What what it what’s the what’s some of
the B best advice best advice is figure
it out you you’ll figure it
out you know best advice is uh no I will
say your best advice you’ve ever given
me and it was my very first week out of
college I was going out to do sales to
pay for grad school he goes all you need
to worry about is how you service your
customer it’s all you need to worry
about welcome to the ride and style
podcast your turbocharged pit stop for
automotive restyling buckle up with
Jesse and
Josh welcome to another episode of the
Introduction & Background
Ryden style podcast this is episode 12
and today we have Henry and Courtney
paly of top coverage thank you guys for
being on the show with us today really
appreciate fist bump fist bump Henry so
Henry’s only going to be joining us for
a few minutes so I want to take up every
precious cuz I think he’s like got a
timer on his watch he wants to leave and
not talk to me so we’re forcing him to
talk to me Henry tell me what year did
you start top
coverage
1975 and what was it sunroofs from the
beginning or what did you started no no
no we started with h Believe It or Not
vinyl tops and and pin striping and side
moldings at that
time can you personally do a simulated
convertible
top uh yes
back then yeah we did I always let
see pinstrip you can still pinstrip you
think I still do it here today to this
day I help the guys see they don’t know
how to do it I love it don’t they don’t
because nobody ask for it really as much
yeah they don’t not not right they don’t
have well you know yeah
because you could take a c stripe and
just put start at one end and do the
whole car one piece they take one door
at a time and measure everything where
you know I’ve done that’s not how you
stripe I know we’ve done so I’ve done so
many it’s it’s a simple process they
don’t get it I’m gonna put you to the
test
later
okay I do have a question Josh I have
one yeah Jesse Yeah Henry I have a
question for Henry Henry how did you get
started in this business and and more
importantly why I’d love to know more
about the history how I how I got
started one of my friends sold for a
company they were selling V tops
to installers and my friend says Henry
and I was a mold maker injection mold
maker at that time in going to college
at the same time and my friend said hey
you should try this business we started
in my friend’s garage believe it or not
and I went we did a couple of my friends
Cars we put vinyl tops I never put a
vinyl top on my life and it turned into
a business and I was I went to some
dealers and gave us a chance to tr let
us do some vinyl tops and that’s how it
started so really when it comes to top
coverage that that that’s what top
coverage really meant yeah putting Tops
on covers
correct wow huh now and then we got and
then we got into uh then we we were
mobile units at that time we were
actually going to the dealers doing the
work with vans so we would have the Vans
filled with the stuff go to the dealers
put the vinyl tops on stripe their cars
and go to the next dealer because all
the cars we were doing at that time were
sold at that time we were probably doing
100 120 vinyl tops a week at
$55 a week at $55 a car at that time $55
a car wait wait to put wait you’re
saying to put a full vinyl top on a car
it was only 55 bucks 55 with the molding
and everything yeah that’s insane back
then I’m talking about 75 sure sure 70
but you were bring but you were bringing
in six you were bringing in six grand a
week or something like that yeah the
vinal tops at that time um where you
made your money is on when you did half
tops so you took a full top cut it in
half you got two cars out of
one car one double dipping a full top
would take us about 35 to 40 minutes to
do at that time per car wow so cool you
I’m the blind that’s the truth
that bending the days before you didn’t
have to put a shell on or anything like
that no no then we got then I I opened
up a shop a
building and actually we were doing at
that time we were doing we were building
uh conversion vans we’re doing we we
were called Academy conversions I didn’t
know this we’re building conversion vans
for two dealers two GMC dealers from
start to finish then s m had painted did
the whole interior we’d go up to uh we
go to Indiana and get all of our all the
you know seating and everything elart
Indiana all the elart yeah well that’s
where a lot of the Vans are being built
and we were probably doing two to three
vans a week at that time I didn’t know
about the conversion vans yeah we did a
lot of conversion vans for two dealers
because the customer come AC to our shop
and they could pick out everything right
there and so that we did them right
there when did you so you were in you
were in college doing this in somebody’s
garage when did you decide hey this is a
business and what did you hire him a
couple techs well actually my had a
partner at that time this guy Rudy and
then when we started going to the
dealers we started hiring people so we
had we we were doing mobile units we had
Rudy and I and four and three other
people four other people we had two guys
per per vehicle going to the
de so wow and then I opened up building
then I rented a building and then we got
into into doing a van
conversions then the Simons then then
sunroofs the our first sunroof was in
1982 I want
to I’m trying to think of the name of
the sunroof at that time was a it was a
metal roof it wasn’t a glass roof at
that time metal yeah
uh was that the ones where you had to
weld no no no you almost ruined the top
of the car or no no the roof skin the
pan instead of a glass panel was a metal
panel okay oh okay gotcha and that’s
what we got into that roof and
then I ran it to Martin pots do you
remember Martin
Potts no Martin pots was the guy that
was Distributing AIA product in the
United States he was the one in charge
of uh hollandia in the United States at
that time before Scott Greenhall you you
know Scott Greenhall right yeah yeah
yeah so Martin was the one that took us
on and that’s and that at that time that
roof was looked exactly like a sky toop
remember the sky top roofs probably not
before your time
yeah okay the uh the hollandia roof was
was identical looking roof Skytop the
way I understand it back to Martin pots
the guy that built Skytop worked for
hollandia and then went out and made his
own
roof so then oh yeah so that’s how Sky
toop and H roofs at that time looked
identical they had the square basically
a square roof and that was just a that
was just a roof that went back and forth
it didn’t vent or anything they’re going
to slap me in the face of here and then
they built then they built the two stage
rough to the unit where you’re familiar
with
now the TVs tilt vent slide correct TVs
correct it’s so at one time Martin want
we were we were the largest buyer of wo
or H at that time he wanted me to take
over uh
wandia but I had to move to Detroit he
wanted me to be the head guy for because
we did so many so many prodcts we helped
them solve all their
problems and then
uh my ex-wife my wife at that time she
didn’t want to move to
Detroit so I passed on the deal with
with Al even even uh what was his name
um the owner of uh at that time
um I can’t believe his
name the owner of H was
I probably was even a thought in your
mind so and so is that when they sold to
W basto no no then what they did Martin
took on went looking for somebody and
found Scott
Greenhall then Scott Greenhall took it
over was running it and Scott and I
became we’re still real good friends
Scott and I became good
friends and he turned that whole company
around where it was a largest Sun
inst Manufacturing in Illinois United
States at that point in time and I
helped him get to that point I mean yeah
he needed sales you know boost up his
numbers because H going send you 150
roofs okay be nice pay me you know then
they’ll tell me pay me can don’t worry
about it pay when
you yeah I mean I I sometimes I two 300
roofs on my back
walls but we were going we were doing 40
50 a week at that time yeah that’s what
I was going to ask you some of your best
years you were doing about 50 a week so
you know like 2500 roofs a year I had
five sunroof installers at one time I
had three three simcon
installers and three leather
people at one time
yeah yeah your first leather
car a uh Nissan Maxima we we started a
leather business in
Chicago we took that car and one of
our one of my you don’t know this guy
this guy Nel Durst he uh had a
brother-in-law that worked for Maloney
coach
Builders and this and this dealer is a
friend of mine goes Henry you think you
put a leather in this guy go I don’t
know let me find out now we had this guy
his name was jackob gobin he sold sold
our first leather
kit and and a n on
maximum that’s how it started wow and
it’s it was a dealer in shamberg that
sent it to was that would that have been
a that would have been a Classic Soft
Trim kit right no classic wasn’t around
at that time well classic was but they
weren’t they were not really into
manufacturing leather at that time okay
oh
okay um catkin was started but when
katkin showed me their kits they were
like they were
I said D oh my gosh sorry R we so we we
had HG Holman we hir we got a hold of he
was out of Indiana HG homman was our
supplier for leather he was a he used to
work for a uh ricaro seats so he was
making a pattern ricaro for ricaro
seating so he started his own leather
seating company and he was we were
buying our leather hides were coming
from Eagle Ottawa leather I don’t know
if you know know who that
is and so then remember the name that’s
it so when we were putting leather in
vehicles and we started throughout all
the dealers all of our leather kits were
100% leather there was no vinyl on any
of them
then classic opened up to compete with
classic we had to make a leather vinyl
mix because we our leather kits were at
that time were
$700 what that so
expensive well but we were given 100%
leather and we’re selling the kits
for500 at that time we’re the only game
in town and we were doing it yeah we did
a lot of Honda programs Toyota I
mean uh Acura programs we did for the
state of Illinois and a lot of uh our
Chicago land area and Honda dealers we
had programs we did through the zones
you know I’m learning a lot right now
you always tell me to figure everything
out for myself but now I’m learning more
this so what’s the next question okay so
as we transition into a a Next
Generation so what advice have you given
Courtney as she takes over the business
and moves forward what what what’s the
Advice For Courtney
what’s some of the B best advice best
advice is figure it out you you’ll
figured
out you know best advice is uh no I will
say your best advice you’ve ever given
me and it was my very first week out of
college I was going out to do sales to
pay for grad school and um you I go what
do I need to know and he goes all you
need to know at this time and this is I
put this in everybody that works for our
locations he goes all you need to worry
about is how you service your customer
it’s all you need to worry about the
rest will service the customer the rest
will fall into place but how we’ve been
along around for so many years it’s
because we always take care of our
customers you’ll understand soon yeah
and I but the best advice I could say is
stay on top of your
business
um we’ve had you know we’ve had some bad
employees throughout the years that
really like you trust them but at the
same time you get to watch
them yeah um you know best advice would
say good luck see and stay of my
life good luck let me ask you a question
what would be the best advice you give
her uh best advice I would give Courtney
because I know Courtney is just stay in
your lane do what you do well don’t look
off over here and get down go down a
rabbit hole just stay with what you do
and keep the ship going in the right
direction doesn’t mean you can’t get on
a Lifeboat every once in a while drive
over to an island check out what’s going
on but go back to the main booat and
keep it going in the same direction
correct I will say though restylers
United um or Reyers United group has
been really helpful for me throughout
every all well you know I never got
involved with a lot a lot of different
groups that they wanted me to get
involved with well I heard you were you
had a to the reason yeah the reason I
didn’t because I as time went on I
couldn’t deal with the lies and
they don’t really tell you the
truth what’s really going
on okay that’s why you gotta be really
picky about who you have yeah exactly
Jess any questions I do have a question
actually any more questions yeah first
of all do you have other family in the
business other than you is this a bigger
you know extended family what and uh how
did it become a family business like
when did that start when did Courtney
get involved and who else who else is
involved when the kids grew up when the
kids grown up I had nobody no other
family in the
business it was just me and my ex-wife
running everything or my wife at that
time and and Courtney why why did you
Courtney Joins Business
decide to to get invol um well I I
graduated from University of Iowa in ‘
06 and I started working for him he goes
I paid I paid for a lot of your
schooling you have to find a way to pay
for your grad school at the time and I
was um yeah basically I started doing
sales I would hear stories about my dad
everywhere I went um that was in ‘ 06
summertime 07 we had a very good year
and then 08 the market crashed and so I
realized like I’m not going to let this
company slip from our hands there we
went from like I’ll never forget we’re
at a cat skin seminar in California and
we got a phone call saying that every
single car canel speak in speak to the
microphone a little bit clear there you
go that
better um so basically we were right in
the middle of a catskin um one of their
sales trainings and I was with our GM at
the time and we had just found out you
know that’s when things all we had every
vehicle cancel for both of our shops
like all at once and so I realized right
there I was gonna fight the battle
and oh wait oh wait if you can oh wait
is that when all the dealers closed up
oh my gosh 0809 y I lost if you can
survive that you can survive anything I
lost
over I think it was
$330,000 at that time we had drivers
that we bringing back cars yeah yeah we
had all the dealers and especially we
did all the Saturn dealers they all owed
me like 8 to 10,000 that was horrible
when they shut them all down they none
of them paid us do you remember when
Chrysler came up with that list saying
um if you’re on this list you have three
weeks and we’re looking in our shop
we’re like we have car we finally got
business going and these are their cars
in here are they gon I had locked up
cars and I kept them till the dealers
paid some of the when it all happened I
had to keep cars locked up remember the
police be some of them some of them paid
me others did not we had the police at
times would be closing down a dealership
everybody all the staff would be gone be
bringing returning car remember that
remember returning cars and the
police they let him through the line and
took the keys and Driver calling Hey
Poli I would have said bring it back
they dropped
off oh my goodness it’s crazy 3 3:30 we
lost it that’s when I realized they got
all the GM and Pontiac and yeah Pontiac
Saturn dealers the oldmobile
chryler money that was scary and that
that right there I was like you know
what this is more important to keep this
company going I love I love it I’m with
my family well we appreciate everything
you’ve done for the industry Henry I
mean you’ve you have you’ve helped uh
with the sunroofs and you’ve helped you
know uh now I’ve learned stuff from
Courtney and even Garrett and you know
they they attribute a lot of that to you
so I’ve I’ve implemented a lot of stuff
from you even though you unknowingly uh
into my business so we appreciate all
that you’ve done and well I could help
any people the industry which I’ve
always have um it’s important that the
industry keeps
going it’s been it’s been it’s been good
to all of us so yeah yeah well I
think you’ve been I would say this too
about um one thing if I can give advice
if you’re going in between like a first
generation second and third the one
thing I’ll say that he did for my
brother and I was let us adapt to what
the technology social media we you know
things that to he would sit back and let
us do now if he felt very firm on
something like think about it you know
but I think stepping back and letting us
Implement um you know how the market
remember when I got out of college only
one in every like 12 dealerships that
even had a website still so it since
then like escalate escalate everything
was moving so
fasty had to pull over to ask for
directions still at that time
I we we had people come in we are first
company in the industry they had a
computer doing all of our invoicing back
then oh that
thing weird yeah we we the industry
changed a lot it’s been good for
everybody but it’s a lot of bad people
made the
industry well bad installs and that’s
where the internet kind of rued it it’s
a combination of everything like that’s
why we SNS mentality they the SNS
mentality the professionalism of the
industry has to kind has to constantly
be going up right installation sales the
way we run our businesses it’s the only
way because we don’t want to be known as
a wild wild west industry even though in
many ways we still are so if we can help
bring about that professionalism yeah
we’re here for the long
term and that’s what a lot of these guys
are doing they’re here for the short
term make quick buck and get out and
that’s so let me ask you about let me
ask you about let me ask you about your
uh Wisconsin shop so what any you know
goodbye love you Dad bye Henry thanks
for joining us anyway Jay any more
questions thank you we really appreciate
you being here thank you Henry partic do
you have any more questions before I go
not this time but maybe we’ll have to
bring you guys back again for another
episode should be
continue the old versus the new
absolutely you know I’m yeah we could
have old versus new yeah right I’m still
old school OG versus new G yeah right
okay bye guys love you dad
drive all
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