AirborneSilva

For those of you whom know I am one of the unlucky ones that lost the price of a TKO transmission kit to Keisler. I get regular mail from the bankruptcy court with what’s going on since I am a creditor, so the other day I got mail from the court that basically states they have sold all equipment and in-stock items to a company called Silver Sport Transmissions. I did a quick google search on them, found their page (which is redirected from Keisler’s old site), looked at the “message from CEO” page which confirmed that they had bought all manufacturing assets. Below is the message from the CEO:

“Hi, I am Jack Silver. I lead a group of investors who purchased the assets of Keisler Engineering on April 10, 2014 and formed Silver Sport Transmissions, LLC (“SST”).
This was not a spur-of-the moment decision. The Keisler Acquisition Team spent more than 8 man-months performing due diligence on product quality, engineering capability, manufacturing capability and the Keisler bankruptcy. It is our opinion that the former Keisler Engineering products are the BEST available in the market. The reason for the Keisler bankruptcy had nothing to do with the products we now own nor the market we now participate in.
We purchased all of the Keisler Engineering assets. This purchase includes, among other things, the following items:
• All Customer Lists
• All Vendor Lists
• All Keisler Trademarks, Patents and Intellectual Property
• The Keisler Name
• PerfectFit™ Kits (and the part numbers required to build them)
Not only does SST own the best products in the marketplace but it also retained the services of the best former Keisler Engineering employees. In particular, Dick McCord our VP of Engineering and Operations, has over 25 years of experience actually designing manual transmissions for Borg Warner, GM Powertrain and New Venture Gear (GM & Chrysler joint venture). Dick provides SST with expertise unparalleled in the marketplace. SST will continue its product innovation and continue to provide the best products available.
SST brings to the market a completely new way of doing business. We are extremely well capitalized and we have NO DEBT.
SST will NOT require large deposits when you order a transmission. We will have stock sitting on the shelf. We will give firm delivery dates, ship complete and provide outstanding customer support.
It is unfortunate that Mr. Keisler chose to send an email to our customers and vendors shortly after we completed our purchase. I want to emphasize that Mr. Keisler is not associated with SST in any manner, nor was he authorized to use our company's contact lists. Mr. Keisler’s communication and the resulting confusion/speculation has caused us to announce the formation of SST earlier than planned. We apologize for any confusion his actions have caused.
In order to prevent our customers and vendors from being bombarded with unwanted emails, we have temporarily shut down all access (even our own) to our mail service contact list. If you have received unwanted emails, please do not unsubscribe from our contact list as we will make additional announcements and updates soon.
Silver Sport Transmissions has hit the ground running. Our full webpage is under construction to display our complete line of products and services. SST's phone lines will soon be in place to take your orders and answer your questions. Until then, if you would like additional information, please contact Jeff Kauffman here.
Sincerely,
Jack Silver”

Encouraged by what I read I sent an e-mail to Mr. Jeff Kauffman, he sent an e-mail back the same evening with his personal cell phone number and asked me to call. I called the next day and had a nice chat with Jeff.

I asked if they were going to be offering the TKO kits for C3’s he said that they will be offering the kits, I then asked when they would be ready to start production, he said they should have kits on the shelf ready to ship in the not too distant future but don’t want to announce that until they are certain and have everything in place so as to avoid delays and or disappointments but I think the key word here is “on the shelf”. Jeff then told me that they will not do business as usual the way it was done with Keisler, they will actually have kits ready to ship when people order them. I then asked about pricing, Jeff said they hadn’t set a definite price as of yet but that it would be in line with what Keisler was charging as they feel it was/is a fair price.

jim-81

That sounds like good news. Good job finding that and posting it. I hope to one day do the auto-to-manual conversion.

AirborneSilva

Thanks Jim, I really do enjoy driving the vette going through the gears but there has been several times when i reach for another gear and it's just not there. My tranny is getting long in the tooth too, when it get's hot shifting is quite a bit harder, cold it shifts fine Can't wait till I can get a nice 5 speed in it

DCB78Corvette

That is really good news. I always felt that Keisler's problems were not the product, but the management.

AirborneSilva

Yeah, that's why I went with their kit in the first place and will go with this company too, the kit just seems very well thought out and complete.

Priya

Down the road I may need to change the speedometer drive on my Keisler transmission from mechanical to electronic. Hopefully they'll have what I need.

bebezote

Thanks for the update Airborne.... how can i get on the list or email Mr Kauffman?

Much appreciate the info !!

Priya

Jack Silver got a wale of a deal on the Kiesler equipment and assets buying them for a tiny fraction of their original cost.

Dustup7T2

Thanks Airborne.

Missed your original post until now and sounds like the new business is pointed in the right direction. For you and anyone else affected, I certainly hope so.

Happy to read that you are receiving answers that appear satisfactory. I know that the products work and wish all involved, as happy an ending as I have been fortunate to enjoy.

Lupigiato

Sounds very promising. Thanks for sharing.

AirborneSilva

Thanks guys, I have high hopes for Silver Sport Transmission. I know that keisler put out a great product so Silver Sport has a good running start.

bebe, you can contact Jeff here:
http://www.keislerauto.com/contactus.php

B Carson

Thanks for the post Airborne.

I was also one of the unfortunate one's who lost $5000 to Keisler.

Would still love to get a conversion kit for my 72. So this sounds hopeful.

AirborneSilva

Wow, you lost a bit more than I did - sorry brother! It stings when I think how much further along I could be in my resto if I had that $3,200 back, I could have all of my parts for the dash resto along with Vintage Air

509 rat

brand new company, I would stay away for many years tell proven.

AirborneSilva

I get what you're saying but if everyone stayed away from "brand new" companies there wouldn't be any new companies.

If you think their product will be junk because they are a new company you've gotta take into consideration that they are not reinventing the TKO kit, they bought Keislers which is a proven kit.

Paranoia is a good thing but you need to weigh the options, look at all the data and make a call. I will be buying from this new company, after talking to Jeff I feel comfortable doing so but yes I am taking reasonable precautions this time to ensure my money is not going down a rabbit hole!

SilverOverdrives

Mr. Silva,

Thank you for posting this information.

I want to step in and get everyone up to speed on what has been happening here.

April 10th - We closed on the Keisler Engineering assets.
April 14th - Employees started work to begin shop clean out and organization. Large amounts of accumulation have been removed and the shop has been reconfigured for proper product flow, inventory and build. We were proudly able to bring in most of the previous employees of Keisler; these are hard working and dedicated people that have 100% focus on customer service and satisfaction.
April 21st - Authorized Tremec reseller agreement came in.
April 30th - Wiring is being installed for the new computer and phone systems.

Shipments of transmissions are arriving for pre-build and shelf stock.

Web design is under way and we hope to have the new website completed, or at least partially functional, by the time we open.

Phone numbers will be published once the phone system is installed and functioning.

We still have a ton of work to do and hope to be open by the middle of May. We are not opening until everything is in place and transmissions are on the shelf for either immediate shipping or fast build with a lead time of 3-5 days.

We have received a lot of questions regarding the SS700. In the beginning, we are opening the doors offering our line of PerfectFit™ Tremec TKOs and the Magnum 6 speed. The SS700 design is under review and future product announcements will not be made until testing is complete and units are available to ship.

Kit deposits - If the unit is in stock, you pay for the kit and it ships same or next day. If it requires a build time, deposits will be limited to $250 if we even require a deposit.

The re-manufactured RS 5 speed and A41 automatic lines have been dropped. SST will not be offering kits based on those products.

I can be reached directly by email at jeff.kauffman@shiftsst.com.

Priya

I'm disappointed to hear that. Will you still be servicing the RS line, will I be able to get an electronic speedometer drive for the RS400?

Raphiki

This is great news Jeff. Do you have any plans to offer support for those of us who bought TKO's from Keisler?

509 rat

I hope they do well, I just like to do business with people, and companies that have been around for a while.I would be keeping an eye on there t56 kit.

AirborneSilva