Search SpeedStuff:
Your Shopping Cart is Empty
How SpeedStuff Got Started
My husband Bill has always had a love affair with cars. Growing up, his stepfather owned a used car lot. As a teenager, Bill worked on lots of cars, and the first one he owned was 1940 Nash coupe.
When I met Bill in 1969, he was driving a 1965 Galaxie 7.5ltr. Convertible with an alarm system, which was quite a deal back then. That was followed by a 1967 Corvette convertible with factory air, which was quite unusual for its’ time.
(I am still upset he got rid of that car.) While we were dating, one of the things he loved to do was cruise the local car dealership.
Over the years, Bill has worked on his own and other people’s cars; doing bodywork, painting, etc. Then he got into full vehicle restoration. Mostly he was self-taught. He pored over car magazines, and I ordered him a video series on how to do professional painting. He ordered an air-compressor as big as my refrigerator.
The 1956 Ford F-100 pickup that you see on our home page is one Bill had restored when he was the administrator of Missouri Vocational Enterprises in the State of Missouri’s Correctional System. We purchased it as a “daily driver”, and it was in pretty rough shape. He had the idea that the prisoners would be just as interested in restoring cars as he was. He told the prisoners at the Moberly Metal Shop that he would give them the pickup to restore, and if they did a good job, he would start a restoration factory. It was a great success, and now has a restoration list several years long. To honor the prisoners who worked on our truck, the pickup’s license plate reads: “CON-JOB”. The matching trailer came from left-over parts.
While Bill was restoring vehicles, we went to many car shows. He would go to get ideas and buy parts he needed. We got to know a lot of vendors really well, and gave them a lot of business. A vendor he had bought from previously mentioned to Bill that he wanted to sell part of his business; a box truck, trailer and inventory. When Bill came home from that weekend, he was all excited. He said he always wanted to own his own business, and he thought this would be the perfect opportunity when he retired from the state. The rest is history.
So here we are, starting our sixth year of being small-business owners - a real “Mom & Pop” shop. We sell chrome and polished aluminum dress-up parts for classic vehicles, or as I like to call it: “bling” for cars. Our name: “SpeedStuff” is a little misleading, because we don’t sell stuff that makes your vehicle run faster, it just looks snazzier. Bill came up with the name, and I designed the logo.
Bill enjoys helping people build their classic vehicles because he’s been there himself. He is able to provide practical and knowledgeable advice. We try to keep our cost down, because we also know what an expensive hobby automobile building can be.
We invite you to browse our on-line catalog of vehicle parts. If you don’t see what you need, or you are unsure of what you need, feel free to contact us. We also have a list of car shows where we will be vendors, so come by and see us if we are in your area.
Bill & Meg Gooch
SpeedStuff, LLC