stevensa

Like the title states, is Harbar still a company?

el es tu

Ive been wondering the same thing

Hat_Trick_Hokie

I haven't heard anything since I put in an order for tow hooks, so I disputed the charges from my CC company and got my $$ back.

travisnd

I'm friends with Gary on Facebook and have bought many parts from him over the years w/o issue. He seems more interested in flying RC airplanes right now. I tried to buy lower rear shock pins from him and he told me to make them myself

hklvette

What's going on with the Corvette aftermarket lately? Not enough people buying parts?

froggy47

IMO it's a new post recession economy. People (us) are spending less on toys/hobbies than before the recession.

6 years of Obama & the liberals crushing small businesses with taxes/rules/regulations are taking their toll on entrepreneurs.

One man businesses, or even bigger ones like Pfadt are one large order or one product roll out away from closing down.

I don't see this changing any time soon. Half the country would rather vote themselves a welfare check than get a job.

Just survive it and teach your kids how to get thru it.

I am rather amazed at how GM pulled off the C7 and how cool that car is, hope I am around long enough to pick one up used eventually.

Mods, move this if it's too off topic or depressing.

Olitho

I agree with these sentiments. I can say though that it appears racing and track days are on the uptick again. I have seen a lot of very full track days in southern and northern California this year, plus there are more days in total.

The SCCA Runoffs in October at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca just passed the 500 entry mark and we have not even hit the end-of-August deadline for discounted entries. I bet it is in the mid 500s by September 1. That is over 500 wheel to wheel entries. No HPDE, no time trial... that is all W2W. Those counts are up over 30% from five years ago.

froggy47

That's a very encouraging statistic, autox entries seem to be holding up this year in socal.

Need for speed is a sort of primal drive, really cannot be replaced with a substitute.

Take a bit of "racing luck" with you up to the Runoffs.

redtopz

I was just reading an article about the 2015 C7 last night and they are coming out with a new package called the "Pacific" package that is aimed directly at the West coast track day enthusiasts. I think we have enough people running hpde out here that it's even getting the attention of GM. Racing seems to be a little slow, but given the numbers of people doing track days I think it will start to increase as some of them move up the ladder to TT and w2w.

travisnd

I'm no fan of Obama or this economy, but Pfadt's bankruptcy was from being run by engineers seemingly w/o any finance experience. They expanded too fast and ran out of cashflow. If they had stuck to their bread and butter suspension bits and taken a more targeted growth strategy they'd still be around.

As for Hardbar, Gary's an aeronautical engineer and the Corvette stuff has always been a side business to his day job. He mentined his day job has kept him very busy of late.

Olitho

The birds are tweeting around here about an exciting new announcement that will be coming out of southern California....

What they are tweeting is not quite clear enough to make out, yet, but I bet they will get the tune quite clear in about two weeks.

froggy47

Good points, and I'm certainly not putting it all (small business failures) on one factor. I don't think you can either. Having said that the overwhelming anti business agenda and pro government control (central control) is IMO a MAJOR factor in most small business failures and lack of will to create new small businesses.


You tell a small business who is operating on a zero to maybe 10% net before tax margin varying month to month,

"Oh, by the way, you need to cover all your employees with health insurance, or we'll fine you out of existance",

you may as well turn off the power & close the door. It's just not possible.

People watch a little bit of business news, especially on the lefty networks/cable and see a story about some hedge fund guy making millions & they think all business is like that.

Well it's not, most struggle, most do care about employees, most are not "raking it in".

Not to be arguing with anyone on the thread, just sayin' it's probably a complex set of events/circumstance when vendors go away.

JeremyGSU

Every time I tell myself their is a slow down in the economy I attend yet another fully sold out Chin event. As someone else said, track days are still holding up surprisingly from what I've seen.

rbl

Are Jerry Browns illegals leaving ... that would be very exciting indeed!

hklvette

This is what the deal with Pfadt looked like to me as well, especially when they went into the header business.

naschmitz

There are several very capable suppliers that will appreciate your orders and give you great service out there. I think most of the stuff Gary manufactured you can get at Van Steel -- check with those guys.

fatbillybob

Hmmm......Hammer the Competition with "THORMOTORSPORTS"?????

Owner....OliT
Testdriver....BillyB
Chief engineer....JimT
Director of Marketing....FBB

Olitho

Hah! You are funny Carl, but no, it is better than even that line-up.

Oli

Bad Karma

Yup, the SKF bearings and nordlock kits I bought from hardbar drop shipped from Van Steel.

5280Racer

most of his products are made by van steel.. I call them for whatever I need.