Edelbrock Leaves So Cal...

And yet California continues to grow with new, innovative business' and our population continues to grow, too. California recently passed Great Britain to move up to become the fifth largest economy in the world. Last tally (calendar year 2019), California grew by about 87,000 new residents. These are actual facts, and cannot be denied.

 

True...most have no clue and watch too much FOX news.

 

PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT "THE BOSS" IS SAYING.

 

Isky just bought a CNC cam grinder, expect delivery in August . Isky would be bought for the Name only, production level is just too small at this time, equipment is too old right now to ramp up production, they grind 5 cams to comps 50 in a day

 

Big Companies are always ripe for a take over from larger conglomerates who want to make their profits/stock grow. Several of the companies that I used to buy from now sell junk or, I guess in my mind, inferior parts. I used one company and was gifted by huge shipping costs, bunches of catalogs, tons of emails, and poor communication.
Because of this, I have searched out other suppliers. You would be surprised how many small machinist shops, parts suppliers, restorers, and mechanics there are, you just have to look.
Lots of companies go to other states, lots of companies sell outright, lots of companies just say F*^k it and close. That's life. When one goes, another starts. try to use alliance members.

 

Thats exactly what's happening in Pittsburgh..

 

I fully understand I was just pointing out a historical fact.

The history of these two companies is why I have done business with them. As @Ryan says Edelbrock means a great deal to me.
The first piece of brand new speed equipment I ever bought (at 18) was an Edelbrock intake for my 302 Ranger swap.
I wanted an Edelbrock because of their history!

I have a vintage Edelbrock intake on my 261 Chevrolet six, it may sound silly but I always wonder was that intake machined by Vic Sr., or Bobby Meeks. Was it packaged by Vic Jr when he was a young man learning the ropes.

 

True but just as Offenhauser has, Isky has pretty well kept the costs under control and while not having semi truck loads of product go out the door every day has had a continual business with what I would figure is probably an honest net profit at the end of the year. You don't produce as much in that old building that you have owned for decades with the equipment you have used since you moved into the building but you don't have the overhead, Taxes are a tad lower because you aren't on the "main drag business street" You don't have thousands of dollars of loan payments to make every month before you can give yourself a paycheck.

I've seen three very successful long time manufacturing businesses go down the crapper in the past few years simply because the grandiose plans of the people running them broke their back when things got tight for a while. Going way too far in debt to put on a big show with new facilities and then getting hit with the tight money situation about 12 years ago did them in. No going to the landlord and telling them that they needed to stop renting one of the buildings during the down turn. The other went under when the son of the original owner took over and his high living drained the finances.


A check of the map the other day To see where Edelbrock moved to shows that they are/have moved to a Burb of Memphis on the Mississippi side of the line. That whole group of companies under that umbrella seem to be in their own buildings in their own towns. They are all within a few minutes drive time from each other but not sitting in one row of industrial buildings.
A check of rea estate offerings in those towns shows that right now 300/400 K will buy you a home that you can't look at in the LA area for under a million.

 

I guarantee, Ed isnt hurting for money. Ed will be turning 100 this year and pretty much out of the day to day business end of it

 

Ryan, I didn't know you are from South Carolina! HRP

 

I don't know about that. Yes, I've seen the press announcements too, almost every day some large corporation is announcing their new goal of being "carbon neutral" by such & such date (2050 is the most common year, but some are being aggressive and claiming 2030). But there are some monumental hurdles to be cleared for all that to happen, and I'm not so sure they will be. I would expand on that, but I think it would take the thread a direction that Ryan and Jive-Bomer probably don't want to see it go, so I'll drop it. I'm just sayin....

 

Wages, regulation, taxes, real estate, utilities .. are all geographic factual differences.

One can upgrade production practice, or find a cheaper supply chain, to lower product costs, but those other factors mentioned above .. .. are forces a business cannot control, under their own roof.

A lot of businesses can't, and won't survive .. because change like this, is unthinkable. When outside forces change your inside profit paradigms, dramatically .. if you can't or won't change LIKE THIS, one cannot continue in the same profit expectations.

Being where they are, or were .. much of the original outside forces, has changed dramatically. Facts.

Soooo' .. time to move. $$$$$$$$ is why. There are no other reasons.

Companies consolidate and merge to increase viability. Moving is just another viability factor, with a huge immediate impact.

Heck .. .. FedEx headquarters is a stone's throw away, from the new Edelbrock site. May as well be in the same city. Another "etc." bonus.

A major pocket knife manufacturer moved. Their 1st year showed a million dollar electric utility savings.

Again, geographic factors contribute exponentially.

It isn't political, its profits. AKA --> Capitalism. So be it. It's traditional.

Don't cry.

 

@Special Ed unfortunately manufacturing margins have always been smaller and more efficient business move in and thrive... Oh heck I would love to live in Cali ,take the woody to surf in the morning hotrod 32 coupe in the after noon to the mountains to snowboard now thats living

Heck I am just happy to hear Edelbrock is not closing their doors like Walker

 

Boomer!

 

I can handle a lot of companies leaving California but there is a history, tradition and a cultural movement behind Edelbrock that makes it difficult to stomach. Hotrodders are getting old and we are a declining population. And it isn't near as easy to change to an aftermarket intake on a new car as it once was. I wonder how this will figure into their business plan.

 

It's really sad that another 270 Americans that worked a product MADE IN USA are now out of work......just really sad. Was it worth it ???

 

Why, pray tell, do these topics always, without fail, turn into political California bashing sessions?

Ryan, please shut this down. There aren’t enough adults in the room to keep politics out of the conversation.

 

Because it's politics that drive these businesses out of the state. It wasn't the weather, it was the cost of business and guess what, that increase in cost of business in CA can be blamed on politics.

 

Defenetly not the weather. In My business 80-85% of our inventory ships out of olive branch and the weather shut it all down last week, which effected lots of people throughout the entire southeast. My biz alone services about 1,000 customers a week many of which we had to disappoint due to weather in olive branch...... Of course CA has plenty of natural and environmental challenges like quakes fires and mud slides too.

Sad to see this happen to Edelbrock but as stated previously by many in this thread and more. The world is changing rapidly we and our lifestyle will be going the way of the dinosaurs in a generation or so. Maybe this move will help prolong that for a historic company. I'm sure some of their employees may be interested in following them to Olive branch and enjoying an improved cost of living and politely climate as well.

Time will tell

 

In 30 years, you say ? That is just peachy keen with me because in 2051 I will have been fertilizing daisies, artichokes, or maybe weed for 20 or more years. AND, my Deuce highboy roadster will still be SBC powered, hopefully with a full tank of gas but certainly no electric receptacle to be found !

 

He is a Sooner ? OMG. Well, at least he landed here as soon as he could ! Oh, and Kevin, too !

 

Uh, HRP, he actually is a TEXAN, has always been a TEXAN, but claimed Soonerville as his birth place so as not to piss off Kalifornicaters ! LOL.

 

similar to our first 283 SBC build with 6 Stromberg carbs on an Edlebrock manifold.

Hello,

It is a sad day in So Cal history that such a part of all of us is going away. Whether it is closing shop permanently or being swallowed up by another company in these trying times. It is not a field day for bashing the business decision, but, look at the continuing services of a long time So Cal giant. Our Edlebrock involvement was started in the early 50s, according to my dad’s friend in Los Angeles.

When those hot rod guys were opening shops all over central Los Angeles, they all seemed to know each other or went to school with one or another. If they were in the hot rod/automotive business learned from automotive schools or just in the backyard schools, they applied and contributed to all of our own histories.

It is not California bashing that is the topic. It is the sad news that once a huge part of all of our lives was coming to a close. To keep something available, the decision to move and probably downsize within a larger corporation was the way it has to be. At least, the name will continue and the history will still be in the record/history books. Much like the So Cal favorite, Hilborn Injector Company or Fuel Injection Engineering, to keep the technology alive and well, decisions have to be made.

Jnaki

So, instead of bashing the information, we should all be proud to have been connected to Edlebrock in one way or another. For the times we needed some speed parts, the name Edlebrock was a big part of our Precision Racing Engine builds.

The original 6 Stromberg Carb manifold for the 283 ci SBC motor was sold. With the new Isky-Gilmer Belt Drive Kit, came an Edlebrock manifold to be a part of the newly designed and supplied kit in 1960. The Stromberg Carbs went on a flat Weiand Manifold for the 671 supercharged 292 ci SBC motor. (that new Isky-Gilmer kit came from our resources in Los Angeles, with ties to Edlebrock.)
Thank you...

 

American Stamping Co. the makers of Deuce and '34 frame rails is also located in Olive Branch Miss. Looks like Miss. is becoming the center of the hot rod community.