Trim Line Leftovers

EMT · November 25, 2005

:dunno :thumb wade is my master ninjatinter, its Eric From Special T, how are you doing?

Hey EMT, you probably new a guy named Wade? He started the shop I own now!!

[*]341679

November 25, 2005

My local competition is autotrim.

However, he tint WAY better then me. I never thought anything about it, but 8 or 9 years ago he tinted my 93 TBird.

One piece and super clean.

So I can't talk smack about them.

November 26, 2005

? wade is my master ninjatinter, its Eric? From Special T, how are you doing?
Hey EMT, you probably new a guy named Wade? He started the shop I own now!!

[*]341679

[*]341734

Wasup buddy!! Long time eh?? I figured it was either Wade, Chris T, or YOU!!!!! :lol Good to have you on the boards!! Dang, just looked at your tag. You joined in 03!?!??!?! TD is the shizznit!!!!! :thumb

November 26, 2005

yeah this site is like our second home

November 28, 2005

last night I had leftover trim

[*]341674

they are all leftovers now

:headbang

November 29, 2005

I worked for Trim-Line in 1981. We did auto dealership work. Mainly pinstriping, graphics, body side moldings. I started my tinting life with them in their shop then in '81, while dabbling in it for a year or so on my own. Trim Line was a trim business mainly owned and operated by Jehovah's Witnesses. In the 90's many changed their names to Auto Trim Design. Incorporating the name into a more encompassing description of their installations. More graphics, signage and such.

November 30, 2005

man, I had forgot about those guys. :lol

I knew of 3, but 2 only did striping. the last time I talked to the one who did window tint, about 10 years ago, was bragging about his recent 13 piecer on a porsche. :bat :inot :lol :bat

tigerstripe · November 30, 2005

was bragging about his recent 13 piecer on a porsche.

[*]343714

13!!! thats awsome, Im still at 15 :lol2 I wonder if he wants a job :hmmm

if I remember right MMM owned trim line then closed them down. then they came out with panther. and now I am using them again :bingo o well I guess its all in a name :bingo

women you cant live with them, they cant pee standing up. :hmmm

Kohler · December 1, 2005

Yehova still witnesses trimline (mmm) in Germany.

February 26, 2008

I was reading some other posts and started wondering who on the board used to work for trim line
Ill go first. my dad started with them in 79-80 and I started in 88 but I think it was called auto trim by then.

whos next

The Trim Line Design story goes something like this.

Two guys who happened to be Jehovah’s Witnesses did dealer work many years ago. If I got the story right they went to 3M or perhaps 3M came to them and worked out a franchise deal. Since the Witnesses are a close group many of the franchises were started by Jehovah's Witnesses but not all and no you did not have to be one to own a franchise. after much success Trim Line was a force in the aftermarket auto dealership world. In my neck of the woods they ruled. When I started with them I could go into just about any dealership do what I thought was best and write up a ticket and get paid. We gave good deals to the dealers but to my surprise we charged premium prices for alot of things. What has stood out to me to this day is how loyal the dealers were to us. im not kidding other guys would come in and offer to do work at a reduced rate and the manager would send them packing.

Then the end came.

When I was 19 years old it wasn’t uncommon for me to take home close to a grand a week after taxes. this is in 1988. Not for long. As I understand it the franchise owners started looking to cut corners and increase profit margins by using non Trim Line Products. as a result 3M stopped giving a 1year exclusive on new products to Trim Line Dealers. As onetime workers started going out on their own and untold numbers of others started doing trim work and most of all Many dealers started going in-house Trim Line Design was no longer profitable for anybody 3M or their franchises.

inter Auto Trim Design a large number of Trim Line Design shops began to network with one another the benefits of buying their materials in large amounts gave them a better profit margin than doing so as an independent.

The Auto Trim Design network gave them this ability. Auto Trim Design has never had the national success that Trim Line Design once did.

As far as work Quality. I have never seen a Trim Line Shop do bad work as a whole. They had a few installers that eventually would be let go if they could not do the job right. but overall some of the best ive ever seen in this field got their start with Trim Line. As far as seemed back glasses. its true when I started out we did back glasses that by today’s standards we would laugh at. However the first person ive ever saw do a back glass in one piece was a guy I knew at trim line. At the time we didn’t have tint dude to go to we didn’t talk to competition it wasn’t allowed. you could get fired for having a conversation with the competition. This guy discovered Heat shrinking by accident. While he was heating a finger on the inside of the car one day he noticed that the film shriveled and he got it down without any problems. after sleeping on it one night he thought to himself was it possible to do this on the back glass before the liner was pulled. He practiced and practiced ......... at home by the way if the owner would have seen him going through that much film he would have had a fit. Then one day he wants us to see a back glass he did in one piece. It was a 1987 Pontiac grand am. No big deal today but then we were amazed. I know there are probably dozens of guys who claim to have invented heat shirking. Its not impossible for two people to have the same idea at the same time. Alexander Graham Bell got the patent for the telephone only a short time before some other guy with the same invention. But I know for a fact their wasn’t anybody for miles who did it before this cat did. Anyhow. My longest most boring post yet