I started my VW adventure nine years ago.  At this time, I really didn’t know many people in the scene or understand that the forums were just a place to come and hang out. I treated the forums like they were the gospel of VW’s, boy was I wrong.  Over time, I started to gain interest in the local VW scene and hanging out with like minded individuals from my immediate area.  I took an interest in their cars, their mods, etc.  One person that I remember and I think I will always remember is Steveo.  Steveo had one of the first TDI Jolf’s out there, damn that was a while ago.

Steveo was one of the first people to run authentic/oem Porsche twist wheels on a VW.  His wheels had crazy offsets, a bit of poke, some stretched tire, but it came out nicely.  Over time, Steveo’s jolf went through various phases of builds and rebuilds.  At one point, he was going to do a big turbo TDI, one of the first in the United States.  Steveo has been at this longer than I have and now he’s pushing papers at a dealership (har har).  As the local seen changed over time, I became less enamored with what was going on locally and more interested in what was going on globally.  As I built up what I thought was a “vortex approved car”, I lost touch with the locals and started making ‘internet friends’.   Fast forward to two weeks ago…I’m in Portland Oregon and I receive a text from a 215 number.  It says “Andrew, this is Steveo from Vortex.  I blew my bag, I need help.  Give me a call.”  Seeing as it’s a 215 number, obviously this guy is local.  I never really put two and two together to realize that this was white TDI Jolf on Porsche wheels Steveo.

Steveo had put on his brand new benz wheels and made the fatal mistake of not checking his bag/tire clearances.  Luckily, when the bag popped he wasn’t far from his work.  Steveo and I spent days going back and forth working a solution for him so that he could get his car up and running again.  Of course, behind Steveo was his fiance, and like every car guy who has a significant other; steveo promised her “there wouldn’t be any problems with the air ride”.  Steveo was in a hurry to fix his problem and me being 3000 miles away really didn’t help the situation much.  I made a call over to my dad to see if I had a set of Mk5 struts in stock at the shop.  Sure enough, I did!  Steveo put a down payment on the bombers and we worked out a deal so that he would be able to run my spare set of Mk5 struts in the meantime.  Things were going very well until Steveo hit yet, another snag.  The bag up set of struts I gave him were for the earlier Mk5 which has 50mm spindles and not the newer revised 54mm spindles.  Steveo was SOL again.  The only other set of Mk5 struts that might work were sitting in Maryland at a clients house.  I made a few quick phone calls and had them shipped out ASAP.

You know that old saying “when it rains, it pours”?  Yeah, well, when it snows in Philadelphia, it snows in Philadelphia.  Once again, we hit a snag with getting Steveo back on the road.  The weather so kindly held up the FedEx delivery of the struts.  I thought for sure it would only be an extra day or two…it was four.  Now we’re hitting on week two of this craziness and Steveo needs his car back and I’m trying to find out where these struts are, things are just hitting rock bottom.  Luckily, the struts arrive just before the weekend and Steveo was able to meet up with my mom (yes, my mom) and pick up these struts.  By Friday at lunchtime, I received a picture message of the struts going into the car and by Saturday afternoon, I received pictures of the car back on the road.

Despite all the snags, the weather, the problems with the diameter of the strut housing, the fitting issues we ran into (there were several), etc.  Everything worked out for the better and we have another happy OPEN ROAD TUNING x BAGYARD customer.  Steveo is a great guy to work with and very, very patient.  It’s funny how you know someone from a sort of previous life and then all of a sudden, they show up in your current life.  It’s nice to see people happy with your product and the ability to help someone out in a bind is rewarding. 

Chop. Cut. Rebuild.

Start. Stop. Restart.

Cultivate. Multiply. Motivate. Or else we’ll die.

In the normal business cycle, the rise of a business is mainly dependent upon creating new business and consistently staying ahead of the curve.  In the world of aftermarket car parts retail, it’s somewhat hard to continually find a way to “one-up” the competition and always stay ahead of the game.  As I’m sure most of you know, BagYard and OPEN ROAD TUNING have hit the VW/Audi scene hard this first year and are looking to hit harder the second year.  We’ve sold over 60 bomber kits in a little over 4 months and are looking to make a big splash this year with some new and exciting products.  In regards to the business cycle, you can’t just continue down one path if you’re looking to be successful.  There are some companies that produce necessity goods that can produce these goods forever and ever and remain in business.  However, this market is a niche market.  Niche market products need to be continually changed, renamed, redesigned, rebranded, etc.  As mentioned previously, we’ve hit the VW/Audi scene pretty hard this year and we’ve done so by way of VWVortex.  VWVortex has helped this business grow tremendously but in normal business fashion, we’re looking to expand into new markets and test out other “waters”.  Recently, we were featured on Canibeat and I was talking to my friend Dave who so kindly wrote the blog about OPEN ROAD and BagYard and he suggested we check out the StanceWorks forums.  Well, if you’re any sort of internet perusing, stanced-car-loving, forum lurking person, you know Mike Burroughs rusted e28.  In the fight to stay competitive, I’m always lurking other boards, reading various articles and surfing websites.  I felt as though the StanceWorks website was an avenue that would prove useful to us on many levels.  The pinnacle of the StanceWorks community is properly stanced cars. As a company that deals primarily in stancing cars properly, we felt a partnership with Ben and Mike would be nothing but successful.  Shortly after registering on the forum, I talked to Ben and Mike about advertising and we struck a deal.  Papers were signed, logos were exchanged and we’re off and running.  BagYard and OPEN ROAD are proud to be part of the Stanceworks/Canibeat family and we’re looking forward to expanding our product line and being the one stop shop for everything air ride!

Check Out StanceWorks! http://www.stanceworks.com/forums

Again, many thanks to all who have supported us this first year in business!  Special thanks to Ben and Mike at StanceWorks, Dave and Heather over at Canibeat and everyone else who has supported us, promoted us and worked with us.  It’s been a pleasure helping everyone!

Well, isn’t that nifty? We launched a web-store. We’ve been in business ALMOST a year now and we just launched a web-store. Sure, I could have borrowed money and done all these crazy things and advertised the hell out of OPEN ROAD, but I didn’t. I chose to tough this one out myself. When I started this company about a year ago, I wanted to get this running on my own with my own money and no help from anyone else. I wanted to prove myself worthy and successful to those who have hated on me and told me I’d never make anything of myself. I guess this business, in a way, is sort of my way of showing my father that I can make something of this disgusting obsession. From the beginning my dad (Frank, is what most of you know him as) has not been much into the VW thing and more importantly the modding bug. I guess it all went down hill when I started asking for parts and money for parts for my birthday and for Christmas. I guess what I’m getting at is that throughout my life, I’ve looked up to my dad for guidance and as a role model. But when your role model is an office-going businessman, there really isn’t anything in common because you’re completely different. My dad claims he’s not a car guy, but I’ve caught him looking at PVW and PBMW. I think deep down, he enjoys cars and to a certain extent he likes to see modified VW’s. When Wyman made the trip down to my house for Cult-Classic he was very impressed by Wymans wheels, widebody and paint work. Since I started this business, my dad (and my mom) have been nothing but supportive. They’ve offered to help me out financially, physically and in whatever way they can. I cannot thank them enough for running parts here, picking up things there, mailing out things when I ask, etc. They really have been 110% behind this business and given me all their support, no matter what the circumstances. For that, I can’t thank them enough. My dad likes to talk business with me and likes to know what I’m working on and likes to see this business expand. My dad is by no means a snob, he’s just not really that into cars.  Believe it or not, he has been to several shows INCLUDING H2O!  Things really changed when I started this business.  He started to look at this as less of a hobby and more of a business.  A way for me to do what I love and support myself.  I can’t thank him enough for helping me out with everything and being supportive of the business.  It’s great to see him out there helping me and meeting my clients, he enjoys the road trips and seeing bagged cars.  I must say, I never thought I’d be bonding with my dad over bagged VW’s.

Canibeat feature: http://www.stanceworks.com/canibeat/?p=4520

I was on the phone with a client tonight when he told me that Mike Gilbert was featured on Canibeat. I said “of course he was, that car is gorgeous!” In this crazy world of aftermarket parts/niche market parts retail, the clients are a different cut of individual. Most of my clients end up becoming my friends because we bond over things like breaking pieces of the undercarriage, laying frame and impressing people with our ability to make the car go up and down. I’ve been trying my best to feature client cars on the blog because it’s the clients that drive this business. I’m here to help out and provide parts but I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t love this industry or love the clientele that I deal with. Mike Gilbert contacted me a while back because he was interested in bags for his C6 A6. When Mike originally told me his plans for the car, I became very giddy. There is something about big sedans on bags that make my jaw drop. Mike is definitely one of the coolest, most patient and humble guys I’ve dealt with. If anyone knows how things work with Bagyard, the wait is about 3-6 weeks for a set of hand built supreme series struts. Mike never once freaked out or demanded that I produce struts out of thin air. He truly knows the meaning of “good things come to those who wait”. The end result is phenomenal and on my client follow-up phone call Mike he said that he loved the ride and couldn’t be happier with the bags. These are the words that make me feel like my job is complete. To this day, Mike’s A6 is still one of my favorite cars. In fact, it’s so “cool” that my dad likes it! That says a lot coming from a guy who has been known to hate my ugly obsession with cars. Well done Mike!

BAGYARD AIR RIDE and OPEN ROAD TUNING have teamed up to bring you our SECOND bomber group buy!