RESIDUAL VALUES Insights & Opinions from Automotive Industry Leaders
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RESIDUAL VALUES Insights & Opinions from Automotive Industry Leaders Interview with Bruce Canepa What’s your backstory? How long did you run your dad’s dealership? My dad was a car dealer, so it didn’t take me very long to get totally I ran it for 4 years. My dad had a typical passionate about cars. As a little kid, dealership, buying and selling new and I remember standing on the front used cars, and servicing them. I had my seat of his car – before cars had seat own passion and vision, and wanted to belts – and naming all the cars on the create a business in more specialized highway. Although I grew up in Santa fields. I had a taste of German cars “We’ve built a Cruz – a legendary surfing town – and based on trade-ins at his dealership, team based on did a little surfing, I was not a surfer. and after driving Porsches, Mercedes I played sports in high school, mostly and BMWs, realized there was a big craftsmanship as football, but my passion was cars, like difference in those cars compared to the performance all the time, and that’s never ended. American cars at that time; less so I had no problem with academics in today, but a lot back then. I wanted standard.” school; my conduct was the problem. I to expand the business and go in that was just kind of a crazy, wild kid. Riding direction, while dad was trying to slow my motorcycle in school or doing - Bruce Canepa down and do less. So I went out on my burnouts in the parking lot, I did all own in 1981, when I was 31 years old. Founder that stuff. Canepa Design My dad eventually sold his dealership Santa Cruz, California and retired, and lived to be 94 years Did you work at your dad’s old. dealership? What challenges did you face My dad let me work in his shop when I was about 12, and the first thing I did when you went out on your was sweep the floors. Then I got to own? wash cars, and then I got to detail cars, Initially, in the 80s and early 90s I had and then I learned how to do body and dealerships that sold Porsche, Audi, paint work, and then mechanical work. BMW, Lamborghini and Maserati I worked in every department, all the marques. None of those stores were way through sales, and then ultimately very profitable, and there were all ran his dealerships in my late 20s. kinds of issues to stay afloat. It wasn’t The lesson my dad taught me is that as much fun as when I had worked for you have to be patient to learn your my dad. It was less personalized, and trade from the bottom up, and that more of a commodity business. So, to succeed you need to have a strong in the early 90s, I changed direction work ethic. RESIDUAL VALUES Insights & Opinions from Automotive Industry Leaders again. I got out of the dealership take the time to do a job perfectly. I what’s involved, and why those business altogether and set up a don’t care about getting things done things take time. My standard advice company based exclusively on doing quickly. I want it done right. We’ve to clients is, “The last 10% of the job collector, exotic, historic race cars built a team based on craftsmanship is 50% of the work. So be patient.” sales, restoration, and custom design as the performance standard. projects. There was no model for How did you get started as a building this type of business, and You’re more than a serious race car driver? it had a lot of challenges. But we restoration shop. You create learned by trial and error. things as well. I was around 11 years old when I first drove a go-kart, and started How were you able to grow We create and re-create cars. For racing them in the alleys behind my such a different business example, we’ll take a 356 Porsche, parent’s house. My first real race model? and give it 170 horsepower instead took place when I was 15 years of 70, give it GT seats, wider wheels old, at Watsonville Speedway, a We grew through word of mouth, and better brakes. The fun part is quarter mile dirt track on the Santa based on the quality of our work. To that people are driving these cars; Cruz County Fairgrounds. I started this day, we either do things right, or not just putting them on a trailer to in a jalopy that was owned by the we don’t take the job. Our reputation put them on a lawn to show them. body shop manager at my dad’s grew fairly quickly, because people And they want them to be fun to dealership. It was a beautiful ‘58 all- knew that if I bought a car, it was drive. I tell people, “I don’t want black Ford, and I crashed and tore it going be as close to the best as my 356 Porsche to be blown off by all up on the first night. Over time, possible, and if I sold a car, it was a Prius. I want my 356 to beat that I started racing a sportsman car going to be even better. That’s the other guy’s Corvette.” which was a NASCAR-type car; then way we’ve always done things, and eventually drove super-modifieds we’ve built a whole business around What’s the secret to working when I was 19, and when I was 25 that concept. with some of the wealthiest I drove sprint cars, which were my and most demanding clients favorite cars to drive. How do you build and in the world? maintain a culture based on I went straight from a sprint car to craftsmanship? There’s a lot of different personalities, a 935 Porsche at the time, but the and most of them can buy probably cars were very similar. Sprint cars The most difficult task is finding anything they want; but they can’t were around 1,250 pounds and 800- qualified craftsmen. There are far buy time. So we try to be extremely plus horsepower when I drove them, fewer real craftsmen in the world productive, and that’s why we do and you’re basically sideways all today, and unfortunately, there’s everything in-house. I might have the time in that car, and not driving not enough trade schools teaching one guy working on the body, straight very often. You really learn people the various disciplines another guy working on interior the ultimate in car control, and how correctly. We hire people based on components, and another guy to manage your car with the throttle their experience and the references working on mechanical components all the time. I used to joke that the they bring. Most of our new hires at the same time. We don’t take a car steering wheel was just something to love what they do, have been doing and send it off to different specialty hang on to when you flip over, and it for at least 10 years, and are highly shops. That’s the key to managing you will flip over. I still believe it takes qualified journeymen. But I tell them these jobs. Our customers want their a professional grade driver to drive that they’re not going learn our stuff, and they want it right away; so a sprint car, and is as demanding as disciplines overnight. Everyone who I do spend a lot of time explaining any type of road racing. works in my shop knows they can RESIDUAL VALUES Insights & Opinions from Automotive Industry Leaders Like all sprint car drivers, I had my Sounds like sprint cars for me. It was so much fun, I know share of flips and crashes and injuries. that Indianapolis was a place I would don’t get the respect they When you race that many races and have loved to have driven. deserve. that aggressively, you’re going to have some tumbles in those cars. But Mario Andretti, Parnelli Jones, A. J. You hold a Pikes Peak record there’s something inside that allows driving a Kenworth Big Rig. Foyt, and all the racing legends went me to test the limits without tearing from sprint cars to Indy cars. If you everything up to do it. I was doing Kenworth’s design work, can win in a sprint car and drive one and the president of the company successfully, you can drive anything. Is there a race that you asked me if I would race their 1999 Sprint car races are intense, with 25- T2000 truck at Pikes Peak. We 30 cars driving wheel-to-wheel, with passed up, or didn’t have modified that truck so that it drove wet dirt and stuff flying around. It the opportunity to compete like a 13,000 pound sprint car. The takes incredible reflexes and mental in, that you regret? truck had almost 2,000 horsepower, discipline, everything, to go fast 4,300 pounds of torque, and got in those things. You’ve got to be I would’ve liked to have done the 24 up to 100 miles an hour pretty good to survive. When I moved from hour Le Mans, and was asked to do it quickly, which is pretty amazing sprint cars to a 935 Porsche, all of a on two occasions.