Armor All Founder Starts With Clean Slate

Alan Rypinski, the marketing guru who founded--and later sold--Armor All Products Inc. (now a division of McKesson Corp.), has moved his talents and some of Armor All’s former product developers to Prolong International Corp., an Irvine-based developer and manufacturer of additives for automotive lubricants.

Now Rypinski has spearheaded a new line for the company, Prolong Appearance Products. The subsidiary will make and market a do-it-yourself paint sealant that it claims will replace waxes and polishes; a waterless car wash product; Prolong Super Cleaner, which the company says is good for everything from lifting spots from upholstery to degreasing engines; and Prolong Super Glass Cleaner.

Prolong President and CEO Elton Alderman says the company has jumped into the $500-million-a-year automotive appearance products market because it is more than twice as big as the lubricant additives market.

Prolong expects the first products to hit retailers’ shelves by February. Direct sales via a television infomercial will begin next month, says Lawrence Kahn, vice president and general manager of the appearance products unit.