Stoddard has been sold....

[soterik HTH....! Find all posts View Profile Close soterik]

Purchased by Rose Passion out of France. Heard they are looking for others as well.... SMC next?

[bob joyce 2.4L Find all posts View Profile Close bob joyce]

kinda earth shaking

[JP aka LiveFromNY Find all posts View Profile Close JP]

From an ecommerce perspective, Stoddard is a huge opportunity with the most upside. My partners and I actually discussed taking a run at it ourselves a couple years back. Probably should have.

On the upside, I've had good experiences with RP in the past.

[bob joyce 2.4L Find all posts View Profile Close bob joyce]

will RP keep the faith and acquire/recreate new parts?
Does anyone know if they will run it as "Stoddard" or a whole new business plan
good to hear you have had good experience with them
just recently heard somewere a similar review

[soterik HTH....! Find all posts View Profile Close soterik]

I kinda expected this last year. His (Bruce Schwartz owner of Stoddard) wife sold her family business over a year ago... so it's not suprising. Bruce is 73, I've never seen or heard that he had children wanting to carry on in the business.

In terms of where the business goes it could be just about anything. I know that there was essentially nobody else besides Bruce and Brad at SEMA looking at new product manufacturers, but there's a manufacturing database that they have that RP can utilize to continue to make products that they deem necessary to the business. But, Dansk continues to grow their own manufacturing so maybe you just use them and others like URO and rely on them to do the legwork on product development warehousing etc. Yes, the margins are higher when you make your own products, but you then own your own inventory (and the risk with it). I was told that SMC was Stoddards biggest account, so there's that. There's quite a few other retailers who rely on Stoddard as well.

The biggest line at Rennsport was to buy swag... a 4 hour long line. Porsche is a "global brand" with influencers.. their own brand of paint for your house, nail polish for you or your significant other.. and "Icons of Porsche" who will sign your poster (they are the influencers btw.. not who you would think they are). Personally I think that Porsche can't wait for guys like me to die so that they can continue to push forward without any alternate opinions of their direction. Puma shoes anyone?

It will be interesting to see where this all goes. I know that if I knew 5 years ago what I know now that my business would be radically different.

[bob joyce 2.4L Find all posts View Profile Close bob joyce]

i talked to a representative from URO at rennsport about the tie rod problem/how it was not handled properly by autohouseaz
they were totally unaware of any returns on the item
they apologized and said THEY would take care of it
they understood that the development/quality control is dependent on reporting. ( i apologies for being sloppy at that)
so i bought an URO cylinder deflector set
it was very well packaged, and the parts looked terrific
it appears that they want to step-up

[jaudette3 Really? Find all posts View Profile Close jaudette3]

I wonder if they might be interested in a small boutique specializing in lighting...

[soterik HTH....! Find all posts View Profile Close soterik]

I wonder if they might be interested in a small boutique specializing in lighting...

I've already told them I'm not interested...

[soterik HTH....! Find all posts View Profile Close soterik]

Lit meet is going forward as usual, just confirmed.

[jaudette3 Really? Find all posts View Profile Close jaudette3]

I've already told them I'm not interested...

Well done...

[haul it´s easy on a triumph Find all posts View Profile Close haul]

Purchased by Rose Passion out of France. Heard they are looking for others as well.... SMC next?

this is a surprising and disturbing news.

[Tom F2 2.4 Find all posts View Profile Close Tom F2]

Hard to wrap my head around this. When I started in this hobby, Chuck Stoddard was still coming to tech sessions and his catalogue was my bible. I've been unhappy about many of the changes in the community that supports our ancient air-cooleds, but not sure whether my sentiments are reasonable, or just the rumination of an aging white male. I'd love to hear what Eric would have done differently. Why is it that the 356 community is so much more successful? The 911 world is a dysfunctional family in comparison.

[jaudette3]

My speculation is that the 356 community is dominated by owners of a certain age, most members of the Greatest Generation.

[wingless 2.0L Find all posts View Profile Close wingless]

Was VERY happy w/ Stoddard when I purchased LOTS of stuff from them in the late 80s.

Holding out hope that the new owners will again make Stoddard a go-to stop for parts shopping.

[raspritz 2.0L Find all posts View Profile Close raspritz]

This is such an interesting thread. I know much less than many of you, but I've been involved in several other "fringe" hobbies involving out-of-production semi-antique items that have waxed and waned over the years in popularity and value. In each case a group of cottage industries and distributors have sprung up to supply replacement parts (including myself, at one point). In most cases, those were centered around one or a few principals, who eventually aged out. As did the consumers of those hobby items. We'll see what happens with early Porsches and suppliers, but to my eyes this situation looks far healthier than others i've seen over the decades, particularly given that Porsche still exists and produces cars, thus maintaining a fundamental consumer base.

[jaudette3 Really? Find all posts View Profile Close jaudette3]

Speaking of "aging out". I know someone in Oregon that is an apt term for.