This is topic Moments In Motoring: ZL1 Addons in forum General Talk at Northern California Ford Owners .
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Posted by 50 Deep (Member # 6216) on
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My journey as an automotive enthusiast has been going strong now for the past 18 years. Since I was 12 years old I have always had a fascination with the automobile, and consider myself lucky to participate in my generations muscle car era. With so many well composed performance vehicles on the market, there have been an equally great number of aftermarket performance companies popping up. Not until my ownership of the GT350 has my personal relationships with aftermarket companies grown.
Having the chance to deal with developers one on one to create relationships, test out parts, and have input on designs is a chance I am very fortunate to have. My overall goal has always been to share my experiences with the automotive community, in an effort to move the scene forward. Hopefully my story written through words will be something you can read, enjoy, and create a better relationship with an automotive company making great products for multiple vehicle platforms. I would like to introduce you to ZL1 Addons.
Through my social media efforts on Instagram I was able to make contact with ZL1 Addons through some photographs of my vehicle displaying some of their parts. I was flattered and honored to be asked if I would like to be sponsored by the company. I tried to play it cool and respond without sounding like a high school girl that just got asked to prom by the cool guy on campus.
About a month later I found myself heading down in the San Diego area for training. A quick google search showed I was no more than 20 miles away from the ZL1 Addons HQ. Looking on the web page I couldn’t find an exact address, but knew the general area. I called John at ZL1 Addons directly to introduce myself, and ask if he wouldn’t mind if I stopped by to check out the facility. John graciously sent me his address, said the shop was in the backyard of his home, and to stop by at any time. Admittedly I was thrown off by the comment, and was not sure exactly what to expect. Many would agree that the quality of the parts John creates are very high quality. Too good for anyone to possibly produce in their backyard. Most of us, myself included, have the assumption that the companies producing quality parts for our vehicles are in thousand square foot warehouses with a team of people working away to fulfill orders. At the end of my training session I hopped in my rental Chevy Sonic, plugged in the address, and took the drive out to Poway. Cruising through the quiet residential neighborhood I unsuspectingly heard my GPS say that I arrived at my destination. There was no large storefront, signs that read ZL1 Addons, or semi trucks moving products/materials off to shipping. I was literally at John's home. John greeted me at the door wearing blue jeans and a black ZL1 Addons T-shirt. As I walked through the side gate to the back shed I was almost attacked by one of his dogs. Luckily I survived and was no worse for wear.
Inside the shop I saw his wife Amy working away. When I mentioned taking some photographs she quickly grabbed the dogs and scurried away before I could catch her on camera.
Still unsure about how John manages to accomplish the tasks he does, I sought to dive into his past a bit more
Posted by 50 Deep (Member # 6216) on
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John has been a long time car guy. He worked for a Dodge dealership out of high school and was known as their transmission and rear end tech. As time progressed John ended up working for the gentleman that owned Caesars Palace in Vegas, and became a General Contractor. Over the years John honed his design skills, and 15 years ago built the house and shop that he lives in today. John owned several different performance vehicles that included a 55' Pontiac Station Wagon, 74 Corvette, 450 SLC Mercedes, 928 Porsche, ZL1 Camaro, Z28 Camaro, and C6/C7 ZO6's. In 2000 John purchased a newer airplane and started to grow his love for avionics. There may have been some influence here from his wife Amy, considering that she was a flight attendant. Johns stint with avionics even led him to train the FBI on the use of a particular plane that he was familiar with. I asked for more information, but was told that the data was classified. The airplane was eventually sold and currently in the stable is a Jeep, Chevy truck, Camaro Z28 (Serial #13), and a little ol' Hellcat Challenger for the wife. But how could I forget the car that started it all, John's 13 Camaro ZL1
When you visit the ZL1 Addons webpage you will notice the slogan "This all started with a solution to a problem," and that could not be more accurate. When the ZL1 was brought home it soon saw track duty at nearby Chuckwalla and Fontana Raceway. John hated the fact that he had to use the pinch welds to jack up the car on the track. To solve this problem he put his contracting skills to work. With some time, a pen, some paper, and Solidworks he developed the first jacking pad for the ZL1. Like many of us John was part of a Camaro forum and shared his solution with the community. Interest was high and he offered to sell them for $5-10 bucks to those that were interested. At this point John had no real intentions of starting a company, but he was eventually kicked off the forum for violating the vendor policies. Another enthusiast eventually reached out to John and offered to help him produce the jacking pads, and it was at this time that ZL1 Addons was born
Parts were built in John's garage, and orders sorted for shipping on the bed in his spare room. Shortly thereafter John bought a Z28, and found that he could not get in the driveway without scraping the front splitter. On the forums he also saw that many complained about the lack of a front tow hook. The market did not provide attractive options and John sought to solve the problem. He developed the front splitter guard washers that would go on to be used by NASCAR. He also designed an attractive front tow hook setup and initially had it produced overseas. John realized he could develop the parts at home and bought the necessary machinery to accomplish that task. This type of story has replicated itself with all the products you see offered by the company today. Customers have come to John with a need, and he has developed parts based on that.
Today the company is continuing to grow and John has retired from general contracting to focus on ZL1 Addons full time. The wicker bills for the Camaro and Challenger platforms are some of the best selling items currently.
Posted by 50 Deep (Member # 6216) on
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Plans are to expand the current facility at his house, but little did I know there was a trick up John's sleeve. I was invited to view the facility at Dye Inc where all of the major machining was done. Dye Inc is owned by a long time friend of John's, and houses some serious hardware. John even helped build the facility 17 years ago. The company originally started building paintball guns, but has since grown. With 60 CNC machines and several million dollar 5-axis setups, Dye Inc has precision tools, and uses them to produce missile casings for the military. Needless to say if they can build items of that caliber, the quality of the parts you will be receiving are top notch. On occasion John will even come to the facility after hours to develop parts.
Looking forward John would like to continue to offer new parts for the community. He continues to enjoy racing the Hellcat/Z28 and John is looking forward to working more with carbon fiber. Currently in the works are front canards for the Camaro, carbon fiber wicker bills, a portable combination jump starter/air compressor setup that can be used at the track to help with tire pressure changes. I asked Amy about her thoughts on the company, and she felt glad to be a part of it. Amy had 30 years of experience in designing, building, quality control, inventory and shipping. She feels as though her whole life has led up to preparing her for this journey with ZL1 Addons. If John had his way he would be buying the new Ford GT, and something tells me he would find something to build for it as well.
ZL1 Addons would like to build more for the GT350, but unfortunately John does not own one to do development on. If you have an idea about a future part and are local to the area feel free to contact John about it. If you bring the car by, discuss the idea, and it proves to be viable; John will produce the part and give you the finished product for free.
Posted by 70stang351w (Member # 9948) on
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Thats Awesome lol DYE.inc Dave DeHaan "YoungBlood"? Missiles? i guess they started reaching out abit more..They first started with Barrels and then guns and soft gear ect..great company and products I meet dave along time ago threw Paintball.. LA Ironman days.. Owned a bunch of his guns and gear great quality
[ 2017-05-09, 10:53 AM: Message edited by: 70stang351w ]
Posted by i (Member # 12534) on
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Pretty good write up.
Posted by SLOWBACK 67 (Member # 6348) on
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The NRA has Colin Noir.......
Cafords has 50 Deep. ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
Good read ![[patriot]](graemlins/patriot.gif)
Posted by venomous99 (Member # 1917) on
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excellent post. havent seen a post of value and good reading in quite awhile on here.
its almost too good to be posting on here. haha.
Posted by IvanFive0 (Member # 5574) on
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Excellent article. Looks like John is a very talented individual.
Posted by 50 Deep (Member # 6216) on
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Thanks Gents!
Posted by SIC9250 (Member # 8216) on
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quote:
Originally posted by venomous99:
excellent post. havent seen a post of value and good reading in quite awhile on here.
its almost too good to be posting on here. haha.
+1
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