CONSUMERS : Something Extra at the Auto Shows : Gadgets: It’s not just the waxes and the personalized license plates. Accessories make up an interesting--and often lucrative--side industry.
Crazy about car gadgets?
How about a gas cap you don’t have to take off to fill your tank? Or a biodegradable cleanser that really does remove grease from leather car seats? A handy visor holder for your Biaggiotti sunglasses? A rubber compound that waterproofs your windshield and rear view mirror?
What usually makes news at the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show are the glimmering cars, such as this year’s standouts, the Dodge Viper, the new Detroit muscle car, Nissan’s first 300ZX convertible and the Ferrari 512 TR, successor to the Testarossa.
But consumers also could find a variety of auto accessories at the show, which concluded Sunday night. In addition to the usual wheels, waxes and polymers, toy cars, T-shirts, caps and personalized license frames, there were a few innovative items, ranging from $5 to several hundred dollars.
“Most of the people who sell this stuff are like a little subculture of the auto shows. We go around to 10 or 15 shows a year,” said Frank Stoegerer of Los Angeles, who just returned from a show in London. He has sold White Wizard, a biodegradable cleaner and spot remover, at the L.A. show for nine years.
For 10 hours daily, Stoegerer and his partner took turns demonstrating their product, showing how to take grease off a leather car seat, remove crayon from fabric, and shoe polish from carpeting. The biodegradable white paste is nontoxic, odorless, non-abrasive and non-flammable.
During each sales pitch, Stoegerer warned prospective customers that White Wizard won’t take out permanent ink or dye or oil base paint from leather or vinyl. “It doesn’t take out Kool-Aid stains, either,” he said, adding that the product contains a permanent dye.
Other vendors and their wares at the show included:
* Andy Cohen, owner of the upscale Beverly Hills Motoring Accessories, offered the EZ-Flo Gas Cap, a permanent cap that never has to be removed.
The black plastic cap, which sells for $19.95, has a spring-loaded hinged flap in the middle. When you refuel, just put the gas hose nozzle through the flap and pump the gas. When you’re finished, remove the nozzle and the flap slides back to seal the tank.
Cohen also sold Stormguard Car Covers, all-weather covers that fit each car by make.
* LoJack Corp. offered a new “Alert” car alarm, which pairs with its Retrieve Recovery System that allows the police to follow a stolen vehicle through an on-board tracking device. “The alarm is just like your basic car alarm system,” said John Raber, LoJack’s director of marketing. “It is designed (to thwart) the more amateur thief or joy rider.”
The alarm/recovery system package costs $795 installed.
* Newcomers Lupe and Bob Kunes from Oxnard did a brisk business at their first show with Eye Catcher, a holder for glasses that clips over a car visor and firmly holds the glasses in place.
Eye Catcher comes in leather or suede to match a car’s interior, or in several tapestry designs and solid neon colors. There’s also an American flag version.
Lupe and her daughter, Jeannine, came up with the concept, while Bob Kunes designed and made equipment to manufacture the holder. The Kuneses have been in the van conversion business for 25 years, said Lupe, but are relieved to have their new venture: “When the auto market went down the tubes, our business did too.”
* Large crowds frequently gathered around the Anti-Glare display, where Gib Elkin of Santa Barbara and Brad Hollinger of Hawaii showed how their product waterproofs car and boat windshields and keeps hockey shields, diving masks, ski goggles, rear-view mirrors and shaving mirrors from fogging.
Elkin, who owns Anti-Glare and has been selling the rubber compound at auto shows since 1950, does only a couple of shows a year now. Hollinger travels to about 15, including three in Japan.
“It lasts about seven days on car windows,” Elkin said of the product, which works of plastic or glass. “And one stick (2 1/2 inches long) is enough to do a car for about a year. If they don’t like it, we give them their money back.”
* Hands down, the most unusual accessory shown was the D’Bab Co’s Auto Bib. It’s not for cars, but for people who eat and/or drink in them.
The vinyl apron, which covers a person’s chest and lap while seated in a car, was developed by Sunny Stafford, a mortgage banker. “People like them,” she said, “if they can get past their egos. That’s the main thing. They relate a bib to babies.”
D’Bab Co stands for Designed by a Blonde.
* Omar Penate displayed Bond Seal, a chemical that’s shot into undamaged tires to prevent flats. It seals automatically if there is a puncture up to 1/4-inch in diameter, Penate said, and it doesn’t upset tire balance.
His demonstration was especially effective when Penate put a hole in the pre-treated tire with an electric drill, rolled it a couple of times, and the leak stopped.
* The 2-in-1 Magic Hand Sweeper & Lint Brush, billed as the “World’s First Smallest Vacuum,” was a popular item at $5 each. The 5 1/2-inch long plastic cleaner (sold only at auto and home shows) has a revolving nylon brush underneath that, when moved in a circular motion, picked up ashes, pennies, cigarette butts, wood chips, salt and sand from a carpet. The top side contains a lint brush.
Maryann Alvarez, who showed the product, said it is a simple concept and is made from “the same kind of material (plastic) used in football helmets.”
Imagine how many little sweepers could be made from Refrigerator Perry’s headgear.
