Quote:
Originally Posted by LT7A
808, I thought I would comment here as I've seen this line of inquiry run amok and people that I really respect on here get pretty worked up about it. There is nothing that precludes any of us from approaching vendors and asking them to participate in our build. And probably more correctly, there is nothing stopping us from doing superlative builds that catch vendors' eyes and that compel them to contact us and ask to be involved. Having read all of Ken's builds on here, his focus is on building high quality trucks. He shows them and has access to big shows. In many cases, reading his threads, he mentions that particular vendors approach him. I suppose anyone can say whether they think he is lucky or just plain works hard. But there's no denying he puts a considerable amount of energy into each build. Each interested vendor has to decide what level of involvement is appropriate to get the return on their sponsorship. If I was Ken, I wouldn't make the details of those agreements public either.
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I was tempted to make this post the other day, but held off. LT7A, you hit the points I was thinking. I had approached a vendor while doing my son's red truck, they did offer to do what I was wanting, but after weighing their needs for it to happen, I had to graciously decline as I was not in a position to be able to meet those needs fully.
I have known of Ken for quite sometime. I make a point to go chat with him at all the shows we are at together. As I have gotten to know him, he more or less started out doing these trucks on his own with help from friends and family, just like the vast majority of us do. In his signature, Refining Sierra is a recent build that I believe he did on his own with some labor help from his nephew, Chris. I don't recall him getting any help form vendors. The next one, Scarlet, he did the same way the first time and that is when he got approached by Ride Tech, American Racing and Kicker that lead to the second rework of that truck...
Elwood was the last remake of the '77 and he did get more help on it, but it and Scarlet had to meet requirements from those vendors and that takes time and a commitment from Ken to make those happen. Ken has been doing this a long time and has been fortunate to establish these friends and contacts in the industry that gives him the opportunity to build these nice trucks. To me, it is a far cry from the rich get richer type mentality. He has consistently shown these vendors and others in the industry that he builds a great looking truck that can showcase these great products for them.