys will be boys and it was important to make an entrance. If only that back seat could talk… Well, before long, the BBC was a Buffalo institution. Sadly, like all things British, it over time consumed my wallet with repairs and was sold.

-Robert P. Minnick

BMW M6 - Our Man at Manheim

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Paul Minnick) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:40:00 +0000

As I mention in my very first post, The Beginning of the Carbon Fiber Club, the underlining reason for this blog was to explain some of the ideas that helped create this Club. Many of the basic concepts of the Club have come from my personal experiences as a car guy. For example, one comes connected to this beautiful 1988 BMW M6 (I have a soft spot in my heart for M coupes) pictured below.

I bought this car in 1989 in Manheim, Pennsylvania at the Manheim Hi Line Exotic Auction. I flat-out stole it; I originally went there with no intention to buy anything and to just look around, but the prices were unbelievable and the BMW had only 2300 miles on it. I couldn't resist. My younger brother, Marc, was part owner in an Alfa Romeo and Yugo dealership at the time (you can't make this stuff up), and he had dealer access to Manheim. One of the universal truths in the car business is that a pre-owned, low mileage car is the best deal on the planet. Want to get an amazing deal on an Aston, a below blue book deal on a BMW, a fantastic deal on a Ferrari? It's simple, find a slightly used one. Over the years, I've purchased a number of pre-owned cars at Manheim, and in almost all cases I drove them for 6 months or more and then later sold them for a profit.

In today's economy, the pricing on pre-owned exotics is even more unbelievable. Today, Manheim Auctions (manheim.com) is the largest, most comprehensive vehicle marketplace in the world. They have over 145 locations in 19 countries on 5 continents.

We have identified 10 regions in the US near Manheim outlets where we will be working with the local hi- line exotic dealers to bring CFC members phenomenal deals on pre-owned cars. Our plan is to start on the east coast and work our way west, and to have the whole country hooked up by May 2010. Nothing fancy, the operational aspect is to keep it simple and cheap, kind of like a Craigslist for car guys. We’re not even going to charge the dealer to list the car, which will also lower the overall cost to you. The plan is not to have the most cars online, just the best cars at the best prices. We think you'll love it.

-Robert Paul Minnick

BHAG – "Big Hairy Audacious Goal"

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Paul Minnick) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 19:05:00 +0000

BHAG. The phrase "Big Hairy Audacious Goal" was proposed by James Collin and Jerry Porras in their 1996 "Harvard Business Review" article entitled "Building Your Company's Vision." A "BHAG" is not a mission statement, rather, it's more of a big long-term vision statement. Sam Walton had one, Google – "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful" – has one, Shelby – "kick Ferrari's ass" – has one, and we at CFC have one.

We believe that by aggregating car enthusiasts around a buying club, we can build a better and more efficient marketplace. One that’s better for car-related retailers, manufacturers, distributors and service providers, and one that is better for you. The world is changing more and more every day, but this industry still has too many middlemen, too much fat. The cost of advertising and customer acquisition is still way too high, and unfortunately, you the customer, pay for these inefficiencies.

Our BHAG is to create a low cost and economical online platform for car enthusiasts to buy cool cars and car stuff/services. We plan to do this by changing parts of the traditional business model, cutting out ineffective advertising, cutting out the middleman, and just cutting out all the fluff. You know what you want. Why pay for the guy that doesn’t?

Everyone is enamored with the concept of social networks. I propose we get together and make it count for something. CFC will be the first online "car guy" buying network. Part Costco, part Craig's List, part Ru La La, and maybe throw in a dash of Gilt.com, CFC ‘s BHAG is to deliver outstanding deals and unparalleled services to all you car guys out there. From real Ferraris to 1/24th scale model Ferraris, I know we can get it for you cheaper. We have some of the smartest people in the industry working on it. Find out how in the next blog post coming right after Christmas called, “Our Man at Manheim”.

-Robert Paul Minnick

Fiat 128 Coupe & Toyota Land Cruiser - Winter Driving Machines

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Paul Minnick) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:33:00 +0000

I was born and raised in Buffalo, NY. Nationally, Buffalo is famous for two things – chicken wings and snow. I can’t comment on the chicken wings, but I can relate to snow and how to drive in the stuff. One theory is to eat vast amounts of wings, throw several sand bags into a trunk, and invite three to five of your most rotund friends to ride with you. Then get yourself what was often called a "Winter Banger” (as in a vehicle you would slide around in on some ice and bang into other people over the course of the winter). Then, add the finishing touches and mount some chains on the rear tires and voila! - a banger! These Detroit sourced old clunkers looked like wild animals covered with rust spots and dents, but at least they got you to your destination. I had several winter bangers as a young man, most notably a Pink American Motors Rambler station wagon.

Late in 1972, as the snow started to fall, I realized that I had to get some wheels for the upcoming winter roads. A banger was not going to work parked next to the Daytona. It would have been mortifying; Italians are sensitive creatures. So I went out to buy the big cat a little brother to park next to the Italian flag I had up in the garage.

I bought a 1973 Fiat (Fix It Again Tony) 128 Coupe. This buzz bomb was one of the first so-called "Hot Hatches”; it had a 1290 cc SOHC transversal mount engine, front wheel drive, and a hatch-back. Because of the front wheel drive and the weight of the motor over the wheels, it was almost unstoppable in the snow – almost. For any readers who have experienced one of Buffalo's famous winter storms, you might recall some of these words and phrases: "lake effect," "drifts," and my personal favorite, "whiteouts." On numerous occasions during one of our lake effect storms, I would experience a whiteout and blindly drive into a drift. Sometimes I would have to climb out of the side windows because the snow drifts were so high. The little Fiat was not the answer. With the Daytona, I had the ultimate "road" car, but I needed to find the ultimate winter-mobile. Next winter I would be ready.

My 1973 Toyota Land Cruiser (aka the "Green Meanie") was one of the first of its kind east of the Rocky Mountains. I replaced the wheels with four white Jackmans and got me some serious rock climbing tires. To help shed some light on the situation, we mounted two large HELLA fog lamps and replaced the stock headlights. I never got stuck again.

-Robert Paul Minnick

Ferrari 365 GTB/4 - My First Italian Love Affair

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Paul Minnick) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:21:00 +0000

My first Italian love affair started with two other Italian encounters. Life was good. It was a warm spring day in May 1972, and I was driving my BMW 3.0CS on a lonely section of the NY Thruway on my way to the races at Watkins Glen, NY. At one point I glanced in my rear view mirror and noticed a red ball coming up behind me, and fast. Next thing I know, I'm looking at the trunk and four tailpipes of a red Ferrari 275 GTB/4 going flat out, while it felt like we were standing still in my 180 horsepower German friend. My girlfriend at the time asked why I couldn’t catch up to "that sexy red car." Mind you, my ego back then would have had trouble fitting into the Grand Canyon, and so there was no way I was going to let that happen again.

Mr. D'Agostino was my second Italian encounter and the man responsible for my introduction to the 12-cylinder sound of the Prancing Horses. Big Dan worked for me at that time and introduced me to many things: Guinness, the music group Tower of Power, and the pinnacle of Italian motoring – Ferrari. For the audiophile readers in the audience, you know Dan as the founder and CEO of Krell Electronics -- the biggest and baddest audio gear you could buy. Big Dan always was a "balls to the wall" kind of guy, and made it clear that if I wanted to "go fast and NEVER get passed," then I needed to step up to the "Big Dog League."

Road & Track declared in its 1972 road test "the Ferrari 365 GTB/4 is the best sports car in the world." The Modena beauty had a top speed of 175mph and a quarter mile time of 13.8 seconds. It was heavy, loud, and the sexiest thing I ever saw on four wheels -- and arguably still is.

Late that summer, I went down to Bobcor Motors in Buffalo, NY, traded in the 3.0CS and got me my very own Silver Missile. Needless to say, no one ever passed me again. I like to think that the business principle in all of this is simple, and I'll paraphrase our company spokesman – Mario Andretti, "If everything is going according to plan, you're not going fast enough."

-Robert Paul Minnick

Ferrari 365 GTB/4 - My First Italian Love Affair

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Paul Minnick) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:22:00 +0000

My story about this car will follow shortly. Until then, here is our first picture taken together.

-Robert Paul Minnick

The Beginning of the Carbon Fiber Club

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Paul Minnick) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:59:00 +0000

I'm going to share with you the trials and tribulations of how the CFC got started, what it's all about, and why you --if you're a serious car guy--should join.

Someone, somewhere, once said to me "If you can figure out how to make your hobby pay, you will never have to go to work again." Having been a car guy for most of my adult life, I decided to capitalize on my business building expertise (hopefully it becomes apparent at some point) and started this club. Turns out, it's not a job, but it sure is a lot of work...and a lot of fun.

First and foremost, this is not my club. It belongs to all of our CFC members - starting with Mario Andretti, our newest member. We're organizing, managing, and funding the Club, but we rely on our members to help us with input on the products and services that they want. Second, the CFC is only for car enthusiasts. You will never see any generic benefits or lame rewards programs like those available everywhere else. At CFC, we only partner with the proven leaders in the auto enthusiast categories (i.e. German imports, suv's/trucks, muscle, etc.), and we work very hard to leverage the Club's member strength in order to get the best deals on all the best stuff.

I've always liked the members-only club business model. It just makes more sense in today's current economic climate. Most companies spend an unbelievable amount of money on advertising and promotions. Whether you realize it or not, that cost increases the price to you for products and services that you are interested in.

There is an old saying regarding advertising that proclaims "I know 50% of my advertising is working. I just don't know which 50%." What as waste. Our members-only club model is much more efficient . We don't charge our CFC partners anything to advertise on the CFC site, but we require them to pass their savings in advertising on to you as a member in the form of a discount on performance parts, accessories, and car related services and events. Everyone is better off with this arrangement – you receive the product or service at a better price than retail and they get your business.

You could argue that the original idea for the club began a long time ago when I purchased my first BMW--

A 1972 CS coupe--my first serious car. Each and every one of these beautiful coupes were built by Karmann in Osnabruck, located in northwest Germany. It was one of the very few around western New York in the early '70s. Numerous times when getting gas, the gas station attendant would ask "Is that one of those new British Motor Work cars?" I would reply "Well, no..it's running, so it can't be."

There will be more to come in the next post, so check back soon!

-Robert Paul Minnick