Alex Fees: I am Alex Fees on Small Business Television. We're coming to you from SEMA 2008, that's Specialty Equipment Market Association here at the Las Vegas Convention Center, and joining me here now is Michael Eaton. Mike, good to see you sir.
Michael Eaton: Good to see you Alex.
Alex Fees: It's Eaton Detroit Spring?
Michael Eaton: Correct.
Alex Fees: Michael, we've met before?
Michael Eaton: I don't believe so.
Alex Fees: I thought maybe I had interviewed you two years ago.
Michael Eaton: No, I don't believe so. I think this is your first time of interviewing me, so I have at it.
Alex Fees: It's the logo, the Eaton logo with the flames. I think I have seen that before.
Michael Eaton: I hope you have and I hope a lot other people have also.
Alex Fees: What is the Eaton Detroit Spring?
Michael Eaton: We're a manufacturer of Leaf and Coil Springs. We started in 1937 by my grandfather.
Alex Fees: Wow!
Michael Eaton: I am the third generation there. My daughter who would be the fourth generation, she pretty much runs the business these days.
Alex Fees: Oh, yeah.
Michael Eaton: We started off as a heavy duty manufacturer of springs for heavy duty vehicles. In the mid 1980s, vehicles, the heavy duty vehicles went from a steel suspension to an airbag suspension, literally putting us out of business.
Alex Fees: Oh really?
Michael Eaton: However, I knew of the restoration market, people restoring cars. One of the things we have is a library of 24,000 blueprints, original equipment blueprints dating back to the 1890s, over a 100 years worth.
Alex Fees: Wow! Well, that's certainly a feather in your cap.
Michael Eaton: Great feather in our cap. Not only that, we had everything cataloged. So give us the year, make, model, body, style of the car and we know what spring went on there. So I say, maybe this is a market for us. Did a little investigating of that market, we are now the world's largest supplier of springs for antique cars.
Alex Fees: Really, very interesting. Well, kudos to you for being able to kind of roll with the punches then. So it sounds like the newer cars then -- the older cars cannot adapt that newer technologies, so that's why there is still a market for you?
Michael Eaton: There is really not a new technology for suspension.
Alex Fees: Okay, what do you say happened in the 1980s, there was a change from something?
Michael Eaton: Oh! I am sorry, the heavy duty trucks went from a steel spring suspension to an airbag suspension.
Alex Fees: Alright!
Michael Eaton: Now, can cars adapt to airbags? Some cars with heavier suspensions, but they still don't work merely as good as steel spring.
Alex Fees: Okay, I see. Mike, tell me about your involvement here at SEMA, how many years have you been to SEMA?
Michael Eaton: We've been to SEMA probably close to 20 years now where you've displayed for probably about 15 of those years. We did take a couple of year break due to various reasons, but we've been involved in SEMA for that longer time.
Alex Fees: What does that participation meant for you? I mean you said 20 years, so which was first, 1988, 1985?
Michael Eaton: That's probably later 1980s, maybe early 1990s, close to 20 years. The participation means a whole heck of a lot to us, because if it didn't, we wouldn't be coming back over here.
Alex Fees: Testimonial. What about changes here? What kind of trends, what kind of changes have you seen at SEMA in the industry for the time you've been in it?
Michael Eaton: First year we came to SEMA, it was just the Central Hall. The front of the Central Hall wasn't there, the North Hall wasn't there, this building wasn't here, the tents weren't there outside, the vehicles displayed outside.
Alex Fees: 100,000 plus people that is?
Michael Eaton: Oh, 165,000 I believe something like that is what I heard last year. What trends do we see? We started off by it was strictly parts for everyday vehicles, some of the older vehicles. Now we see it going into adapting to ride the vehicles, the electronics in the vehicles, big things these days are the electronics, the GPSs, it's amazing.
Alex Fees: Absolutely. It seems I have done stories on that here at SEMA this year. All that technology is now converging and we have the smart mirrors which do a whole lot more than look behind your car in your rear-view mirror, we have that technology along with computers.
Michael Eaton: We're just looking at some of that this morning. We're here to work to show. We don't have time to see the show.
Alex Fees: No time for this.
Michael Eaton: So we sneak in the door maybe an hour, an hour-and-a-half early and walk around and that technology is what we were looking at this morning. Here is a plain license plate. No, it's got a camera into back. You can see what's going on behind you.
Alex Fees: Yeah, absolutely.
Michael Eaton: You want to put your music on your little USB stick, stick it in the dash, listen to it. These are things that we didn't have before. This stuff is just great.
Alex Fees: Absolutely. All these technology is converging right there in the camp of car.
Michael Eaton: And all available right here. Just come right here and say I want that, and go home with it.
Alex Fees: Well, Mike where can SBTV.com viewers get more information about Eaton Detroit Spring?
Michael Eaton: Best place to get information about us Alex would be our website which is www.eatonsprings.com.
Alex Fees: Eatonsprings.com. Alright! Mike, thank you very much sir.
Michael Eaton: Thank you very much.
Alex Fees: Did we meet sir, even though I did feel like I have met you before, I can explain that.
Michael Eaton: Now if you've been to the Post Office you've seen my picture.
Alex Fees: Alright! Good deal. Well, that's your deal of that one. He is Michael Eaton with Eaton Detroit Springs, I am Alex Fees on Small Business Television. We're coming to you from SEMA 2008 in Las Vegas.
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