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Category : Auto Industry News

Car Warriors Returns on SpeedTV

November 18th, 2011

You can stop holding your breath–Car Warriors is returning for Season 2 on SpeedTV. The best part? Not only do the lucky contestants get compete on insane dream automotive projects, they also get to work on BendPak / Ranger equipment. That’s right: when you tune in this coming February you’ll see the garage set decked out in none other than BendPak’s finest car lifts and Ranger advanced tire changers.

But hey, 2012 is still a ways off. So to tide you over until then, check out these exclusive behind-the-scenes photos from the Car Warriors set on the official BendPak / Ranger Flickr Page.

BendPak Car Lifts and Automotive Equipment at AAPEX ’11

November 3rd, 2011

We're back at AAPEX / SEMA with a huge selection of brand new automotive innovations and long-standing brand favorites. We'd love for you to come by and take a peek, but if you aren't in Las Vegas this week, you can check out all the goodies right here. New pictures will be posted over the next three days, so make sure to check back often!

Click an image below to be taken to that day's photo set on the Official BendPak Flickr Page.

Monday, October 31 - Pre-Show:

Tuesday, November 1 - Day 1:

Wednesday, November 2 - Day 2:

Thursday, November 3 - Day 3:

BendPak Will Hold Prices Steady Until Mid-2012

September 26th, 2011

At a time when industry wide inflation is hovering around 10%, popular car lift and garage equipment manufacturer BendPak-Ranger announced today to its global dealers and consumers that they will not raise their prices through mid-2012.

The company credits manufacturing efficiencies with easing the rise in raw materials and manufacturing costs. The company’s capabilities and state-of-the-art manufacturing processes at the new 480,000 sq-ft facility allows for leaner and more efficient manufacturing, the ability to forge improved cost-saving relationships with suppliers, as well as increased control over how they conduct their global business.

“We made a promise early this year that we would not let global inflation woes force us to raise prices. We feel for our customers who are having a tough time in this economy. It’s our way of giving back and thanking them for their years of loyalty,” said Jeff Kritzer, BendPak Sr. Vice President, Sales and Marketing. “Our plan is to continue growing in a way that is smart and cost-effective, which should enable us to supply the world market with unrivaled equipment at a consistent, reliable price.”

BendPak continues to develop strategies that grow their business. “While most industry brands continue to raise prices due to lower margins and declining market share, we need to support our dealers and customers across the globe through these tough economic times. We’ve been fortunate with market share and growth both still thriving here,” says company President Don Henthorn.

“We’ve held prices where they are since third quarter 2010 and will continue to hold prices firm for at least six more months. This should help our dealers grow their business and ease the financial crunch that many end-users are strapped with right now. We feel their pain and are taking a stand to give back to our customers, many of whom have supported us for over three decades,” said Henthorn.

Legacy by Petty – See the Unveiling at Petty’s Upcoming Spring Fling Car Show

May 12th, 2011

UPDATE: For everyone who has been dying to see the amazing Legacy by Petty Dodge Challenger, now might be your chance. AllPar.com announced yesterday that Petty’s Garage will be launching the tribute Challenger at 10:30 AM on May 28, 2011. Click the flyer for full details.

What a way to pay tribute to the King, Richard Petty! Petty’s Garage built a commemorative custom Challenger back in December, 2010, as a way to honor the champ. But as an extra kicker, the body features small murals that celebrate key moments in Petty’s career. In essence, the car tells the story of Petty’s professional life, beginning with Petty’s NASCAR Rookie of the Year career start, through his record-setting 200 wins, the seven NASCAR Championships and finally to his more recent work spreading car lift safety awareness. The car has been officially dubbed Legacy by Petty, and it’s a one-of-a-kind Dodge Challenger the likes that will never be seen again.

So what makes this build so unique? Longtime BendPak friends Drop-Top Customs offered their talents to do what they do best—they transformed the classic Dodge Challenger into a fully functional convertible. It turns out that this is the very first convertible to roll out of Petty’s Garage, Richard Petty’s own speed shop for high-performance vehicles.

The base coat on Legacy by Petty is the same trademark Petty Blue color that “The King” made famous on his number ‘43 Superbird. But it’s Petty’s incredible story told by the airbrushed graphics that draws the fans. For that sacred work, airbrush artist Mickey Harris was called on to cover the vehicle with wonderfully detailed images of Petty’s career highlights, including his lap 106 crash in the ’88 Daytona 500 and his Medal of Freedom. Petty is the first motorsports athlete ever to be honored with America’s highest civilian award.

Every rendering was airbrushed freehand by Harris while Petty and an audience looked on during an open-house presentation at Petty’s Garage in Level Cross, North Carolina last November.

Automotive Lift Institute (ALI) president R.W. “Bob” O’Gorman is the car’s owner, planned the customization build to celebrate Petty’s long-standing relationship with the institute. Petty and his son, fellow NASCAR legend Kyle Petty, are the hosts of Lifting It Right, an informational DVD produced and distributed by ALI that focuses on car lift safety.

“Automotive lift safety is not just for the service professional,” said Petty at the event, “It’s important in the hobby and collector market too.”

To further cement the relationship between Legacy by Petty and the Automotive Lift Institute, the automobile also feature’s ALI’s website, www.autolift.org, beneath each door opening. The website is a resource for shop owners, technicians and the public to learn more about buying and using a vehicle lift safely, whether in a professional shop or at home. Legacy by Petty is currently making appearances across North America, honoring Petty’s career while helping to educate consumers about the importance of buying and using certified vehicle lifts correctly.

Legacy by Petty is the result of more than 11 months of design and development. Unlike many shops that outsource much of a build, Petty’s Garage does it all in-house, bringing in top professionals for specialized work when needed. Outside experts collaborating on Legacy by Petty’s build include Murray Pfaff for creative input and final design renderings, Drop-Top Customs for a fully functional convertible conversion, and Katzkin for a leather interior that matches The King’s crocodile skin boots.

For more information about ALI, visit www.autolift.org or call (607) 756-7775. For more information about Petty’s Garage, visit www.pettys-garage.com or call (336) 498-3745.

About ALI

Founded in 1945, the Automotive Lift Institute (ALI) is a trade association of North American-based lift manufacturers. ALI’s mission is to promote the safe design, construction, installation, service and use of automotive lifts. In 1947, ALI developed the first Commercial Standard covering vehicle lifts published by the National Bureau of Standards. Today ALI sponsors several national lift safety standards and offers a third-party certification program for automotive lifts. More information about lift standards and other ALI-sponsored safety activities, such as the lift Safety Training DVD Lifting It Right hosted by Richard and Kyle Petty, can be found on the Institute’s website, www.autolift.org.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, We Give You Exhibit A

April 1st, 2011

Just yesterday we posted our response to growing concerns about the coming inflation, and we pledged to do whatever it takes to keep our costs low. Why? Because we love you guys, and we figured you could use a break.

But wouldn’t you know it? Moments after hitting the submit button on the post, we received a mailer from a pretty major re-seller that featured one of our lifts. Even after all these years, it’s still exciting to see BendPak equipment in print.

In this case however, we were mostly confused. Check out this limited-time ad from early 2010:

If you compare the three lifts, you can see that they all are in the same weight capacity category and they all do essentially the same thing. But somehow the BendPak car lift was merely dubbed “Good.” We can only assume this because we fight like hell to keep our costs down.

What. The. Heck.

So this is where we’re supposed to say, “We’re just as good as the other guys,” right? NO WAY. We’re better than just good and we can prove it.

See, we like to actually back up our claims of good / better / best. You know, instead of relying on some marketing hack (who knows more about fonts than say…engineering) to make assumptions based solely on price. It’s a little thing we like to call truth in advertising.

A little while back we did a toe-to-toe comparison of our lift up against Rotary’s flagship—the SPOA10, just like the one in the ad. We tore that sucker apart and photographed it side-by-side with our own XPR-series two-post car lift.

Spoiler-alert! It wasn’t even a close contest. The photographs speak for themselves, and we invite you to go over our evidence with a magnifying glass: Study in Lift Design Two Post Lift Comparison.

Make no mistake, Rotary Lift makes a quality product. But if Rotary is let’s say a Cadillac, this study proves that BendPak is an M1 Abrams Tank.

Now where does Forward Lift (Rotary’s bargain brand) fall into the mix? We can’t really comment, but Forward, like Rotary does fall beneath the Dover Corporation’s Vehicle Service Group, and for all we know, could be identical to the Rotary with just a different badge.

Incidentally, BendPak doesn’t have a bargain brand. We only serve up our best at the lowest price we can offer. End of story.

So how come a Rotary lift is so much more expensive?

Honestly, we have NO IDEA and can only speculate.

Maybe they caved to the rise in steel prices last summer. Maybe they simply have too many on their payroll. Maybe they are confident that higher prices will give customers the perception that they are a better value so they can keep higher margins. Perhaps they charge more to cover their warranty costs. But that shouldn’t be because their warranty covers only a fraction of BendPak’s warranty. Or just maybe, because they are a public company, they have to elevate profits to keep stockholders happy. Who can say for sure?

Just to be clear, we’ve got nothing bad to say about Rotary and we’ve got nothing against them. They are a fellow member of the Automotive Lift Institute so they obviously care about car lift safety, and they have plenty of satisfied customers.

Our point is this: to indicate that he who has the highest price must have the best product is frankly a little insulting to us, and more importantly, YOU.

Yeah, you guys who are working hard to stretch your dollars. It’s like this ad is saying, “How dare you expect a quality product at a good price.”

Don’t fall for it. Do your research and get the right lift for you, even if you don’t go with us. That’s what we’ve been saying all along.

But hey, if anyone is uncomfortable saving money while still getting the best, you’re welcome to give our dealers an extra $1,000. We’re sure they’d be very happy to offer the extra peace of mind.

Thanks for reading.

-The BendPak Team

Fighting Inflation and Keeping Costs Low

March 31st, 2011

Wednesday, the head of mega retailer Wal-Mart’s U.S. operations warned USA TODAY’S editorial board that the coming inflation is “going to be serious” and that he is seeing “cost increases starting to come through at a pretty rapid rate.”

On the manufacturing side, automotive equipment companies like BendPak Inc. have already been hit hard with a 20% spike in raw steel costs beginning in July, 2010. Despite this, BendPak Inc. was able to keep prices stable below the industry average with most products only seeing a price increase between 3% and 14%.

“BendPak’s commitment to the consumer has always been to keep quality high and costs reasonable. We saw the steel hikes coming and were able to make the necessary cuts to protect our customers from feeling the pinch,” said Jeff Kritzer, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at BendPak Inc.

Still, industry experts say that consumer anxiety over the falling U.S. dollar could be a compounding factor in a potential double-dip recession. USA TODAY reported that inflation worries pushed the Consumer Confidence Index down by 8.6 points in March.

“What we don’t want to see is a self-fulfilling prophecy due to overreaction,” said Derek Taylor, BendPak’s Communications Director. “Social networks are exploding with the bad news but we are taking the cautiously optimistic approach.”

“BendPak is able to run a lot leaner than most people realize, mostly because we have complete control over our own factories,” said Jeff Kritzer. “We’re digging in our heels and holding the line on prices, and we can do it longer than anyone else.”

BendPak MD-6XP Car Lift Seen on Mythbusters

November 24th, 2010

One sharp BendPak fan brought it to our attention that the MD-6XP scissor car lift was used on last week’s episode of Mythbusters! And it’s pretty appropriate too, considering that in the episode they took apart a Porsche 928 and flipped it around to run BACKWARDS. (What else would you use it for, right?) It’s a test in aerodynamics like we’ve never seen before.

The episode is called “Reverse Engineering,” and it’s available on Amazon to watch right now. For those who don’t want to pay $2 to watch a television show, we were able to also scrounge up an aftershow segment called “The Combustion Chamber,” where hosts Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage give behind-the-scenes insight into that week’s episode.

Update: you can also check out the episode clip below:

BendPak at AAPEX ’10

November 2nd, 2010

It’s AAPEX time again! We hope you’re able to join us in Las Vegas for AAPEX 2010 but if not, don’t worry! We’ve got you covered with some pictures straight from the show.

Check them out on the official BendPak Flickr page.

RML-750 Motorcycle Lift Customer Installation Pictures

October 20th, 2010

We love it when this happens!

Today, a satisfied customer sent us a couple of great shots of his brand new Ranger RML-750 Motorcycle Lift. As you can see, he went the extra mile and installed it in the concrete so the unit lays flush with the garage floor when not in use. It’s a really clean, classy look for garages that are pressed for work space.

He also included a couple shots of it lifting his sweet Harley. Hope you enjoy the photos on the BendPak Flickr page!

Oh, and if you’d like your BendPak / Ranger product pics to be featured in a blog, go ahead and send them to us at contact@bendpak.com

BendPak’s Pilgrimage to the Holy Land of Cars

October 5th, 2010

Recently, a few of our dedicated gear heads visited the Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, CA, where you can find the most expensive car in the world on display: the 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic.

Known as the Williamson car, it was purchased by the Mullin Automotive Museum from Dr. Peter Williamson in an auction. The undisclosed price is estimated to be between $30 and $40 million, and only two remaining models exist in the world.

This model is specifically known as Chassis #57374. It’s identifiable as the first production Atlantic from the lower, deeper set headlights. Rumor has it that this particular Atlantic was built with parts from the original Aerolithe prototype. The vehicle’s first lucky owner was Lord Philippe de Rothschild of London. He was the one who chose the color light blue color. So if you don’t like it, blame him. A later owner sent the car back to Bugatti three years after it was built to get a supercharger. Following the war, Los Angeles resident Bob Oliver came into ownership of Chassis #57374 and made several notable modifications. He changed the window sizes and repainted the car red! When it finally made its way around to Dr. Williamson in the late 70s, he spent a small fortune restoring the Bugatti to its original 1936 specifications. This Type 57SC Atlantic has been displayed for public viewing since 2003. The museum acquired the car in May 2010.

The Mullin Automotive Museum is also home to examples of the finest of historic French automobiles, as well as a surprising amount of vintage art deco pieces. Along with the most expensive car in the world, there are hundreds of other gorgeous vehicles including some Delahayes, Voisins, Hispano Suizas, Talbot-Lagos and, of course, a beautiful collection of Bugattis.

If you are any sort of a car fan, the Mullin Automotive Museum is definitely something you should check out if you’re anywhere near Southern California. It’s a great way to spend some free time and expand your knowledge about vintage, artistic and downright classy cars. There’s even furniture, sculptures and paintings to satisfy your artistic cravings.

We urge our car enthusiasts to take this trip to Oxnard but if you can’t make it, don’t worry. We’ve got plenty of pictures for your enjoyment (but they really don’t do this place justice).

Check them out! Let us know what you think.