Gone Racin� to American Specialty Cars

Photographer Albert Wong and I drove over to the new ASC branch showroom in Huntington Beach, California, to attend their Open House. ASC is also known as American Specialty Cars, and they are returning to the Southern California market. The company actually began in the Southland back in the 1960�s, and then moved their designing offices back to Detroit to be closer to their customers. Jeff Steiner, the Executive Vice President, and Paul Wilbur, the President and CEO of ASC, spoke to the assembled reporters about the long term goals for ASC as they seek to position themselves in a rapidly growing custom car market in Southern California. ASC�s designers work with major carmakers, such as Toyota, Chrysler and General Motors, to produce specialized and custom designs for the automotive market. ASC�s strengths lie in the ability to work well with customers both large and small in creating cars that are a work of art, as well as functional. ASC has 150 design engineers, over 1200 employees and a gross income of over half a billion dollars in revenue, which puts them in a strong position in the marketplace.

Mark Trostle, the Head Designer, showed us four cars that the company designed and helped to bring into production. The first was the 2005 ASC/Chrysler convertible called the Helios. The second car was the 2005 ASC/Chevrolet Diamondback, with a 525hp engine. The third was the 2005 ASC/Pontiac GTO Stinger, with a 550hp engine. The last car was clearly the favorite among the hot rodders. It is the 2005 Dearborn Deuce Convertible Roadster. It has a Ford racing 5 speed standard transmission, 320hp, 315 pound/ft torque Eaton Gen-IV Rootes-type Supercharger, and Ford rear-end assembly. The body is all steel with increased length to the doors and a deeper cockpit for the driver and passengers. The trunk has two cubic feet of cargo space. It has Accurail all steel stamped frame rails, double-channel boxing technology, Pete&Jakes dropped I-Beam suspension and Wilwood brakes. The convertible top is concealed and seals to the window sash. The interior is custom leather, with an Auburn-polished dash and classic instrument panel. The roadster has a solid-state electrical system which eliminates the need for a conventional fuse panel, and a CAN (controlled-area-network) based decentralized electrical control network. Over 250 Deuce Convertible Roadsters have been sold at around $75K, through Hot Rods and Horsepower in Brantford, Connecticut.

Trostle explained that there are more and more nameplates being designed for the major auto producers. They individualize and customize cars for a niche market. ASC created the SRC4 for Neon. They represent the American consumer and are therefore an asset for the large international carmakers. Individual genius is at the heart of ASC. They eschew designing a car by committee and their eclectic mix of ideas and designs are invaluable to the major auto producers. ASC, which started out in Southern California, is heavily committed to the Detroit automakers. But they realized the tremendous growth in California and opened up a branch in Southern California in the very middle of the auto-designing triangle, which runs from Torrance to Irvine. Major business partners include Toyota Research and Development, Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Cadillac, General Motors, Nissan, Hyundai, International Trucks and the So-Cal Speed Shop. I spoke to Pete Chapouris, owner of So-Cal Speed Shop. He has a strong liking for the engineers and employees at ASC. It is a collaborative effort as Chapouris and his staff lend their ideas to future designs with the ASC staff. He states that it is easy to deal with ASC, and he has benefited from working with them. Chapouris bought the rights to So-Cal Speed Shop from the legendary founder, Alex Xydias, and he has continued to bring the best quality in design and workmanship to his creations and restorations in the hot rod, vintage and classic car market. The So-Cal Speed Shop on Grand Avenue in the city of Pomona, is a huge complex that restores, rebuilds and customizes cars for the hot rodding community. They also have a large selection of clothing, memorabilia and designs from the 1930�s and �40�s to go along with the cars that they restore and create.

Trostle showed us around the design studio. He states that the new center can go from design, to models, to mock-ups and then to complete models. A state of the art milling system will be on hand soon. ASC offers a full service design system that specializes in a niche-vehicle American-style look. He showed us Sony�s XYZ Generation Computer Screen Mapping system. Companies large and small will find the staff at ASC to be innovative, creative and easy to talk to in helping them to bring a customized and different look to their car styling problems.

Gone Racin� is at www.oilstick.com

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