[nfbmi-talk] Fwd: FYI, April 1 article from Monroe News regarding Michael LaHote

Larry Posont president.nfb.mi at gmail.com
Wed Apr 25 21:29:19 UTC 2012


FYI, pasted below are the link and complete text of an article that ran
in the April 1 edition of the Monroe News regarding Michael LaHote, a
former consumer of Detroit Rehabilitation Counselor Joann Woodward.  Mr.
LaHote, who received an MCB Achievement Honor Roll Award in 2005, has
just moved his classic car restoration business from Ohio back to
Michigan.  He expects to eventually employ six workers.  Congratulations
to Michael LaHote, and also to Joann and everyone at the Detroit office!
(This article has been posted in the Press Room section of the MCB
website and will be live online after 12:00 today.)

Susan Turney
Communications & Outreach Coordinator, Michigan Commission for the Blind
Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs
desk:  517-241-8631; cell: 517-243-3858; fax:  517-335-5140
MCB toll-free: 1-800-292-4200
201 N. Washington Square, Second Floor,
P.O. Box 30652; Lansing, MI 48909
www.michigan.gov/mcb

Old Business, New Market
http://www.monroenews.com/news/2012/apr/01/old-business-new-market/
by Charles Slat, Monroe News, Sunday, April 1, 2012
Michael LaHote has gone from creating visions of the future to recreating
blasts from the past.
In the early 1990s, his business made money by making add-on fiberglass
parts that provided stylistic flourishes, mainly to Corvettes.
Now he's moved his company to Monroe and it's gone retro, specializing in
fiberglass reproductions of 1932 Fords and 1933 Plymouths, as well as
fiberglass repairs.
MFP Classic Cars has settled at 660 Cooper St., molding fiberglass body
parts for both hot-rodders and classic car restorers.
For Mr. LaHote, the shift in business reflects a shift in demographics.
"The Corvette stuff has gotten so through-the-roof that the average guy
doesn't do that anymore," he claims. Instead, the business makes its
bucks from street-rod and muscle-car enthusiasts.
"The market is booming," Mr. LaHote says. "Guys have taken early buyouts
or retired and they're looking for projects."
If they are looking for a front fender or running board, a side door or
entire body for a classic car, MFP will fill the bill.
He said he switched the emphasis of his business a few years ago when a
customer approached him and asked if he could make a body for a '32 Ford
sedan. He already had years of fiberglass experience, so he tackled the
job, the customer was pleased, and word spread, as it often does in
hobbyist circles.
Mr. LaHote, a longtime Michigan resident, recently moved MFP from a
longtime location in Sylvania, Ohio, to be closer to his family.
His business, started in the garage of his Lambertville home in 1991,
operated in the Sylvania location for the past eight years because that's
where many of his clients were.
Now, customers aren't so local.
"We are no longer solely dependent on restoration and customization for
our work," he explains. "We now manufacture parts."
"My client base is no longer in Sylvania," he adds. "Now it's Australia,
New Zealand, Turkey, Germany and all over. I now very, very rarely ever
meet my customers in person."
He still generates much business from the United States, of course, where
classic cars, street rods and muscle cars are as popular as ever.
He said he's seen statistics that indicate Michigan and Ohio have the
highest concentration of street rods and muscle cars of anywhere in the
nation. The acquisition of key automotive molds and jigs from Harwood, a
huge name in fiberglass aftermarket street rod and race car parts,
boosted his business.
The 9,000-square-foot Cooper Ave. location now houses the jigs and molds,
a custom paint-mixing station and other equipment to make a range of
parts. He expects to eventually employ six workers.
As his business has evolved, he's said he's had some disenchanting
experiences involving economic development programs due to a shortage of
economic development dollars and tight bank credit that makes some public
pronouncements about job-creation initiatives ring hollow.
He says he moved back to Michigan because it's now more
manufacturer-friendly and the tax structure has improved. He has been
working with Tim Lake of the Monroe County Industrial Development Corp.
to establish his business in Monroe.
Mr. LaHote, who is legally blind due to a genetic problem, was honored
for his entrepreneurship in 2005 by the Michigan Commission for the Blind
because of his adaptive use of technology to run and grow his business.
His return to doing business in Michigan has a payback element to it.
"I felt I owed something to them to come back to Michigan and hire
employees in the State of Michigan," he said.
Online:
www.mfpclassiccars.com




More information about the NFBMI-Talk mailing list