The Spy Guys : Costa Mesa Store Does a Brisk Business Selling Personal Protection Devices

You are a high-powered oil company executive fretting over Saddam Hussein’s terrorist threats, thinking you would feel a tad more secure with a bulletproof car and some accessories like a bomb scanner, tear-gas deterrent and gun ports.

Or perhaps you are a walking zombie because of your neighbor’s noisy late-night soirees, thinking you would give anything for an industrial-sized smoke grenade you could use to quickly disperse the crowd.

Relax, the Spy Factory in Costa Mesa may have just what you need.

The San Antonio-based chain sells “personal protection devices”--everything from armored cars and tear gas to more mundane things such as handcuffs, electronic watchdogs and shrill alarms.

Just a week after the Persian Gulf War erupted and the nation got a serious case of the jitters, the Spy Factory made its debut in Costa Mesa.

Not surprisingly, business is booming.

“We’ve had quite a bit of success in the last week and a half,” said Marco A. Vergara, manager of the Costa Mesa store. “We’ve even run out of some things.”

The Spy Factory’s founder is Ronald J. Kimball, a San Antonio businessman who built the Popemobile for John Paul II and who has designed bulletproof cars for scores of world leaders, including Syria’s President Hafez Assad and Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak.

He got his start working for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, then quit to go into the private security business.

“Quite a few customers came to me and asked for electronic devices, security systems, etc.,” Kimball said. “I realized that perhaps there was a need out there.”

Kimball opened the first Spy Factory in San Antonio in 1989 and has since opened seven more stores in Dallas, San Diego, Las Vegas and other cities. Stores are scheduled to open in West Hollywood, Sacramento and San Francisco next month.

Touring the Costa Mesa store is like stepping onto the set of a James Bond movie or the “Get Smart” television series. Some of the old standbys are still around, such as a black box that barks like a German shepherd.

“The closer the intruder approaches,” the company’s catalogue claims, “the fiercer Watchdog barks!”

Every good secret agent knows not to judge a book by its cover, and this goes double at the Spy Factory. Safes are hidden in hollow tomes such as “The Ann Landers Encyclopedia A to Z” and in everyday household products such as Ultra Fresh Love My Carpet and Canada Dry ginger ale.

A safe disguised as a can of Lemon Pledge is a big seller.

“My wife likes that one,” Vergara said. “Nobody is going to come and clean your house before they rob it.”

Of course, even these safes aren’t foolproof.

One customer lost some money he had hidden in a WD-40 safe after his housemate threw it in the trash, Vergara said.

For the seriously inclined, there are all kinds of devices designed to dazzle the senses, including bionic ears, which amplify sound and make far-away conversations easily heard, and voice modifiers.

“I sound like Lurch on ‘The Addams Family’ (television show) when I use it, “ Vergara said.

Some of the items at the Spy Factory are pricey. Bulletproofing a car can cost anywhere from $40,000 to $130,000. Electronic listening devices are priced between $200 and $650, and machines to detect them can go for $125 to $550.

The Spy Factory’s clientele is mostly made up of everyday folks, though Kimball said his customers have included private detectives and people who watch over their shoulders a lot.

San Diego grandmother R. Bulawa was visiting the Costa Mesa store one recent day.

“I see things like this advertised in different magazines,” she said. “The name Spy Factory is a little too much. I think it should be something a little more discreet.”

The stocky, white-haired woman spent about half an hour browsing, fingering door alarms, invisible ink and the like. She was searching for a birthday present for her 6-year-old grandson.

“He’s quite the young man,” said Bulawa, preferring to keep her first name a secret. “He’s taking karate.”

The Spy Factory has received criticism in some cities because a few of its products pack a wallop. The 120,000-volt stun gun, for instance, can floor an attacker for up to 15 minutes.

Some law enforcement officials worry that these devices could be used by criminals against innocent citizens. But Spy Factory officials say murderers and rapists could buy these products on the street anyway and that the items help protect against crime.

“I haven’t met one customer yet that seems to be working on the wrong side of the law,” Vergara said. “Of course, you never know.”