I've been absent for awhile. What happened to all the upfitters that once posted on here? I miss those conversations and learned lots from them. Also miss seeing their photos.
Where did all the upfitters go?
- Thread starter RyanZ71
- Start date
I know speaking personally modern cars aren't worth the trouble for me to install for people. Cars are getting to be more and more difficult to access places to mount and run wires. Breaking a small part will negate your whole profit. I think there are less and less small upfitters and more and more larger radio and light dealer dealer large shop upfitters. That said people upfitting their own cars still happens and there are less of those posts even on Facebook and Instagram.
Around me, a lot of the counties and bigger municipal departments have decided their fleet maintenance and comms people can do it cheaper... not better, and certainly not faster. Just a whole lot cheaper.
A big part is Ford currently dominating the fleet market (at least in my area). They come wired up with warning packages. Just add graphics, gear, and radio. Although most area public safety peeps have gone to portables only thanks to Motorola starcom.
I know the fleet manager for the sheriff's here, he says turn around time is quicker once they get the new unit (they use Explorer and F150) and saves them about 3k per car to go Ford fleet.
I know the fleet manager for the sheriff's here, he says turn around time is quicker once they get the new unit (they use Explorer and F150) and saves them about 3k per car to go Ford fleet.
Fords “ready for the road” package is awful! The less wiring that you get from Ford, the better. It might work for some tiny little one horse town, but for any agency of size, it requires so much re-working that its just easier to start from scratch.
Many have created facebook, youtube, and tiktok pages to showcase their work instead and are pretty fricken terrible at actually taking the time to discuss builds or receive feedback from the general public at large. They have adopted the "my shit doesn't stink" attitude and don't care what anyone says. Long gone are the days where guys could ridicule one another on their projects and builds without getting so butthurt that they need to cry about it on social media...
End rant
End rant
Thank you for your responses. I really miss the banter and great posts that were going on on here 10-15 years ago that have slowly dropped off. I learned a lot. Loved seeing new installs upgrades, and what not. I got to know Devin over at L.A.W.S. just down the street from where I live who helped get my 2018 Silverado set up with some nice lighting and some upgrades maybe coming up in the near future and it is great chewing the fat with him. He worked for the same SO that I was an Explorer Scout at and also worked for a short period of time as a Admin/Patrol Fleet Services Assistant, so it is always fun to talk about times gone by. He runs a great outfit.