Here is a note that I received a few weeks ago from Steve Swanson.
Steve worked at the factory in North Carolina where the plastic hubcaps for the Prowler trailers were made and painted.
I found his e-mail very interesting and I hope you will too. I asked Steve if it was OK that I share his note with the POA and he said that he would like that.*****************************************************
Larry,
Something interesting that you might like to know,
I worked at the company here in Concord/Charlotte NC that made, hand masked and painted the hubcaps for the Prowler trailers. This was a very time consuming process with an 80% rejection rate. I painted most of all the hubcaps for the company. Little did I know about ebay then but like I said, we threw pallet loads in the trash. I always wanted to get some as I knew someday they would be valuable for replacements as Chrysler ordered the number needed for the trailers and then like 25% for parts. Not many at all.
One speck of black (painted first from the inside) that got on the area where the silver was applied would reject it. We had to, after painting black, hand wash with thinner very carefully around the edges so as to not wash the black away. Two people could maybe clean 8 wheels each in a day. Anyways sorry for the ramblings and I’ve probably shared more about the hubcaps then you care to know.
Steve
P.S. Feel free to do what ever you wish with my painting of the prowler
Wheels info. I only wish I was better a relaying a message or story. But re-tell it as best needed.
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In my next e-mail to Steve, I asked him if he owned a Prowler or has he been around them much? If not, I told him I would try to arrange for someone to stop by and take him, his wife or children for a ride in one.
I then thanked him again for taking the time to send me a note.
The following is Steve’s reply to my e-mail:
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Larry,
As far as being involved with Prowlers in anything other than the hubcaps....I wish!
After, and still going thru a divorce and custody battle in which my 2 daughters live with me now, money and credit are tight or ruined.
If you have any other questions or need better details let me know. I now think back now on how aggravating painting those things were.
What would happen as you were cleaning the black over spray and such off the wheel, if you were not very careful you would get a black smudge in the wheel that would not show up until I applied the silver paint. That was biggest reason for rejects, the smudges. We would have to let some go....we might paint 10 hubcaps and 8 of them would be bad. After they were painted the edges were trimmed and the holes cut then the locking piece was added. If you could only see the numbers we threw in the dumpster. After we would get 50 or so painted 20 would be messed up in the cutting process. We also did hubcaps for the Subaru Outback using the same process but still would trash more than half. Needless to say we lost out on this job. Well that is that.....like I said in my last note to you, pass along the info to your Prowler friends if you think they'll be interested. I’ll bet that most don’t even think that the hubcaps were painted by hand.
Till next time,
Steve
P.S. I always wanted to get a set of 4 and put on pickup or something. I guess I missed my chance.
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Steve’s e-mail address is Steve Swanson e-mail address in case you would like to send him a note or maybe even if in his area, stop by and share some Prowler time with him and his daughters.
This message has been edited by Larry Lord on 05-16-2003 at 01:46 AM
