They’ll make you feel like a big wheel
Willie Bringier III weaves through his Inglewood showroom, past the ice-blue Ferrari Spider 360 owned by Lucius Harris, formerly of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Harris comes in to Willie’s regularly, and today his convertible is being retrofitted with a new sound system and rims color-matched to his ride.
On a flat-screen computer, Bringier helps a 21-year-old customer and his mother pick out $5,000 worth of rims and tires for a Toyota Corolla in only 10 minutes.
“The bigger the wheel, the better the impression [it makes],” Bringier says. “It’s like a big ol’ mirror.”
Tucked between beauty shops and storefront churches, Willie’s Motor Accessories on Manchester Boulevard has catered to Angelenos’ obsession with modifying their cars for a decade. It is part of a nationwide aftermarket phenomenon that has exploded in recent years, with nearly $26 billion in retail sales of accessories, rims and tires in 2004.
Bringier is starting to feel the heat as car companies have begun offering their own luxury upgrades -- from larger rims and TV screens to services that can connect a driver to a hotel or restaurant at the push of a button.
“The competition is just so fierce,” he says. “Back in the day, you were lucky if you had hubcaps and an AM radio. I feel like the last guy who sold buggy whips.”
Bringier, 37, is continually trying to expand his services and now offers satellite TV installation and Lamborghini doors that for $3,000 can be fitted to just about any model of car.
He represents the third generation of his family to run a business that modifies cars. But as retail sales have soared, newcomers have flooded the industry, jockeying for a piece of the thriving market.
Reuben Karapetian, who opened Long Beach’s All Star Tire in 1966 and bought products from Bringier’s father, said he knows of only a few owners who have survived the aftermarket business for several decades in Los Angeles. For family-run businesses like his and Bringier’s, competing with large chain stores has been difficult.
“Too many people are getting into it thinking it’s real easy, and they muddy up the water,” said Karapetian, 67.
On Manchester, a turf war of sorts has sprung up between Willie’s and the Inglewood Rent-A-Wheel that opened across the street. There, customers who don’t have thousands of dollars to plunk down for rims can pay in small weekly sums, sometimes $40 to $75 a week for a year -- at a higher price overall. Lavert Caldwell, manager of the Rent-A-Wheel, says he brings in at least 80 new customers a month, beating Willie’s “hands down.”
Bringier admits his business can be spotty. Some months he brings in only $30,000 in sales. Other times, he says, sales top $100,000. He finds that his business is influenced more by events than seasons -- customers often come in to upgrade their vehicles to look impressive at concerts or car shows.
Caldwell has been in the business for only a year, but modifying cars is in Bringier’s blood. His grandfather started as a “new-car prep guy,” detailing cars at a Cadillac dealership in the 1950s, then opening his own business on a corner lot selling gas, tires, wheels and hot dogs.
As a teenager in the 1980s, the time of the “bumping sound system,” Bringier began experimenting with electronics when his father opened Kustom House, installing compact disc players and large speakers.
He opened his own store, Kaboom Auto Stereo, in 1991 on the corner of Florence and Normandie avenues. Six years later, he decided to upgrade to the space he now occupies as demand grew for upscale cars with personalized interiors. And these days the fourth generation of Bringiers is already hard at work, with Quincy, 14, helping to install tires and 16-year-old Danielle taking care of office work.
During 29 years in the business, Bringier says, he has seen customized cars cross over from urban trend to suburban status symbol. He recently helped a 65-year-old grandmother from Encino customize her Chevrolet Suburban SUV, adding two TV screens, luxury rims and tires.
