Slinging fabricated aftermarket parts at Bronco Super Celebration (East)

Nick Martin took his side business, Mountains2Metal, on the road to Bronco Super Celebration (East) in Townsend, Tenn. What he found was a Bronco community craving quality American-fabricated aftermarket parts.

Our trip to Townsend, Tenn., for the Bronco Super Celebration (East) was a blast. If you are even the slightest Ford Bronco fan, you will without a doubt enjoy your time at this event. Everyone there has Bronco in their blood, and it shows.

From the trailer queens to the rock crawling rigs and full-size beasts to a couple of new sixth gens, there was something for everyone. I had a hard time containing myself when I saw some of these rides. The dopamine was kicking. I wasn’t prepared for the amount of inspiration and feedback I was going to ingest throughout the event. But one thing was for sure, we were there to showcase our products and it was game on.

I went to this same show in Tennessee last year and we were a bit under prepared. My dad, Tim, and I made the last-minute trip. We soaked up as much as we could while we were there. Needless to say, I wanted to go back again, and I was going to make sure that our products were on display. I've been reading about this event for years and have always wanted to be a part of it. I could never get the ‘67 Bronco up to par to attend, but now that the sixth gen is ready, I'll have something to participate with.

The time had finally come, and we were back at the mecca of Broncos. And I’ll also throw this out there: This may also be the mecca of laid-back people that are easy to get along with. I don’t think I can think of one situation where I was questioning what kind of person I was talking to. Everyone was nice, easy to talk to, and very enthusiastic about seeing what Mountains2Metal had to offer.

What I found out is that Bronco drivers love American-made products. Especially the older Bronco drivers. What I also found out is that people like to buy cheap stuff on Amazon. The market is flooded with it. It's all the same with a different name. If you want to start a parts business and want to import, you can do it. That's all I am going to say about that.

One guy thanked us on Instagram and had a picture of a product that he purchased from the show. The very next picture in the same post was a knockoff version of our product that was also purchased at the show. You can’t win ‘em all.

Our newest product, the med cabinet, was a show hit. We had one guy who owns of several Broncos—nearly one of every generation—tell us that it was the coolest Bronco accessory that he saw at the whole show. I was amazed at that compliment.

Other feedback we received about the med cabinet was that people wanted it to be lockable. This advice came from a very large majority of Bronco owners that liked to exercise their Second Amendment rights. These were my kind of people. Little did they know that we pretty much had this version designed on paper before we left the show, and now it is working its way through the shop. Hold your horses’ folks … no pun intended.

Other feedback wasn’t so great.

Hold on, there’s a rant coming: Some people hemmed and hawed at our prices. They like to call it the “Bronco Tax.” In other words, people think we can name our own price for items and gouge the mess out of buyers. I’ve seen businesses do it, but we are not that way. I would like to invite these business wizards to our shop and have them show us how to improve all our processes to make our products cheaper. Show us how to use our equipment to the fullest, keeping the lights on while giving things away. It’s frustrating to hear or read about that on all the forums. Rant over.

Tailgate med cabinet showing off some plastic dinosaurs, dog treats and a miniature folded Bronco ornament.

We had several other people give us some solid business advice and we definitely listened. I’ll have to save that for a later date though.

One cool thing about the show is that a lot of people brought their Broncos at the event. We had our Broncos on display and people could interact with the products and see how they would work in their Bronco. The idea was that people could get to touch and feel our products. They loved it. I had one guy ask if one of our new light brackets would work with another brand’s bull bar. I told him that it might, but I wasn’t really sure. I then asked him if he had his Bronco there. He did, so I told him to drive it over and park it right next to our booth. I figured we could try the product out on his Bronco to see if it worked. He looked at me surprised and said, "For real? You would do that?" I smiled and said, “For sure!”

To my surprise, our part fit like a glove, as if we intended it to work with his part. He was ecstatic and purchased the light brackets. I thought that was a cool experience, and that is just one of many fun customer stories.

People loved to interact firsthand with our products and imagine how they would change the appearance or function of their Bronco.

We released a slew of new products at the show, and one that had people scratching their heads was our tailgate range limiter. This basically makes your tailgate opening adjustable from 135 degrees down to 80 degrees. It doesn't sound like much, but when you have a load of stuff strapped to your tailgate or tire, this could save you from smashing your taillight, among other things.

The part is very easy on the eyes, machined out of 6061 billet aluminum, anodized black, and finished off with some nice laser etching. It's not for everyone's needs. But for those that need it, they love it.

Overall, I think people were happy with what we had to offer. There is plenty more on the drawing board, and we will keep pumping out parts as we are able. We left the event riding a wave of motivation. I am glad we've made the leap to produce American-fabricated Bronco parts. We have a lot to learn about the industry, but I am thrilled to be a part of the Bronco community.

Mountains2Metal med cabinet with an optional frog hook installed inside. Some 1/4 -20 nuts we added to the cabinet to allow for more customization.