Speed Equipment sales: then & now

[Caveman Tony]

Was watching the nostalgia Schlitz 'Drag Racing USA" promo video blog item...

One quote caught my attention in a snap:

"Speed equipment sales were $500 million three years ago... today, they are over a billion."

That was 1970.



Wonder how we're doing today?

And what was the population then vs. now?

[Caveman Tony]

SEMA says the US specialty-equipment market is $28 billion...

Current number? Or is that a high-water mark?

[SpiderGearsMan]

not all speed parts

[DanStokes]

Spidey has a point. That includes bed liners, custom wheels (like Dubs, etc.) - that sort of thing. Still, it's grown to be a big business.

In my youth (like 1962 on) I remember the JC Whitney/Honest Charley/Iskendarian/M&H/B&M ads in the back of HRM. That seemed like magic candy to me - and still does.

Dan

[Stich496]

bet the sema # is all aftermarket parts... including those china rotorsand pads..
more than likely it's the same as 1 billion in 70 money was a lot of money..

[TC]

Spidey has a point. That includes bed liners, custom wheels (like Dubs, etc.) - that sort of thing. Still, it's grown to be a big business.

In my youth (like 1962 on) I remember the JC Whitney/Honest Charley/Iskendarian/M&H/B&M ads in the back of HRM. That seemed like magic candy to me - and still does.

Dan

Don't forget about the dual page Loper Performance ads in HRM, CC, etc.... Even back in the day when they ran those big ads, it cost them 50 grand a month to do it........Funny that today the only company that springs for a dual page add in HRM or CC is Harbor Freight...........

[DanStokes]

I may be wrong but I don't think SEMA includes any stock replacement parts, either foreign or domestic. Their members all sell some sort of add-on accessory above and beyond OEM. Upgraded brake rotors of some sort from domestic or overseas, probably, but not stock replacements.

Dan

[Gary 351C]

Spidey has a point. That includes bed liners, custom wheels (like Dubs, etc.) - that sort of thing. Still, it's grown to be a big business.

In my youth (like 1962 on) I remember the JC Whitney/Honest Charley/Iskendarian/M&H/B&M ads in the back of HRM. That seemed like magic candy to me - and still does.

Dan

The old black Summit ads are what got me dreaming.

[milkovich]

I used to dream about the PAW ads that you had to read with a microscope. I didn't realize pontiac connecting rods were made out of pot metal, but I knew I needed a forged piston kit for my 8:1 smog-bird.

[Brian Lohnes]

The first engine I ever built with my dad was a PAW kit. We blew it to smithereens the last racing weekend of the year back in (gasp!) the late 1990s.

Brian

[38P]

Spidey has a point. That includes bed liners, custom wheels (like Dubs, etc.) - that sort of thing. Still, it's grown to be a big business.

In my youth (like 1962 on) I remember the JC Whitney/Honest Charley/Iskendarian/M&H/B&M ads in the back of HRM. That seemed like magic candy to me - and still does.

Dan

And later on, Motion, MAS, Midwest, Gratiot, PAW . . . .

I miss those kind of ads.

[Stich496]

maybe if the ad dept, didn't think their ad space was gold..

[Bamfster]

Two words ..... Super Shops .... around here they had the rep as being boneheads. We still hung out there, the store on W Colfax even gave us permission to park in their lot after they closed on Fri & Sat nights for infamous "cruise Colfax" nights.

[DanStokes]

You young'uns are too young to remember, but back in my day.........

Honest Charley was a real hard-core speed shop. You could order up about anything available at the time. I don't think the prices were any bargain but then, neither were anyone else's. I was a young married guy when Gratiot came along and they were, of course, local, so we went there a lot. I remember driving to the East side (of Detroit) to go to the store before they were in the mags or had branches on the West side. Candyland. Speaking of candy stripes, later on Ramcharger's set up locations all over the Detroit area but I don't think any are left. A friend of mine knew the guys at Redford Speed (or Redford Speed and Weed as we knew it). They did well for awhile but I think are gone, too.

Dan