Sky’s no limit for car firm
When 7-foot-1, 325-pound Shaquille O’Neal couldn’t fit into his new ground-hugging, $200,000 Lamborghini Gallardo, the former Laker center turned to an Orange County family to do a little magic.
The Gaffoglios of Fountain Valley meticulously extended the doors, roof and side windows so the towering O’Neal could drive in comfort in what is now one of the longest Lamborghinis in the world.
Bending and twisting cars into all kinds of shapes is nothing new to the Gaffoglio family. They are well known in the auto industry for rolling out eye-popping concept cars and futuristic prototypes. But now the family is looking to stretch its wings and grow in an entirely new way.
Gaffoglio Family Metalcrafters Inc., which started three decades ago as a small auto-body shop, is quietly venturing into aerospace, hoping one day its name will be as familiar to aircraft makers as it is to Detroit.
“What we do has a lot of great applications in aerospace,” said George Gaffoglio, chief executive and son of the founder and family patriarch, John Gaffoglio.
The Gaffoglios are far from becoming an aerospace giant like Boeing Co. or Northrop Grumman Corp., but the family is convinced that their future lies in applying their know-how making concept cars to shaping advanced jet parts.
The family’s move into aerospace illustrates how a small business can expand into unfamiliar territory without straying too far from its core competency.
The company recently secured an aerospace contract making glass windshields for Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner, the hottest-selling jet ever, at a time when the commercial aircraft industry is enjoying one of the biggest booms in decades.
Orders for large passenger airplanes -- with jets such as the Dreamliner costing about $150 million each -- are coming in at a breakneck pace.
There are about 6,000 California companies that supply parts and services to Boeing, and the majority are based in Southern California. Many firms are expecting annual growth of 20% or more over the next three to four years.
“Lots of people are short on capacity but demand is very strong. We haven’t seen anything like this in 25 years,” said Richard Aboulafia, aerospace analyst for Teal Group Corp.
Metalcrafters has a long history of seizing opportunities, often with uncanny timing.
Shortly after starting their automobile restoration shop in 1979 with $18,000 of family money, the Gaffoglios got a call from Chrysler.
At the time, the Detroit carmaker was on the verge of collapse and its chairman, Lee Iacocca, was seeking federal government loan guarantees. To get it he needed to show Congress that he had working prototypes of the economical “K” cars that the company had designed. But Chrysler didn’t have the time or the cash to hire prototype builders, most of whom were based in Europe.
A member of Iacocca’s staff had seen the Gaffoglios’ work and suggested that the shop in Southern California might be able to turn out prototypes quickly and at bargain prices.
Since then, Metalcrafters has built almost all of Chrysler’s prototypes. It now has 180 engineers, painters and mechanics who not only build concept cars for automakers but also million-dollar custom cars for private collectors.
Hollywood also has come calling for so-called camera-ready, one-of-kind vehicles for automakers and movie makers. Last year the company had revenue of about $30 million.
John Gaffoglio retired last year, but the company is still run by family members, including his two sons. George is the chief executive, and Ruben is the company’s president. An additional half a dozen family members work in various departments. The only outsider is Mike Alexander, who formerly oversaw the production line for McDonnell Douglas Corp’s MD-11 jumbo jet in Long Beach.
The initial move into aerospace actually came about a decade ago, George Gaffoglio said. The company’s work bending and shaping metals drew the attention of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s Skunk Works, the secretive lab in Palmdale where some of the nation’s most advanced military aircraft are designed.
The family won’t say what they were asked to make but it involved “very complex forms,” Gaffoglio said.
At about the same time, the company began purchasing machinery and tools that were being sold by aerospace suppliers who were going out of business. With the end of the Cold War, defense spending had dried up.
The machines that had shaped sophisticated jet parts could also be used to make lighter and stronger cars. In all, the company spent about $12 million buying equipment, much of it at a fraction of original cost.
About three years ago, as the industry began to recover, aircraft makers began calling the company, one of the few that still had the machines and the skills to make highly specialized parts.
Among the first to call was Canadian aircraft maker Bombardier, which needed Metalcrafters’ expertise making curved windshields for its Learjet and Global Express business planes.
That led to a contract from PPG Industries to make the windshield for Boeing’s 787 passenger jet, the Gaffoglios’ biggest contract so far.
“We don’t have to invest in capital. Its already here,” George Gaffoglio said, noting that the company is utilizing only about 60% of its manufacturing capacity.
Though aerospace work has already grown to account for about 30% of revenue, Gaffoglio said it’s “not as much as I want.... There is a lot more room for growth.”
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Celebrity Rides
The Gaffoglios have built or modified some of the more recognizable cars for rock stars and celebrities:
Chrysler Prowler with a “music box” trailer for the rock band KISS. The trailer included custom compartments that opened up to reveal guitars for each of the band members.
Dodge Ram pickup truck for the rock band Aerosmith.
PT Cruiser for Brian Setzer, jazz musician and former lead singer of the Stray Cats.
Custom-built EcoJet, a 650-horsepower biodiesel super car for “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno.
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Source: Gaffoglio Family Metalcrafters Inc.
