Folks Of Interest Holley Performance has acquired Halibrand

It was actually started in Culver City California I believe, but I did find this old article on them

Nov 16, 2003, 11:00pm CST
Updated Nov 14, 2003, 11:08am CST

Halibrand Engineering Corp. Inc., a business started in 1947 in Wellington, Kan., has converted its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization to Chapter 7. While the business will soon close, a new company has been created in its place, called Halibrand Performance Corp. Inc.

Richard LeJuerrne is president and CEO of Halibrand Performance, as well as Halibrand Engineering. When he formed Halibrand Performance last year, the business bought the old company's tangible and intangible assets, including equipment. The money went to Fidelity Bank, which was a creditor.

It had become clear, LeJuerrne says, that reorganizing wasn't going to work for Halibrand Engineering.

Halibrand Performance now operates in much the same way as Halibrand Engineering, but LeJuerrne says some changes have been made to assure that the company doesn't go through the same problems as before.

Aircraft part manufacturer Triumph Group Inc., based in Pennsylvania, is listed as the biggest secured creditor. It is owed $650,000. Triumph has been given back inventory it had consigned to Halibrand, but LeJuerrne says he is unsure if the company has been paid back in full. Triumph officials did not return calls for this story.

According to the Halibrand bankruptcy file, there are more than 25 creditors in and around Wichita who are listed as having unsecured, nonpriority claims.

The Chapter 7 liquidation indicates that there is nothing of value left to pay off those creditors.

"The bottom line is there are no assets," LeJuerrne says.

Continued business?
Some Wichita creditors listed in the bankruptcy filing include Dealers Leasing, Fidelity Bank and City Blue Print. Dave Anderson, owner of Dealers Leasing, says his company was never paid for leasing a tractor to Halibrand about two years ago. Dealers Leasing is owed about $20,000.

"As an unsecured creditor, the likelihood of us collecting anything is very low," he says.

Even though Halibrand is a totally new company now, Anderson says he isn't willing to take the risk by doing any work with it.

"Once stung, we probably wouldn't go back to the trough another time," Anderson says. "Actually, I can unequivocally say we would not. There would be absolutely no compelling reason for us to ever do business with him again."

Toby Ward, co-owner of Custom Polishing Pros, says he isn't worried about the future of the new Halibrand company. Ward started working with Halibrand last year, after it had changed to Halibrand Performance. He says he's consistently getting paid and will continue to work with LeJuerrne.

"I have faith in the guy," Ward says. "He's been around a long time."

Halibrand Engineering originally filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in August 2001. LeJuerrne says the business was doing fine until a major supplier filed for bankruptcy. That caused sales for Halibrand to drop considerably. According to bankruptcy filings, net revenue at Halibrand went from about $1.7 million in 2000 to $821,000 in 2001.

Halibrand stayed in Chapter 11 for a while and tried to reorganize, but the effects of Sept. 11, 2001 derailed the plans.





"We had an aggressive plan, but that wouldn't work," he says.

Halibrand Engineering will eventually dissolve, leaving only the new corporation in business.

Halibrand now makes one-piece wheels from aluminum and magnesium, as well as rear axle assemblies and other accessories for after-market vehicles. LeJuerrne says Halibrand always sold directly to end users, but he recently realized that more money could be made by selling to big distributors. That's something Halibrand will now focus on to build its business.

"The good news is the new corporation doesn't have any debt," he says. "This just brings to closure all of the problems Halibrand Engineering had and allows us to move forward

 

Well, Rich is gone and apparently Holley bought in some time ago. It will be interesting to see if the do anything constructive with it. I'd love to see some tooling put to use in the USA but I'm not holding my breathe. I don't think made in China will cut it any longer.

I grew up wanting Halibrand wheels in the worst way but they were like the holy grail. I bought my first set in the early 90's. That first set got me going and I started buying and restoring Hals, which I did ever since. Sadly they have become too expensive even in poor condition to continue. When my now meager inventory is gone that will be it.

My favorites have always been the earlier sand-cast wheels but the later pressure molded wheels were real jewelry no matter where they came from.

The Chinese were put in the wheel business by the OEM car and truck companies. The offshore Halibrands were and are good wheels from a manufacturing point of view. However they are probably not good as a future product for importation into our rebuilt economy.

Just my thoughts as a long time enthusiast, not meant as any sort of a political rant.

 

After reading all of this it appears that the OP was just a “loose end” to be dealt with while closing the Lejuerrne/Holley deal. Can’t have some other party using the logo of the company you’re trying to sell.
Interesting thread. Swooping in and grabbing a trademark registration when it expires probably seemed ok at the time but as someone said he didn’t do his homework to see if it would stick. I’m guessing that the OP’s bankruptcy was a defensive move to protect his personal assets from any punitive award.


Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

"Halibrand Engineering Corp. Inc., a business started in 1947 in Wellington, Kan."
This part is bullshit to start with as Ted Halibrand started the company in California and it was very much later that LeJuerne's KS based operation acquired the rights to use the name. I need to call Ted's grand daughter and see how the family feels about this latest development.

Roo

 

I wouldn't get too excited about what uncle buck posted. I believe he was just passing along what someone else wrote. There are a number of Halibrand threads on the HAMB that trace the Halibrand line from Ted Halibrand forward. It has been owned a number of times after Ted Halibrand and some of the interim information is old and not very well documented. Certainly not overly important to where the Halibrand product is today nor does it reflect poorly on Ted Halibrand. 70 some years have passed by...it's gonna be a little fuzzy as most of us weren't privy to the goings on, me included.

 

Back in 1969 I talked to Mr Halibrand at the Torrance, Ca shop about buying some sprint mags for my girlfriend’s brand new Opel GT. He was a cautious man. He didn’t want to sell me the magnesium wheels for street use. I told him I had his 15x10 dragster rears on my street ‘33 coupe and he said he didn’t recommend it. He was nice about it and I was disappointed but I took his advice and we went to Ansen and bought their aluminum Sprints instead. (Nowhere near as cool)
I hope Holley puts out a traditional line of wheels to keep the Halibrand legend alive.


Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Exactly, I only posted it to show what I thought was an interesting article on what supposedly happened to the business under Richard LeJuerne’s ownership. I believe Culver City was actually where Ted started the business


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

I never met Ted, but my late racing partner Bruce Geisler knew him well and had said that Culver City was the first location of Halibrand Engineering.

 

Which is why the early rear covers say Culver city and the later ones say Torranse(city)

 

Came across yesterday
I worked for them while they were in Santee Ca it was about 18 months after Wayne had bought the company .was surprised to see that it ended up the way it did ,Here is a bit more of the history of the place .When Ted sold it had a turn over of 14m within two years it went down to 12 m Jackman took it down to 400k during his ownership Wayne took over a 4 yr SBA loan that was 7 yrs delinquent if my memory is correct there was a 50 k debt at the foundry that he took over .we couldn't make them fast enough -every wheel that came in was sold
Wayne did 400 in the first year 800 in year two and looked to heading to a mill plus in year 3
The wife and i came very close to buying the place (bought the lawyer in to get the talks going ) but was lied to by Wayne about the debt and a couple of other things After i left heard that it was listed with a broker and we reached out to find out the real numbers
As things worked out i currently machine a model A and a V8 quick change for a gentleman in Australia .Have started the patterns for a sprint car case

 

Four pages now, and still no response from the OP?

Holley buys lots of companies, and they usually cheapen the parts a little, but never so badly that they get a really bad rap for what they do. It will be interesting to see what their plan is for Halibrand. So far it looks like just Tee shirts!

 

Considering the product diversity of most conglomerates, I've often wondered how a manager directing a new acquisition is chosen when a company is taken over.
Choosing someone that knows the given industry and product history would make the most sense but often it's as if it is the smartest bean counter in his class at business school.

 

I knew I shoulda bought it when I had the chance.
Only thing stopping me was $$$$


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

chopped is right! Why do we keep buying these bad Chinese products?

 

1. low price
2. familiar sounding name (familiar, not the same though)
3. no longer made in the USA
4. and on and on

 

Read somewhere that Holley acquired Quick Change molds, parts, etc. with the Halibrand deal...

So, just wheels or Quickies, eventually? Or just tee shirts? (groan...)

 

checking the Holley website the only thing i see with Halibrand on it are T shirts

 

The fact that, as of Halloween 2021, there’s dozens of container ships anchored just off (my) left coast unable to unload doesn’t bother me in the least. I see millions of tons of stuff not made here (assumed to be mostly Chinese) just sitting. Good! Americans must wake up to the fact that we’re wittingly contributing to our demise while supercharging their rise. Let’s face it, the Chinese Communists are better and more ruthless capitalists than we ever dreamed of becoming. If we have to buy Chinese stuff, let it come from Taiwan. They need our support.
I’m guilty of buying some Chinese stuff over the past 20 years, example: HF aluminum floor jack for $59, well made and has held up well. But, that’s all over.
I’m now making the extra effort to look for Made in America. It appears that Summit Racing is doing something as well by identifying non domestic sources.
I have seen the enemy and it is us. (I will only be buying new 6 pin magnesium Halibrands for my Shelby if Holley does the right thing and makes them here.)