On Feb. 20, the world-renowned Peterson Automotive Museum played host to 34 Fast Undercar franchisees, as well as more than 120 vendors and business associates, to celebrate the 20th anniversary in franchising for Fast Undercar. This year’s meeting was held in the all-glass Penthouse suite on the rooftop of the newly redesigned museum, which provided 360-degree views of the Hollywood Hills and downtown Los Angeles.
Fast Undercar sales, marketing and IT teams provided several presentations to educate their members on advancements in vehicle technology, opportunities to enhance profitability and key techniques to increase their individual market share and retain their growing customer base.
Later that evening vendors and guests joined with Fast Undercar franchisees on private tours within the Peterson’s exclusive basement Vault, which provided in depth details on vehicles not displayed in the galleries, including such iconic vehicles as the 1925/34 Round Door Phantom 1 Rolls Royce, 1939 Bugatti Type 57C and Henry Ford’s 1952 Ferrari 212/225 Barchetta said to be the inspiration for the 1955 Thunderbird.
Dinner and awards followed on the second floor of the museum, which celebrates 70 years of Ferrari’s most recognizable vehicles.
This year Fast Undercar presented the following awards to outstanding vendors and franchisees:
- Vendor Partnership Award – Timken, accepted by Fernando Montano
- Fastest Growing Vendor – Federal-Mogul, accepted by Tim Miller, Michael Dunn and Brent Fletcher
- Vendor Profit Generator – Mevotech, accepted by Ron Aparicio, John Sturges and Lance Cardwell
- Vendor Rep of the Year – Glen Miller of KYB
- Vendor of the Year – Centric Parts, accepted by Charlie Kirkland
- Most Improved Franchisee – Andy Renaghan of Fast Undercar Redmond, Washington
- Rising Star Award – Darrel Castleman of Fast Undercar Fresno
- Ambassador Award – Sarah Fletcher of Fast Undercar Portland
- Excellence in Manpower Award – Brain Smits – Fast Undercar Santa Clara, Concord and Oakland
- Franchisee of the Year – Brent Kawaguchi of Fast Undercar Salem
Fast Undercar also was recognized by DENSO for 2017 Sales Achievements.
The vendor fair kicked off the second day of events in the “Gold Room” at the historic Biltmore Millennium Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, host of the 1937 Academy Awards.
“This year’s vendor trade show provided hundreds of one-on-one meetings between franchisees and vendors” said Matt Porter, vice president of business development for Fast Undercar. “The afternoon open forum session allowed our members to personally interact with staff and fellow franchise owners to exchange ideas and express opinions about the future direction of the industry and their role as distributors. Additionally, the one-on-one vendor/franchisee meetings provided a great venue for discussing product line items, sales analysis, marketing opportunities and training for our professional installers.”
