CAM December 2018 | Page 69

INDUSTRY PEOPLE “If you’ve got a Honda XR-500, and you’re in Texas, you’re rebuilding it, and you want to get a pipe and muffler for it, where do you go? If you go to a Honda dealer they might say, ‘we stopped making those 30 years ago’, then you’ll get online and Google the part, and then probably end up on our site which has a listing for that particular make and model. We can do the whole system, and it’ll have all the pictures right there, so the customer will know it’s the right type of muffler. It also showcases some of the bespoke vehicles that arrive on-site for various repairs and modifications. “If you turned up and said ‘I have this make and model of car’, there’s three ways we’d go,” Colin says. Scenario A is that we’d get your old muffler and we’d replicate that. Scenario B is that if the car was here we’d just build it to the car. The third option is to build from some dimensions.” The Facebook page is also part of the branding of the company. It’s up-to-date and showcases current projects and highlights from the workshops. brands, and in the event they don’t have it, Colin can draw up in CAD send through a confirmation of the measurements and do the whole transaction without the muffler. This ensures repeat businesses and keeps their customers’ machines working, enabling the mufflers to be swapped out quickly. “One of the key things about the businesses is that older earthmoving machinery has created a need for specialised work. It’s one of the reasons the business has been successful,” says Colin. “A lot of the gear we are dealing with is older gear, and it would be easy just to ring up a dealership, but dealerships probably support more later model stuff. Vanessa is dealing with people with an older machine where the client is thinking: “Where the hell do I go to get this part?” Motorbike mufflers waiting to be painted. Extensive exhaust work on a Mustang race car. Other parts of the business are growing, too, especially exports of muffler parts. Since taking over Musket Mufflers, Colin and Vanessa have seen a huge increase in orders for mufflers to countries all around the world, although Manawatu Muffler Centre had already been fabricating mufflers prior to the purchase. Sometimes a client will only want one unit manufactured, “The world is such a small place now that it doesn’t really and at other times, huge orders are placed. matter if it’s manufactured in New Zealand, as we can Another part of the business is motorbike send the muffler to Texas just as easy as to “The world is such a small mufflers, so there are multiple streams of anywhere in New Zealand. Any part can be work, including earthmoving. Anything that shipped worldwide taking no more than 10 place now that it doesn’t really matter if it’s manufactured in needs an exhaust or muffler repaired or days by international courier.” fabricated, the shop can do it. New Zealand, as we can send There’s still a range of face-to-face ways the The earthmoving side of the business has seen businesses can help a client, though, and the the muffler to Texas just as them supply replacement exhaust and muffler Farringtons still enjoy that personal kind of easy as to anywhere in New parts for projects as big as Transmission Zealand.” service. Gully. Musket can supply off the shelf for all Vanessa explains that a lot of the cars have been modified as well, and are as low to the ground as possible. “Our boys need to fabricate something and fit it to suit the modifications. You can’t get that just off the shelf. The boys need to be right under the car to see what it needs, so we still have a great deal of drive-in clients.” w w w. c a m m a g a z i n e . c o . n z CAM December 2018  67