Whither Center Line?

[RockJustRock]

Somebody into investigative journalism should look into this. A blog reported bankers padlocked the Santa Fe Springs offices. Yellow Bullet has a 12 page thread with nothing conclusive but a great convo on the Holleys that came stock on Chevys. I see there are two websites. One for Centerline (one word) wheels. Another for Center Line (two words) Alloy wheels. What gives?

[Loren]

I haven't thought about Center Line in a long time although we of-course see the brand enough. Looking around a little I see...

It seems Center Line as we see it is just a brand nowadays, licensed out who-knows-when to a business called Design Infiny who does design and marketing but probably actually sources from "global" manufacturers. Design Infiny's site shows a number of other brand names handled as well, and they may not be the only handlers of the Center Line name. Their building, going by stated address and Google is not big enough to be doing all that manufacturing...more of a warehouse...and is labelled U.S. Wholesale Pipe and Tube, so maybe this business just has an office there, and fulfillment etc. is also handled by others.

The regular Center Line Wheels building, where we imagine Ray Lipper's giant press he got in a deal once-upon-a-time and used to make wheel halves with still sits, is nearby with the name on the front...again going by Google. Perhaps they kept the traditional draw-formed/machined wheel business there while handing along the newer styles (in that event, only those wheel types would be affected by the current apparent situation).

It's possible the actual Center Line Tool Co., once so dominant, got tired of trying to keep up with kids and their fancy cad machines just having actual product done in China and threw in the towel as far as regular operations go, maybe recently or maybe some time back. None of this do I actually know, it's just a guess going out and would have to be looked into to get the actual story.

The deal with "Centerline" and "Center Line"...who knows? An indicator of a somewhat confused marketing situation.

I'm going to be in L.A. today and if I had time I could stop by both shops and peer in the windows or something, but that's not to be.

http://www.designinfini.com

[Dan Barlow]

Seem to remember along time ago Weld acquiring Centerline or vise versa 10 urs or so ago . In the time after Loern's scenario could have happened . Or I'm losing it at 55 years old and I'm way off mark .

[RockJustRock]

The guys on YB say Momo bought Weld. Hopefully it will stay the same. They just set Larson up with new rims.

[Dan Barlow]

Edit - seems to me my recolection may be wrong on Weld . It seems like whoever initially accuired Centerline made forged wheels and back in the day they were known more for truck wheels . And Forgeline doesn't seem right .

[RockJustRock]

That may be a big part of it. The Center Line Alloy website features off road.

http://centerlinewheels.com/

http://www.centerlinealloywheels.com/

Note the Convo Pro drag wheels are on the Centerline site.