Background
I have designed many plastic parts with my last stint in corporate life being 15 years as the Senior Mechanical Designer for a prominent medical device manufacturer. I worked with a great team of people there and am named on 5 US Patents for plastic parts used in and as Medical Devices. In addition, I spec’d, maintained, repaired and ran the industrial 3D printers that we had. This is a solid background for this current stage of my life, running my own 3D printing company.
Cars have always been in my blood. When I was a kid it was matchbox cars and building models. At 17 I got my first German car, a beat 1980 Volkswagen Jetta. That car taught me how to turn a wrench, a skill that I have honed in the many years (and many German cars) since then. From replacing brakes, clutches, suspensions and even swapping a more modern Subaru engine into my Westy, I’ve done a lot.
I got my driver’s license at 16 and even before I had my own car, I was involved in motor sport. It started out as autocross. Then morphed into crewing for several racing teams. I’ve flagged at Sear Point raceway. After 10 years of autocross I moved on to participating in track days. Ice racing and road rally were also given a go as well..
In 2007 I purchased my 1985 VW Wolfsburg Weekender Westy. I have spent the entire time replacing and upgrading, making her better than new. That lead me into combining two of my passions, so designing parts just sort of happened. I am developing parts which are no longer available (NLA) but also specialty parts as fun and inspired replacements. There are select products (basically stuff that I thought had that cool factor and I wanted to install on my van) that I sell as well. Having a good relationship with my vendors is key in providing these products to you. 🙂
In addition to my Westy I own a first gen Porsche Boxster. I have wanted a Porsche for a long time and picked this little beauty up on the cheap. It needed some work but is an utter blast to drive. So, of course, parts development for the 911/Boxster/Cayman is also ongoing.
I recently traded in my Alltrack for a 2012 VW Touareg TDi, fresh out of the VW Emissions fix. 😉 I plan on exploring with this wonderful monster of a vehicle and expect some new product development to come out of it too.
(Traded in) Wintertime duties are handled with a 2017 VW Alltrack. 4Motion AWD makes driving in snow quite a fun experience. It has the BES lift kit and oversized Nokian tires making it 2″ higher than a stock Alltrack. Custom driving light mounts and vent mount gauge pod are a couple more upgrades I’ve installed.
(SOLD!) And the last member of the fleet is this 2002 VW Eurovan. Initially purchased to start a VW camper rental business until COVID hit and I didn’t feel right about going this direction any longer. The previous owner is a friend of mine and this van has been meticulously maintained. It is nice family run about that my wife loves driving.
There is a snap shot of my background and affinity for German vehicles. 🙂 Thank you for choosing to support an enthusiast run, one man show of a small business.
Cheers,
Chris