Don’t buy it, bend it

Shopping for a new car is more than a bewildering experience, and year after year it gets increasingly worse. In the early days of the auto industry, customers had just a few models to choose from—and if they chose a Model T, just one color—and well into the mid-1950s the choices were still in the dozens. The market grew year after year, and Detroit supplied most of the market, 95 percent of it, with limited variety. The peak was in 1965, when Chevrolet made 1 million units of a single model, the Impala.

U.S. automakers focused on the market core, which consisted of midsize and full-size cars. Compared to other car markets, the U.S. was more prosperous, gasoline was more affordable, and the roads were wider, so cars in the 3,000- to 4,250-lb. range dominated in this country. Big Three executives thought the compact-car market was too small to be profitable, so they ignored it.

However, Detroit’s dominance wouldn’t last forever. Occasionally a recession or a gasoline price spike would send consumers scrambling for small, fuel-sipping cars, which meant buying a foreign car. Every time this happened, it gave foreign manufacturers a stronger position in the U.S. market, providing more choices for consumers. Foreign car companies took additional steps, such as creating dealer networks, and eventually set up manufacturing operations on U.S. soil. A crucial result is that the number of car models multiplied. In 1990 about 200 models were available to U.S. car buyers, and now these car buyers can choose from more than 250 models.

As baffling car shopping is for car buyers, it can be even more mystifying, and often maddening, for repair shops and other companies that cater to the automotive market. As the number of models proliferates, so does the number of repair parts and related items.

“Ten years ago the tire industry made 280 SKUs,” said Bill Farris, owner of repair and tire shop Marden Tire & Auto, Rockford, Ill. “These days its nearly 500. There’s no way any tire shop can keep all that inventory.”

Compounding this challenge is the life cycle of a typical car. Five decades ago the average age of cars on the road was just 5 years. These days the average age is more than double that at 11.4 years. In addition to dealing with an ever-expanding number of this year’s model, auto repair shops have to work on a growing number of models from previous years.

Like tires and all of the other repair and replacement items, exhaust systems come in a much bigger variety than they used to.

An Exhausting Endeavor

Until 25 years ago, exhaust work was a big part of Marden’s business. Farris was a Marden employee then, in an era when exhaust systems nearly rusted out between tire rotations.

“They only lasted a year and a half or so,” he said, before corrosion-resistant metals were used for exhaust components. These days exhaust systems last so long that they don’t warrant much attention at all. The change was a big benefit to car owners, but it put more than a few muffler shops out of business. At Marden this line of the business withered, and eventually the company discontinued it.

However, things change, and Farris had an opportunity to get back into the exhaust business. King Cobra Muffler Centers Inc. approached him to see if he’d be interested in going after this market in a new way. The company is a national chain that leverages its buying power to secure favorable pricing on components made by Edelbrock, Cherry Bomb, Flowmaster, MagnaFlow, Borla, Euro Lite, Maremont, and others. It sets up its affiliates with bending and end-forming capability—a machine, tooling, and training—and a small inventory of straight pipe.

Although it takes a capital investment in the machine and some time for training to get the technicians up to speed on bending, Farris has found that the benefits to this strategy more than outweigh the costs.

First, it saves a lot of space. Rather than dedicate a vast amount of space to storing prebent exhaust components, a company like Marden keeps an inventory of easy-to-store straight pipe. Second, Farris doesn’t have to order parts from a warehouse and wait on deliveries, and risk receiving the wrong part. His staff can get to work immediately on removing the old system, bending pipe, and installing the new system. Third, the shop can replace a single component if necessary, rather than replacing an entire system. Last, it allows the Marden staff to make adjustments to an exhaust system if needed. Damage from a collision or the slight settling that happens as a car ages can change the car’s dimensions slightly, making it difficult to install an exhaust system. With a bender available on-site, technicians can make the part to the right degree of bend simply and conveniently.

The machine, King Cobra’s LD50, is capable of mandrel bending to preserve the pipe’s original dimensions. Its end-forming system uses segmented tooling for flaring and cylindrical tooling with a slight taper for reducing. The machine comes with tooling that can handle diameters from 1¾ in. to 3 in. Programming is done by using a series of bend cards.

Antiques, Classics, and Hot Rods

The core of the exhaust business is the core of the automotive market, so most of the focus is on cars built in the last decade or so by the big manufacturers. Still, Farris occasionally gets a call from a customer with an antique, a classic, or a hot rod. It didn’t take Farris long to notice a world of difference between a customer with a 10-year-old car and a one with 60- or 70-year-old car.

“We don’t do any business with antique vehicles or hot rods in the winter,” Farris said. “They [owners] don’t trust the weather and they don’t drive those cars on icy roads.” The risk of a collision is greater, and the salt used in northern areas to combat snow and ice accelerates corrosion.

The customary caution doesn’t end there. After deciding when to get a new exhaust system, the owner must decide who will install it.

“They won’t let any Tom, Dick, or Harry work on a car like that,” said Mark Runyon, Marden’s lead exhaust technician. People who own expensive or rare automobiles are particular about who works on them, and they look for a shop with a good reputation, he said. Runyon has 25 years of experience in auto repair and has done his fair share of exhaust work, but even so he credits the bending machine for making his job easy.

“It’s one of the best I’ve ever used,” he said.

Runyon has found that tailoring an exhaust system to fit a vintage car or a street rod brings a level of satisfaction that is more than just knowing he did the job well. He enjoys knowing that he made a contribution to someone’s pride and joy.

“It makes you smile when you know that a hot rod you see on the street or an antique at a car show has your touch,” he said.