For the past umpteen years, we’ve been attending two shows with our display: the Syracuse Nationals (in Syracuse), and the NSRA Street Rod Nationals Plus in Louisville. This year, we’ll also attend those two shows. If you stop by our usual booth location though, you will notice something different. No, Paul didn’t dye his hair. Guess again. Nope- we didn’t get one of those tractor trailers with the “not for hire” sticker on the window. The only thing that’s changed is whose display is in that spot- it’s not ours! After a lot of discussion, we’ve decided to relinquish our vendor spots and attend the shows in the ’32 as participants.

Maintaining the display will take away a lot of production and shipping time (we are, after all, in the hot rod chassis parts business), and Paul and Dorothy are getting to the point that they no longer want to stand in the same place for a few days. Since his name is on the door, if he wants to walk, let the man walk. I benefit as well, since my wife and children will probably come to Louisville with me to hang out and participate. We’ll get to roam and check out cars together!

All three of us enjoy talking with everyone who stops in to the booth, so that’s definitely a down side. Even though we won’t have a display, we’ll still enjoy talking with people around the fairgrounds. I’ll be updating our Facebook page from the show as well.

I realize I didn’t need to explain all that, but I wanted to convey the point that business is going well and this is a decision which we didn’t make lightly. For a family business, deciding how you spend your time is key. We want to keep our business sharply focused on getting high quality parts out the door quickly, and this is one way we feel we’re deliberately maintaining that focus.

I’m interested to hear your feedback.