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Painless Wiring For Classic Cars · In Wheel Time Podcast

• 0:05
  Don Armstrong: Welcome to the Enwheel Time Car Talk Show.
• 0:08
  Don Armstrong: Today, coming to you from the Lone Star Street Rod Association State Run Car Show at Hewlins Hewlett Park in Granbury, Texas.
• 0:16
  Don Armstrong: Just ahead, got another guest from today's event.
• 0:18
  Don Armstrong: Plus, we'll have some of our regular features, and we want to welcome you along with Mike out of this world Mars.
• 0:24
  Don Armstrong: We always need more Jeff Zeken over here.
• 0:28
  Don Armstrong: This guy right here, this is the man of the hour.
• 0:31
  Don Armstrong: This, ladies and gentlemen, is the famous and infamous David Ainsley, and we thank you for all of your assistance and guidance and help.
• 0:40
  Don Armstrong: And thank you for the shut up and just stay there.
• 0:44
  Don Armstrong: There is that.
• 0:45
  Don Armstrong: All right, Mr.
• 0:45
  Don Armstrong: Barnes, tell us who our next guest is.
• 0:47
  Mike Marrs: Well, this is Dennis.
• 0:49
  Mike Marrs: And I'm not even going to attempt his last name because we're going to be able to do that.
• 0:52
  Mike Marrs: Well, let me say his last name.
• 0:53
  Don Armstrong: Dennis, what's your last name?
• 0:55
  Don Armstrong: Overholster.
• 0:56
  Don Armstrong: Oh, yeah, Overholster.
• 0:57
  Don Armstrong: Sure.
• 0:58
  Don Armstrong: I can go to the way back.
• 1:02
  Don Armstrong: That's an Irish name, isn't it?
• 1:03
  Don Armstrong: Uh yeah.
• 1:04
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, that's it.
• 1:08
  Don Armstrong: So, okay, so what what what do we have the honor of having Dennis on the show with us today?
• 1:14
  Mike Marrs: Dennis is with Painless Performance Products.
• 1:17
  Mike Marrs: This is his coming in here in a moment.
• 1:19
  Don Armstrong: Dave.
• 1:21
  Mike Marrs: And um, you know, painless wiring harnesses and something, all that stuff for years.
• 1:25
  Mike Marrs: Well, this is painless performance products.
• 1:27
  Don Armstrong: Do you own the company?
• 1:28
  Don Armstrong: I do.
• 1:29
  Don Armstrong: Really?
• 1:30
  Don Armstrong: You you were the man.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: I started it 36 years ago.
• 1:34
  Don Armstrong: Well, uh, you've obviously done very well because uh I certainly have I've not used your products, but that's you didn't have to say that, did you?
• 1:41
  Don Armstrong: That's it.
• 1:42
  Don Armstrong: Well, no, no.
• 1:42
  Don Armstrong: I'm a future customer, ladies and gentlemen.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: This is my uh 36 four-panel truck.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's got 289,000 miles on it.
• 1:52
  Don Armstrong: So you do you do deliveries, apparently?
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: I do.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: I it's been border to border and coast to coast many times.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: I use it when I go to do shows and so forth.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: So tell everybody what painless does.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: Painless, we are in the automotive electrical wiring harness business.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: We do restorations, we do street rod stuff, we do drag racing, we do circle track racing.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: If it's got four wheels, we got some kind of electrical product for it.
• 2:18
  Don Armstrong: So well, uh I can only imagine how many boards that you have where you're taking the red and it goes here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and around and about.
• 2:30
  Don Armstrong: I might I'm not far off, am I?
• 2:32
  Don Armstrong: No, you're right on the money.
• 2:34
  Don Armstrong: Really?
• 2:34
  Don Armstrong: Yep.
• 2:34
  Don Armstrong: And you've got like a hundred spools of wire uh uh the where this workstation, and they look at this, okay.
• 2:42
  Don Armstrong: Well, this one goes this way.
• 2:43
  Don Armstrong: That's it.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: So when we've got about 50 different boards.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um we get most of our wire in barrels because it takes we we we use about 35 million feet a year.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my god.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: Whoa.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: And different gauges and different types and different colors, yep.
• 3:01
  Don Armstrong: Yep.
• 3:02
  Don Armstrong: And uh do you have one supplier or multiple suppliers for your wires?
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: We have one main supplier and then we have an alternate in case something happens.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: And back up, yeah.
• 3:13
  Don Armstrong: And where where is your factory, so to speak?
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: Our factory is on uh on uh Ludell Street, which is just east of downtown Fort Worth.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: Seriously?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: So you're Texas based?
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: Always always.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: Are you a Texan?
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I moved here in 1970 after the military, so that's close enough.
• 3:29
  Mike Marrs: Yeah and after 50 years, you can say you are.
• 3:32
  Mike Marrs: Yeah.
• 3:33
  Don Armstrong: So you're you're a Fort Worther?
• 3:34
  Don Armstrong: Yes.
• 3:35
  Don Armstrong: And uh you uh live uh outside of Fort Worth.
• 3:38
  Don Armstrong: And did you choose Fort Worth when you uh moved here or started the business?
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I I I I moved here to get away from the cold.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: I was raised on a corn farm in Indiana, so I wanted to get away from all that and moved here in 1970 and uh lived in northeast uh Fort Worth, Keller area for a long time.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: Interesting.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: And then in 96 I built a a two-story log home on on some property out in Weatherford, so that's where I live now.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: But uh always been here.
• 4:10
  Don Armstrong: That's good.
• 4:11
  Don Armstrong: Well, it's a it's an honor and pleasure to meet you.
• 4:13
  Don Armstrong: I got fingers in front of my face and everything else.
• 4:16
  Don Armstrong: We're just waving at our fans.
• 4:17
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, is that what it is?
• 4:18
  Don Armstrong: Uh something tells me not.
• 4:21
  Don Armstrong: It's the police over.
• 4:22
  Don Armstrong: I'm sorry, the fire department is here.
• 4:24
  Don Armstrong: Um so I will tell you that uh that uh I I have a little history in uh in Indiana.
• 4:32
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:33
  Don Armstrong: So the Armstrong family moved from Scotland to Terre Haute back in, well, not my lifetime, but back then.
• 4:44
  Don Armstrong: And uh they were corn farmers, and that was my grandfather's business in Wisconsin where he uh ultimately wound up.
• 4:51
  Don Armstrong: And uh so uh I'm a Midwesterner too, and I found the right place in Texas.
• 4:55
  Don Armstrong: Yep, yeah.
• 4:56
  Don Armstrong: So you you get that.
• 4:58
  Don Armstrong: So how many you you you say that you got these boards, uh, and for those that don't know, in my world, the board basically had nails on it.
• 5:11
  Don Armstrong: And um somehow, some way I guess you went backwards with a wiring harness for that truck or you know, my 1955 Chevy Corvette.
• 5:24
  Don Armstrong: You went backwards, you took the wiring harness out of it, said, Oh, okay, so this is the way we're gonna do it.
• 5:29
  Don Armstrong: And uh I got a brand new wiring harness.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you had to reverse engineer it.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: And uh we made so what possessed you to do this?
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: I just I don't know.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: I went through electronics school in the military, and then after I got out, I went uh took two years of DeVry electronics school, and I've just always done it.
• 5:48
  Don Armstrong: So you're an electronics engineer.
• 5:50
  Don Armstrong: Well, no, I wouldn't call it that, but I mean, yes.
• 5:53
  Don Armstrong: You're electronics, we'll call you that.
• 5:55
  Don Armstrong: We'll call you that.
• 5:56
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 5:56
  Don Armstrong: And and the ultimate wiring guy.
• 5:58
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 5:59
  Don Armstrong: Have you ever wired a house?
• 6:01
  Don Armstrong: Uh well, I did.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: I wired my house that I built.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I had some help though.
• 6:07
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, I can understand.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because automotive and and industrial, commercial, residential, two different things.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, totally.
• 6:15
  Don Armstrong: Oh, yeah.
• 6:15
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:16
  Don Armstrong: Um, what is the latest and newest wiring harness that you have on the market today that we can buy?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: Well, see, we we just introduced uh three new El Camino harnesses for the uh 68 through 72.
• 6:34
  Don Armstrong: Um so your main business are those kind of cars that the Warriig harness is shot or it's been butchered so bad or burn up or whatever.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yeah, yeah.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: We don't make anything for new cars.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: The newest thing we make is for uh C 73 to 80 87, okay.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a Chevy truck.
• 6:56
  Don Armstrong: So the next question is still a popular square box.
• 6:59
  Don Armstrong: Oh yeah.
• 6:59
  Don Armstrong: So the the next question is do you do six volts and and twelve volt systems?
• 7:04
  Don Armstrong: Yes.
• 7:04
  Don Armstrong: Are they different?
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: Somewhat?
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: Somewhat, yeah.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: But what what we do is if the the circuit requires uh 10 amps to operate it correctly, uh we're gonna and then it and it takes a uh uh 16 gauge wire to do that.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna make it a 14 gauge.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: We up everything one gauge size.
• 7:29
  Don Armstrong: That way the customer can add a radio less resistance, yeah, right.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: And it could be running on a six-volt system as well.
• 7:39
  Don Armstrong: Do you have guys call you and say, listen, I got a I got a wiring harm harass from you a few years back, but I didn't really think about the power that I need to this new air conditioning system.
• 7:51
  Don Armstrong: You get those kind of calls?
• 7:52
  Don Armstrong: Yep, all the time.
• 7:53
  Don Armstrong: And so how how do you respond to that?
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, most of the time it's uh, well, we just need to add a relay to this particular system, and here's how you activate it, and you activate it with the wire that you were going to use.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: So now we get direct battery voltage through the air conditioner, and the original wire just like that.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: Just like that.
• 8:12
  Mike Marrs: What he what he said?
• 8:14
  Mike Marrs: Yeah.
• 8:14
  Don Armstrong: And so, and so um you you you do this, you do the the do you do the consulting for free once I got a wiring harness from Painless?
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we have full, you know, 800 number.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: The customers can call in, ask us anything they want.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um we have the best instruction manuals in the business.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: Most of them are 140 pages or more, full color.
• 8:38
  Mike Marrs: For a wiring harness.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: For a wiring harness.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, wow.
• 8:41
  Don Armstrong: Hell yeah, because you listen, if you want somebody to screw it up, I'm your man.
• 8:47
  Don Armstrong: And I gotta have paint by number stuff.
• 8:49
  Mike Marrs: YouTube doesn't cover all that.
• 8:51
  Don Armstrong: And I'm sure that most of the, well, I don't say most, a lot of the guys that you deal with are like me.
• 8:57
  Don Armstrong: They've never replaced a wiring harness in their life.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: And that's our best customer.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah because they'll read the instructions.
• 9:03
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 9:03
  Don Armstrong: Well, how else?
• 9:04
  Don Armstrong: I mean, that that is not one of those things, ah, the instructions, I don't need those.
• 9:09
  Don Armstrong: That doesn't work.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: Not very well.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: And uh what it it we find it we find it comical.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: The guy will call in, he says, I'm an electrical engineer, and I just don't understand this.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, I said, Well, you know, did you read the instructions?
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm an electrical engineer, I don't need the instructions.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: This wire goes over there.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: We just laugh.
• 9:29
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, I can roll your eyes, I can only imagine.
• 9:32
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, but some of them, I mean, I've rebuilt motors, I've painted cars.
• 9:35
  Mike Marrs: I hate wiring because I don't understand all the voltage stuff, and I don't, you know, uh I understand color codes, but I just can't grasp it.
• 9:44
  Mike Marrs: So something that like you're talking about 144 pages, I'll take it.
• 9:48
  Mike Marrs: Yep.
• 9:49
  Don Armstrong: So um let me ask you, Dennis, what do you think of our wiring here today?
• 9:55
  Don Armstrong: Yep, it's here.
• 10:01
  Don Armstrong: Well, I just had to had to kind of ask that.
• 10:04
  Don Armstrong: Thank you for that.
• 10:05
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 10:05
  Don Armstrong: Because guess what?
• 10:07
  Don Armstrong: I don't know what's here either.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: So it must be hooked up, right?
• 10:13
  Don Armstrong: Apparently, well, as far as we know, uh it's we're on the air somewhere on the earth.
• 10:18
  Don Armstrong: That's all I know.
• 10:20
  Don Armstrong: Um dear.
• 10:21
  Don Armstrong: I find I find it fascinating because the more I start thinking about it, how I mean, do you actually get a uh 68 El Camino and put it in the shop?
• 10:34
  Don Armstrong: Yes.
• 10:35
  Don Armstrong: That's what you do, that's how you do it, that's the key to it.
• 10:38
  Don Armstrong: And then you Dwire it, tear it all apart, everything, everything, and and then you put it in in the studio, the the work area, and you say, Oh, okay, well, this goes here.
• 10:50
  Don Armstrong: You basically deconstruct it to reconstruct it.
• 10:54
  Don Armstrong: Correct.
• 10:55
  Don Armstrong: Do you use the same colors as the factory?
• 10:57
  Don Armstrong: In most cases, yes.
• 10:59
  Don Armstrong: And what would change?
• 11:00
  Don Armstrong: Why wouldn't you use it like that?
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: There's a there's a few, you know, General Motors has got the the most basic color code and they've been using it for years and years and years.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so we we try to use all that.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: There's been a few years, like um, I don't know exactly what years, but uh the the fan wire may be a different color or the the coolant temperature wire may be a different color, depending on the model of the car or whatever.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: And we still try to do that research and make that change in the in the basic harness.
• 11:34
  Don Armstrong: So uh and if it does change uh from what the factory that you found out that the factory has, then you put that in the instructions.
• 11:43
  Don Armstrong: You may find that this particular wire that you now goes from the rear, right rear tail light, I'm just using the example, to the under the dash, has changed colors and you make it uh easy for me to understand.
• 11:58
  Don Armstrong: You know, this way, Don, this is the way you do it.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: Forges they were used to be the worst.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: Henry would use anything left over, he didn't care what the color codes were, just make it work.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: Make it work.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: And we would we were getting in some Mustangs, you know, the early 60s Mustangs, and taking them out, and and there'd be four different colors of wire just feeding the tail lights.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: In one circuit.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: And it just how do you do it?
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: How long does it take for for them to do that?
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: The deconstruction, the reverse engineering, how long does it take to create the harness?
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: We'll we'll we'll find a customer that will allow us to have their car for a long period of time, several months.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: So time we bring it in, take it apart, reverse engineer it, build a sample, see if it'll fit, if it doesn't, modify the sample, do it again when it fits, then we gotta put it on paper.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: And then we put it in the computer to make a work order.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: And then we get when we get all that done, we'll run a work order for three, and we'll see if it see if it's see if you can produce it.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: Produce it.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: If it works out, we got a change that we get.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: The last thing we do then is the instruction manual.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: And the same guy that started it day one is the same guy that's gonna finish it day in day three hundred and sixty-five.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that was my that was my question as well.
• 13:20
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, so he's re-engineered it, and and now he's got his prototype, and you're creating three, and he's testing those three, make sure everything works, and then he's gonna put it all on paper.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, that's so so it takes a year.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: It takes a year to do the whole process.
• 13:37
  Mike Marrs: Wow.
• 13:37
  Mike Marrs: So so what happened?
• 13:38
  Mike Marrs: I understand, you know, a 67 Al Camino, so you get one, you what happens if somebody comes and asks you for something that you don't have, but there's not one, uh a 47 forward whatever available for you to find.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we make a lot of universal harnesses as well.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: So especially now what do you mean by that?
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's a it can be used in anything.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: We just we just we ask some simple questions.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: Where do you want to mount the fuse block?
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: Underneath the dash and the trunk, where you know, where right.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: Then we want to know are you gonna have power windows, power door locks, you know, that kind of stuff.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: If you're not, then it means that means it's a smaller fuse block, not a big one.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and then uh we'll find out what kind of steering column they're gonna have and so forth.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: Do we do they need plugs for the steering column or not?
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: And then we make all those different universal ones, and and they and they whatever questions they answer that tells us which one of those are good that see would fit their application.
• 14:33
  Mike Marrs: So you almost custom make a universal one.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, really?
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: That is my question.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: So the customer will get it, he'll mount it where he's where he wanted to mount it.
• 14:47
  Don Armstrong: Okay, you gotta hold your gotta hold your story for uh after after our interview here, thank you.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: So the uh we make all the wires extra long.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the first one I made was for my 39th Chevrolet that I had years and years ago.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: So we made it 16 feet long for the taillight wires.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, come to find out, that wasn't long enough.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: So we went 22 feet long.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: And the all the headlight wires and so forth are all 16 feet long.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: So the customer's gonna get it, they're gonna get a lot more wire than they need, but that's good.
• 15:21
  Mike Marrs: It's easier to shorten it than it is to lengthen it.
• 15:24
  Don Armstrong: Now, do you put the connectors on the ends?
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: Only in certain circumstances.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: If they're gonna have uh a general motor keys colour, let's say key collar, then we'll we'll put all the plugs on that so they can just plug in the collar.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: Done.
• 15:45
  Mike Marrs: But like you say, how long do you need to get your tail lights?
• 15:47
  Mike Marrs: Where are the tail lights mounting?
• 15:48
  Mike Marrs: Which you know, do you get it?
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: We don't know what car is going to go in, how big it is.
• 15:53
  Don Armstrong: It might be uh it might be that.
• 15:56
  Don Armstrong: It might be that, or it could be that little bitty short hot rod over there, the yellow one.
• 16:02
  Don Armstrong: And you yeah, who's to say?
• 16:04
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 16:05
  Don Armstrong: Because that I guarantee you does not have the original wiring RSA.
• 16:10
  Don Armstrong: No.
• 16:11
  Mike Marrs: Absolutely not.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: Do you live here in Granbury?
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: I live in Weatford.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: Weatherford, okay.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: North of here, about 30 miles.
• 16:17
  Mike Marrs: Okay.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: So are you between here and Fort Worth?
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Fort Worth is I I live north of here.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: Fort Worth from where I live is east.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: I got you.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 16:26
  Mike Marrs: So yeah, I got you.
• 16:27
  Don Armstrong: I've heard of Weatherford, I don't think I've ever been there.
• 16:29
  Mike Marrs: I'm trying to remember why I've heard of that.
• 16:31
  Mike Marrs: There's something there.
• 16:32
  Don Armstrong: It's famous, and that's painless wiring.
• 16:34
  Mike Marrs: There you go.
• 16:34
  Mike Marrs: There you go.
• 16:35
  Mike Marrs: That's it.
• 16:35
  Mike Marrs: I knew that.
• 16:36
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 16:36
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, it's right on Interstate 20.
• 16:38
  Don Armstrong: Do you do wiring harnesses all over the world?
• 16:40
  Don Armstrong: We ship them all over the world, yes.
• 16:42
  Don Armstrong: Amazing, isn't it?
• 16:43
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, we used to make it.
• 16:45
  Don Armstrong: And you started this business?
• 16:46
  Don Armstrong: Yes, sir.
• 16:47
  Don Armstrong: I made myself.
• 16:48
  Don Armstrong: How did you how did you market it?
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: In in the in the early days, uh now what do you call early days for you?
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I wired my first car in 1964.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: At a 333 Winnicou.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: I did it myself.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: But when I got out of the military, uh everybody wanted uh, can you come over and help me fix my wires and so forth like this?
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: So that's what I would do.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: And then uh I was working at a Ford tractor dealer as a mechanic and later on as a service manager.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: So I had a friend come to me one day.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: He says, I know a guy that has a wiring harness company, and he's looking for somebody to help him produce one for the hot rod industry.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: He says, Can you do that?
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: I said, Yes, sir.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: So in the evenings after I get off work from the tractor dinner, I'd go and uh do some design work and build and so forth.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: Introduced it, uh got finished in uh late 89, introduced at the Fort Rod and Gusky Car Show in 1990 in a 37 Ford cabulet that didn't have any interior or anything in it.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: So it made it all the wires.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: You can see all the wires.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: So we did that.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: I made some, took them to Pate Swap Meet, sold them all the first day, and made a whole bunch more, and took them to uh Columbus, Ohio to the Street Rod National, sold them all the first day.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: In other words, you need to make a nice ding ding ding.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: But I had an advantage because for eleven years I I was a volunteer for the National Street Ride Association.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I knew all the vendors there, I knew all the shit, I had all the connections, and it made the world of difference.
• 18:38
  Don Armstrong: And that that gives a different meaning to connections from your world to the living world.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: Electrical connections.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you're familiar with that.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: I I give uh I give them 20 years of my life, and uh a lot more connections, and things happen.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: So everything everything's congratulations.
• 19:02
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, what a great story to tell.
• 19:04
  Don Armstrong: Absolutely.
• 19:04
  Don Armstrong: I mean, yeah, I mean, this is a uh story for a book.
• 19:07
  Don Armstrong: Guys would buy it.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: I've I've I've I've sold three I've I've written three books already.
• 19:12
  Don Armstrong: Well, have you?
• 19:13
  Don Armstrong: Well, there you go.
• 19:14
  Don Armstrong: Well, I'm a day late and a dollar short, just like the rest of my life, but whatever.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: I gotta tell you one more story.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: Please do how we got our name.
• 19:21
  Don Armstrong: Yes.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: We we incorporated as perfect performance products.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: And we were that way for for a while when I was building my first harnesses.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so I had a friend, his name was Tex Smith.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: He he was the editor for Hot Rod for a while, and he was also had his own publication called Hot Rod Mechanics.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: And uh he called me one day and he said, I hear you you got in the harness business.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: What are you thinking?
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, giving me a hard time, but he says, I'm I'm building a dollar a pound roadster, and that's what he had.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: His little roadster, and he didn't want he didn't want it to cost any more than a weight.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: So he says, Would you send me a harness and I'll put an ad in my upcoming issue of Hot Robert Mechanics?
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: I said, Yeah, so I did, and he did.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: And the phone blew up.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: And then then in October of 1990, the his latest edition came out, and sure enough, there's a full page ad, and the top of it said painless wiring.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: And it's been painless wiring.
• 20:32
  Mike Marrs: And he was just using it as a as an adjective for your product.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: But now how cool.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's how sorry.
• 20:38
  Don Armstrong: That is that is uh are you is he still alive?
• 20:40
  Don Armstrong: Are you still in touch with him?
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: No, tax passed away a few years back.
• 20:43
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, wow, that's a great story.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so lots of lots of cool things about that.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: And you talked about marketing.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he's marketed himself all the contacts, the network.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: One more quick, another quick story.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm coming home from an event in this in Knoxville, Tennessee.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: It was the National Street Router Association South.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: And so uh when I go back to Texas, I always look to see what the weather is in Memphis or Birmingham, and so I know which way I'm gonna go.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: So it's storming in Memphis.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna take the southern route down to Birmingham and go across.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so I get down there and I get on the loop in Birmingham and I'm headed west on 20.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: And all of a sudden I've got a C B radio, and of course that was back in the 90s, everybody had one, but uh uh it lights up and and I can see these two trucks coming at me.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: And uh one guy says, Wow, look at that yellow truck over there, that's pretty cool.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: And uh the other guy comes on and says, Oh, yeah, that's that painless guy.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: He drives that all over the country.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I just reached up, thanks guys.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: So just stuff like that.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 21:56
  Don Armstrong: And us.
• 21:57
  Don Armstrong: When we saw painless wire, and we're going, Wow, that's really Cool.
• 22:00
  Don Armstrong: We don't know if that's the guy.
• 22:01
  Don Armstrong: And it's you.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: Mr.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: Painless.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody had to do it, right?
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 22:07
  Don Armstrong: Well, I mean, I be you I can only imagine you go places and you're famous for your wiring harnesses.
• 22:14
  Don Armstrong: I mean, I think you are.
• 22:16
  Don Armstrong: I've heard of painless wiring since you went into business.
• 22:18
  Don Armstrong: I didn't know it any different.
• 22:19
  Don Armstrong: Absolutely.
• 22:20
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 22:20
  Don Armstrong: And I certainly didn't know any of the backstory.
• 22:22
  Don Armstrong: I didn't know any of that stuff.
• 22:24
  Don Armstrong: I have seen videos of a wiring harness board where you loop it through like a rug.
• 22:34
  Don Armstrong: Well, it's it was basically a four by eight sheet of plywood with nails in it.
• 22:38
  Don Armstrong: That's it.
• 22:38
  Don Armstrong: Is that you still doing it that way?
• 22:40
  Don Armstrong: Yep.
• 22:40
  Don Armstrong: Oh my god, they're still doing it that way.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: We have little clips instead of the nails, but yeah.
• 22:46
  Mike Marrs: But still, you still gotta lay it out by hand.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone's laid out.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: General Motors do the same thing.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: Lockheed does the same thing.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: Bell Helicopter does the same.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: They're all made that way.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think we could use one for us?
• 22:59
  Don Armstrong: I think we could we could probably use some help.
• 23:02
  Mike Marrs: It may take a while, but we could do two boards.
• 23:05
  Mike Marrs: It may take two years for that project.
• 23:07
  Don Armstrong: Dennis Overholzer.
• 23:09
  Don Armstrong: Did I pronounce that right?
• 23:10
  Mike Marrs: You did good.
• 23:11
  Don Armstrong: Thank you.
• 23:12
  Don Armstrong: Thank you very much for that.
• 23:13
  Don Armstrong: That's that uh that's that Midwestern thing coming out, I think.
• 23:16
  Don Armstrong: There you go.
• 23:16
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 23:17
  Don Armstrong: Because I know that I've known somewhere in my life an overholzer.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of them in the Midwest.
• 23:22
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, yeah.
• 23:22
  Don Armstrong: Well, Indiana, Terreho, and all yeah, I got you.
• 23:26
  Don Armstrong: It's a pleasure, it's an honor to have you here and talk to you today.
• 23:29
  Don Armstrong: Painless wiring.
• 23:30
  Don Armstrong: And I guess all we got to do is Google it, painless wiring, and it's gonna come to you.
• 23:34
  Don Armstrong: Yep.
• 23:35
  Don Armstrong: Yep.
• 23:35
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 23:36
  Don Armstrong: And uh, and I I assume that you get a lot of your business now off the internet.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: A lot, yes.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, off our website and so forth.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, one last one.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: How many folks work for you?
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: Right now we're we're at about fifty.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: We we had been up to eighty some at one time.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: We were making some harnessing for General Motors.
• 23:54
  Mike Marrs: But uh, regular supplier, part of their supply line?
• 23:58
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 23:59
  Don Armstrong: I I guess that you probably get phone calls every once in a while like that, don't you?
• 24:04
  Don Armstrong: Guys that you know companies that uh say, hey, you know, uh I'm I'm building a uh a little car, then I'm gonna have fifty of them.
• 24:14
  Don Armstrong: Can you do the wiring hard for us?
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: We we used to do some of that, but we and we call that job shop work, right?
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: We the problem with it is it takes all the time of my engineers to do that little job.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: It takes them off of what we needed to get your main core business.
• 24:31
  Don Armstrong: And after all these years, you figured that out.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: So nothing with nothing with the electric car companies, Tesla's or anything, nothing like that.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: We we only make it for ourselves.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: Very good.
• 24:41
  Don Armstrong: Uh honor, pleasure.
• 24:43
  Don Armstrong: Thank you so much for stopping by and a great conversation.
• 24:45
  Don Armstrong: Appreciate you.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: Appreciate all all the all the support.
• 24:49
  Don Armstrong: Oh, you got it.
• 24:49
  Don Armstrong: All right, coming up, Jeff has the cruise in and events calendars, and I've got stories making automotive news headlines this week.
• 24:56
  Don Armstrong: Uh stay with us.
• 24:57
  Don Armstrong: The In Wheel Time Car Talk Show continues after this.
• 25:01
  Don Armstrong: The Tax Max dining experience is defined by Lupi Tortilla, your destination for Texas's best beef fajitas and frozen margaritas.
• 25:10
  Don Armstrong: Since 1983, Lupi Tortilla has served authentic and time-tested recipes made with the freshest ingredients.
• 25:16
  Don Armstrong: Atmosphere is part of the award-winning experience at Lupi Tortilla, all developed in a little house near Highway 6 and I-10 in Houston.
• 25:23
  Don Armstrong: Visit any of the Lupi Tortillas, and you'll see the same attention to detail in each and every location.
• 25:28
  Don Armstrong: Start your loopy experience with queso flamillato and guacamole, along with a classic frozen margarita.
• 25:34
  Don Armstrong: Dine on famous loopy beef and chicken fajitas or pepper shrimp brochette, or a fish or vegetarian entree, and finish with a scrumptious flan for dessert.
• 25:42
  Don Armstrong: Find loopy tortilla in Houston, College Station, Beaumont, Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas, Fort Worth.
• 25:48
  Don Armstrong: There's a Texas location near you.
• 25:50
  Don Armstrong: The recipes are authentic and time-tested.
• 25:52
  Don Armstrong: The ingredients always fresh.
• 25:54
  Don Armstrong: Loopy Tortilla eats pretty good.
• 26:01
  Don Armstrong: Join the Inwheel Time Car Talk Show as we hit the road for a live broadcast from the 51st annual Lone Star Street Rod Association State Run at Hewlett Park in Granbury.
• 26:10
  Don Armstrong: This once-a-year rolling car collection takes place June 12th through the 14th.
• 26:15
  Don Armstrong: Check out hundreds of classic street rods, vendors, giveaways, awards, and family fun.
• 26:20
  Don Armstrong: Best of all, spectator admission is absolutely free.
• 26:23
  Don Armstrong: In real time, we'll be live from Granbury Saturday, June 13th, 9 to noon.
• 26:27
  Don Armstrong: Get all the deets at LSSRA.com.
• 26:33
  Don Armstrong: Your car is a direct reflection of you, so don't be satisfied with color fade or a dingy dull appearance.
• 26:39
  Don Armstrong: Get rid of those terrible automated car wash scratches.
• 26:42
  Don Armstrong: Gulf Coast Auto Shield is your Save the Paint company.
• 26:45
  Don Armstrong: John Gray and his team of detailing experts can help your cars finish without a full repaint.
• 26:50
  Don Armstrong: Searching for real experts in window tent or windshield protection, Gulf Coast Auto Shield.
• 26:55
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• 26:58
  Don Armstrong: Got a new car?
• 26:59
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• 27:02
  Don Armstrong: If you don't know which of the multitude of protection products to go with, John Gray will give you an honest opinion and won't sell you something you don't need.
• 27:08
  Don Armstrong: John will help you understand the many options and pricing right on the spot.
• 27:12
  Don Armstrong: He's your guy to have your ride looking its best and protected too.
• 27:16
  Don Armstrong: See the state-of-the-art shop yourself, free tours anytime.
• 27:19
  Don Armstrong: Gulf Coast Auto Shield is easy to get to, located just south of the Southwest Freeway on the Sam Houston Parkway.
• 27:25
  Don Armstrong: Gulf Coast Auto Shield, full service luxury car care today and online at gcautoshield.com.
• 27:32
  Don Armstrong: Gift giving should be meaningful, and we have an idea.
• 27:35
  Don Armstrong: A hand painted custom illustration of your car from one of the nation's leading artists.
• 27:40
  Don Armstrong: Now you can get one or a car show poster customized for you, a friend, or a loved one.
• 27:45
  Don Armstrong: Bill Sites will be happy to guide you through the process.
• 27:48
  Don Armstrong: No matter what the day, birthday, anniversary, or any day, an autographics custom illustration adds an extra touch of class to any home.
• 27:55
  Don Armstrong: Call Bill today, 832-922-0963.
• 27:58
  Don Armstrong: That's 832-922-0963.
• 28:04
  Don Armstrong: That's it for this podcast episode of the In Wheel Time Car Show.
• 28:07
  Don Armstrong: I'm Don Armstrong, inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning on Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and our InWheelTime.com website.
• 28:17
  Don Armstrong: Podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartPodcast, Podcast Addict.
• 28:23
  Don Armstrong: Tune in, Pandora, and Amazon Music.
• 28:26
  Don Armstrong: Keep listening, and we'll see you soon.