New job....at LMC!

You know how it is when you've got HUGE news that you want to share with everyone, but you can't tell anyone just yet? You know, you don't want to jinx it because it's still in the works, so you bite your tongue constantly until it's finally written in stone and you KNOW for sure it's going to happen?

Well, I've got something I've been wanting to share with you all that's been in the works for about 6 weeks now and was just finalized yesterday with the signing of some documents...so I can finally let the cat out of bag.

And here it is:

I've been offered a position at LMC Truck, as the new head of the Ford Research & Development (R&D) team....and I've accepted the offer. I will be starting there full-time in about three weeks. Essentially, I'll be in charge of anything that has to do with Ford trucks and Broncos, and Ford-related products sold through LMC's catalogs.

That's right...this isn't a joke. This is really happening! (For my friends and family who haven't heard of LMC Truck of Lenexa, Kansas, they're one of the nation's largest supplier of repair and restoration parts for Ford, Ch*vy and Dodge trucks, and they also have a British cars division.)

LMC sees these classic Ford trucks as the next huge market and wanted someone there who knows them very well, to work on expanding available parts and filling holes in the aftermarket offerings. My official title will be 'Ford Parts Manager', and as the head of LMC's Ford R&D team I'll be mostly working to identify Ford truck repair/restoration products that aren't currently being sold through their catalogs and contacting companies to either supply them or manufacture them. We'll provide them with a sample, they'll provide a prototype which I'll inspect for quality and fitment, and if it passes inspections, then I'll OK it for further mass production to be stocked in their warehouses and listed in their future catalogs. And since I know some of you might be wondering, I do believe I'll have some say-so in the quality control of their existing products. That is, if I can find a better version of a product currently being sold by LMC and it's financially feasible to offer that product in the catalogs, then changes will be made to do so.

I'll also be in charge of all eight of LMC's Ford truck catalogs, ensuring that everything is listed completely and correctly as to description, application, etc.

This has been in the works since the beginning of March and I'd probably would have been making this announcement sooner, but the whole COVID19 thing put a stall on the process for a while. There have been numerous e-mails, phone conversations plus a face-to-face interview and tour of the LMC facilities several weeks ago...which lead to yesterday's formal job offer. Everything has been approved and I just sent off the final paperwork to finalize the deal.

I've provided my current employer with my two weeks notice and will now spend the new few weeks getting packed up and ready to relocate to Lenexa, Kansas and renting a place to live. My family will stay here for the time being while we get our current acreage cleaned up and sold, and during this time I'll be making regular 4-hour trips between Kansas and our home in east-central Nebraska on the weekends to help out. Once the acreage is sold, my family will be joining me in Kansas. My wife is graduating this month with her Master's degree in Nursing Education, so relocating to the outskirts of Kansas City will make more opportunities available to her than she would here.

There IS one thing that really sucks about this.  I've spend the past few years slowly getting a shop put together by refurbishing a big 60x80 barn on my property. I finally got concrete poured last fall and got all my car/truck projects, tools and parts inside for the first time in years. This was supposed to be the summer I finally got to get back to work on those projects in that new shop, dammit! Looking at it realistically, it's probably going to be another year before we've found a place that we both like...she wants the house, I want the shop. But while it's a minor setback on those personal projects, it's a huge step up for both of us, so we're both very excited about the future and looking forward to this new adventure.

It's definitely going to be an interesting chapter of our lives!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!  Well done, Keith!  

I know him!!!

I hope you'll keep us up to speed on what is going on at LMC.

Congratulations sir! Too bad I no longer own my 1977 F150, it went to my oldest son 23 years ago, and may still be running around central Texas.

Outstanding! And, congratulations on the new gig.

I buy a lot from LMC and I enjoy the catalogs as well. I read each one cover to cover, and have a couple years worth of them saved (in chronological order).

Something LMC is really good at is international orders/shipping, and that is one of the reasons I use them so often. Their system is seamless, and easy to use. Some companies are not all that keen on shipping outside of the US, and if they do offer it, it's usually not convenient OR inexpensive. So a tip of the hat to LMC for that.

I know of at least one error in the LMC Ford catalog, so I'll have to go back through my orders and see if I can identify the parts again, but there was an issue with the parts listings for the Bullnose rear cab mounts.

In any case, congrats!

Yes, last I knew there was an error in the Z-bar area on the bushings or seals, but I don't remember which.  I talked with a nice young lady there about it when I found it several years ago, but it didn't get corrected in the catalog.

But overall the catalog is very helpful and usually accurate.

Holy canoli!!!


I hope like HECK you do a lot of reading on this forum, because there is an AWFUL LOT of things here that LMC could capitalize on as far as parts, tools, accessories, research and development goes. I am glad that LMC recognizes what's going on with these trucks. It seems that the bullnose trucks ahve really started to get their day.

Enjoy the gig sir!

Oh, I'll definitely be here asking a lot of questions, because although I'm pretty knowledgeable about '60s-'70s Ford trucks, I'm a little weak in the '80s-up stuff....so it's time to expand those horizons a bit. I'm actually looking into getting a bullnose truck to start using as a daily driver too, which will help considerably towards that end.

FORDification wrote

Oh, I'll definitely be here asking a lot of questions, because although I'm pretty knowledgeable about '60s-'70s Ford trucks, I'm a little weak in the '80s-up stuff....so it's time to expand those horizons a bit. I'm actually looking into getting a bullnose truck to start using as a daily driver too, which will help considerably towards that end.

Glad to have you around; I myself and I know plenty of others have had a few bones to pick to LMC over the last few years

I think a lot of people want basic restoration stuff, and there are a lot of oddball parts for these trucks that are difficult to come by or when we do, very expensive. I'm not sure how feasible that would be for you guys to implement on some things, but as far as I'm concerned this forum will provide you with a pretty extensive background into these trucks. Honestly, if you look past the factory feedback carbs and injection, they aren't all that dissimilar to the 70s trucks.

Perhaps Gary and myself could get a thread going were we try to consolidate the most common things that are sought after on these trucks so that we can provide you will a steady database to get rolling with once you finally settle in with LMC. I'm very excited that someone with an interest in these trucks will be finally sitting behind the curtain in a major restoration outlet. I hope there is some way than I can contribute to your catalog.

Keith - What would be the biggest help to you in your new job?  How can we help you help us?

Gary Lewis wrote

Keith - What would be the biggest help to you in your new job?  How can we help you help us?

Gary I sent you an email.

Congrats! This is good news. You hear a lot of people say that junkyards or pick and pulls don’t have many or any bullnoses to pick from.

I had a power door lock bezel from LMC that was incorrect. Lot’s of back and forth emails and photos, but they still sent the wrong part three times. IIRC the decal or placard was put on upside down. For the cost I didn’t want to risk pulling it off and it not going back on well.

But, I thought their customer service and attempt was good. I sent everything back, they paid for shipping, and refunded me.

One other time, I ordered a part shown as in stock. They quickly let me know that it wasn’t in stock and I could cancel the order if I wanted. I said no, no problem. They let me know when they got the part and didn’t charge me for shipping.

I’m writing this to infer that I believe the company has tried to treat customers right.

Congratulations- what a coup for them!  It's a match of skills and resources that is going to be all-in win.  I wish you good luck.

*edit* Sounds like it's in the interest of the enthusiast to great a list and make it as public as possible.  Get a little competition going and keep the prices affordable. haha

Angelo Voltura wrote

....
Perhaps Gary and myself could get a thread going were we try to consolidate the most common things that are sought after on these trucks so that we can provide you will a steady database to get rolling with once you finally settle in with LMC. I'm very excited that someone with an interest in these trucks will be finally sitting behind the curtain in a major restoration outlet. I hope there is some way than I can contribute to your catalog.

Well, here's the thing...if we make a publicly-available post with a list of parts that need to be reproduced, other vendors are going to see that list too, and could possibly beat us to the punch. Granted, it's going to be a 3-4 weeks before I'm actually there working in an official capacity, but I'd sure like to not have to beat other vendors in a race to see who can come out with a part first. I'm in a new unique situation where I now need to consider, for example, the possible loss of resources by my future employer if someone else releases a new part first that we're currently working on.

So while I don't have an immediate answer, I'm thinking that perhaps just making a post suggesting that folks contact me directly with suggestions of things to look into in the future. I'll have to give this some thought to come up with a way for you all to make suggestions in private. I hope you understand what I'm getting at here.

When I first got word I was being considered for this position, I made a post in a couple Facebooks groups asking member's opinions on what should be reproduced, and I happen to know for a fact that at least one other aftermarket parts vendor (the owner of the company) was monitoring the thread for ideas for his own company. Now obviously I have no way of knowing what that vendor decided to do with the suggestions posted, but I'm going to have to assume he's using it to try to be the first source available for some of the parts suggested.

FORDification wrote

Angelo Voltura wrote

....
Perhaps Gary and myself could get a thread going were we try to consolidate the most common things that are sought after on these trucks so that we can provide you will a steady database to get rolling with once you finally settle in with LMC. I'm very excited that someone with an interest in these trucks will be finally sitting behind the curtain in a major restoration outlet. I hope there is some way than I can contribute to your catalog.

Well, here's the thing...if we make a publicly-available post with a list of parts that need to be reproduced, other vendors are going to see that list too, and could possibly beat us to the punch. Granted, it's going to be a 3-4 weeks before I'm actually there working in an official capacity, but I'd sure like to not have to beat other vendors in a race to see who can come out with a part first. I'm in a new unique situation where I now need to consider, for example, the possible loss of resources by my future employer if someone else releases a new part first that we're currently working on.

So while I don't have an immediate answer, I'm thinking that perhaps just making a post suggesting that folks contact me directly with suggestions of things to look into in the future. I'll have to give this some thought to come up with a way for you all to make suggestions in private. I hope you understand what I'm getting at here.

When I first got word I was being considered for this position, I made a post in a couple Facebooks groups asking member's opinions on what should be reproduced, and I happen to know for a fact that at least one other aftermarket parts vendor (the owner of the company) was monitoring the thread for ideas for his own company. Now obviously I have no way of knowing what that vendor decided to do with the suggestions posted, but I'm going to have to assume he's using it to try to be the first source available for some of the parts suggested.

This is something that has been discussed already; there will be some stuff in the works the next few weeks to avoid all of that.

This is all great news!

I guess the downside of not having a public list is that you won't get the feedback that goes with it. If that feedback is riff-raff on Facebook, then maybe you wouldn't want it anyway...lol. My point is, I guess you'll have to gauge the viability of a proposed reproduction part/idea on your own. I'm sure you have the experience to do that, so it would hardly be a concern.

My truck is mostly finished now, so I won't be needing much in the future, but I started scratching down a list of Bullnose items that might be worth investigating that I can forward along

Congratulations Keith!
A new chapter in your career, and something you're obviously passionate about.  💓  😎  🎉

Sounds like a win win for the whole family, long term.

Perhaps this will give some of us a back channel to enquire about parts we all have to find workarounds for, or the ones we've found much better retrofits for.

Really glad you've joined here!
Looking forward to getting you up to speed on this generation of Ford trucks.

82 PIT BULLNOSE has his for sale right now, he is in Texas.

Keith - We do have an option on here to limit viewing of a page to those having a password.  We haven't implemented it so there is no p/w at present.  But we could.

However, it would be easy for another vendor to join and, therefore, get access.  So I don't know that it would be very effective or secure.

Probably the best is for all of us to email you through the forum our wish lists.  That opens up the channel of communication but keeps it private.  To do that, a member just clicks on the person's "handle" and the Send Email To.

85lebaront2 wrote

82 PIT BULLNOSE has his for sale right now, he is in Texas.

Yes, it is here: http://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/For-sale-f-250-4x4-td57863.html