Eastwood company
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| Eastwood Company | |
|---|---|
| Type | Automotive Parts and Supplies Retailer |
| Founded | {{{foundation}}} |
| Founder | Curt Strohacker |
| Headquarters | |
| Owner | Independent |
The Eastwood Company is a Pottstown, Pennsylvania, USA, company, specialising in automotive restoration and repair tools and supplies. Founded in 1978 by Curt Strohacker, Eastwood sold products such as rust prevention coatings and power coating supplies by mail order, through car show, and on the internet.
[edit] Corporate history
In the fall of 1978, Curt Strohacker started in the auto restoration and customization hobby. During high school, Curt worked in a service station, bought and sold innumerable vehicles, and learned about restoration. When the auto restoration market took off in the 1970s, Curt launched the Eastwood Company to market automotive tools and supplies.
The first Eastwood catalog featured eight black and white pages of metal finishing equipment. By the early 1980s, the continued success took the catalog mailing operation into a professional list house. It reached 5,000 names by 1981 and kept growing. In addition to catalog marketing, Eastwood sold its products directly at selected car shows.
In August 1983, both the Mercedes-Benz and BMW car club magazines endorsed an Eastwood car wash brush. Sales multiplied and so did the staff, which soon doubled. The development of the Eastwood spotweld gun proved to be a success where it could duplicate industrial spotwelds (found on virtually every metal-bodied car) and cost less than $60.00. Commercial spotwelders of the time typically started at $300 and up.
In 1983, Eastwood only advertised in about a dozen publications. By 1984 and 1985, company ads would appear in more than fifty publications, including Hot Rod, Car Craft, and Popular Mechanics. The catalog prospered as well, growing to 96 pages with a four-color cover by 1986. Circulation reached more than 100,000 auto restorers, who received six issues per year. By the end of the 1980s, the Eastwood customer file for custom and auto restoration enthusiasts easily passed the half-million mark.
In 1997, Eastwood's Hotcoat powdercoating system brought an economical and easy to use powdercoating system into the garage and the DIY hobbyist automatically had another alternative to paint - an alternative that was more durable, shinier and easily lent itself to custom work. In September of 1998, Eastwood received the Pennsylvania Governor's award for "Environmental Excellence" for the HotCoat Powder Coating System. This product, developed exclusively by Eastwood, was recognized for its low environmental impact. HotCoat also received the Automotive Restoration Market Organization's "Best New Product" award for 1999.
In 2003, the introduction of the Eastwood Interchangeable English Wheel and Planishing Hammer brought these high-end metal shaping tools to a wider audience. Utilizing a common rigid frame enabled economical manufacture to allow Eastwood to offer both of these tools for under $1000.00.
Recognizing that computer technology was a rapidly growing way to serve customers, Eastwood added web sites for The Eastwood Company tool catalog (www.eastwoodco.com) and HotCoat (www.HotCoat.com). Both sites include new product information and promotions, plus the ability to request catalogs online. The tool catalog site also has technical articles on some of our most popular products and how-to tips. In January of 1999, Eastwood added fully integrated online ordering capabilities on both sites, enabling all catalog items plus many other items to be purchased from our secure sites. For improved efficiency, as with the printed catalog, the HotCoat site has been integrated into www.eastwoodco.com.
Today, the Eastwood tool catalog is published monthly in a full-size format and is full of quality tools and supplies covering all aspects of restoration and custom work. In November of 1999, the company broke ground for a new state of the art facility north of Philadelphia in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. The company completely relocated to Pottstown in July of 2000 after an aggressive eight-month project.
