A few snapshots from a weekend trip up to the top of Colorado.
Keystone VIP Visit
Ever heard of Keystone Automotive Operations? If you’re in the industry you have. They are a massive warehouse distributor of all sorts of aftermarket products, with sales of over $600 million a year. And theysell a lot of Bestop product. It’s one of the many ways we get our products to all the retailers near you.
Bestop was pleased to host a visit from Keystone’s new Category Director, Mr. Charles Simmons. It gave us a chance to showcase our new products, and get to better know the person with the job of purchasing and marketing millions of dollars worth of Bestop products.
He also mentioned that he’s a fan of the blog, so we have got to post a picture of Charles here. Thanks for visiting Bestop!
Also shown in the photo (left to right) Jim Chick, Bestop’s Sales and Marketing director; Charles; Rick Sabourin, Bestop’s President; Bob Horvath of KAM Marketing; and Brad Bricker, Bestop’s Regional Sales Manager. Behind- one of Bestop’s armada of project vehicles - our 2010 JK Wrangler, which you can see in action at Moab by clicking right here.
All For Fun 2010 in Silverton CO
Hello all, this is Megan from the Marketing Department. I just got back from another All-4-Fun sponsored by Mile-Hi Jeep Club - this year again it didn’t disappoint! We were in the rainy town of Silverton all week and though it rained on us the whole time we were still able to get out and enjoy some Jeeping.
Below are a few fun pictures from our week. I was joined this time by our President Rick and our Head of Engineering George. This year Bestop created a “Breakfast with Bestop” morning on Tuesday and Thursday at the trailhead. Free burritos and coffee for all thanks to Rick giving us the ok. It was a great way to shake hands and answer questions with our customers. George also entered his CJ in the Show and Shine on Wednesday morning. Although he didn’t win, they had a great time parading through main street in Silverton and showcasing all the Bestop gear he had on it.
Levi Geesling the pie eating wonder kid from Missouri with Rick and Megan
Rick accepting the Sponsor appreciation certificate from Jeff Miller with Mile-Hi Jeep Club
Getting ready to hit the trails after breakfast
On Wednesday night I was signed up for the vendor pie-eating contest. Luckily, 8 year old Levi Geesling from Missouri was dying to showcase his pie eating skills and stood in for me. I got to say he did some serious damage up against vendors from Daystar and Stay the Trail! He brought down the house with his skills and took home a Bestop banner for his upcoming Show and Tell at school.
This was my 4th All-For-Fun and I got to say if you have never been - GO! Its expertly organized, a whole lot of fun and ran by some excellent people. I am lucky enough to be able to travel to a bunch of events throughout the year talking up Bestop. A4F feels like going to a family reunion, filled with smiling faces, great stories, some unbelieveable rigs, great trails and good friends. Many thanks goes out to Rick and George with Bestop for helping me out the whole week, Justin with Staythetrail.org, Steve with 4 Wheel Parts, Don and gang from Daystar, Valerie and gang from High Country 4×4 , Steve and Crew from Moab 4×4 Outpost, Dan Mick , Mile-Hi Jeep Club , My pie eating standin wonderkid from the Geeseling family in Missouri and anybody else I am sure I have forgotten. Keep Bestopping and we will see you guys out there!
Megan
Rick and George at the parade through town
Thursday morning before hitting the trails
Stay The Trail
We did a video shoot the other day with Justin from Stay The Trail. Their truck has a Bestop Supertop for Truck on it, and we thought it would be a great way to show off that product. Later on we’ll have the Truck video with Justin in it, but here’s a great little clip Britta did with Justin. Stay the Trail works very hard to make sure our recreational trails stay open. It’s a constant battle, and they’re the front lines.
Here’s a sneak preview of how the Supertop for Truck looks on the Stay The Trail truck.
(click to see it full size).
Now Hiring: Customer Service Rep
Update: We are now accepting more resumes for this position. Get them in now.
Interested in working for Bestop, or know someone who might be? We’re hiring a Customer Service Rep.
The official job description says:
Provide efficient, courteous assistance and service to our Warehouse Distributors, their customers and consumers.
Plus you get to work with people like Crystal! So read this PDF of the job, and if it has your name all over it, then apply.
A great day in Moab.
Britta and I were out in Moab, and we shot this video too. It’s all about having a great time on Moab trails. But not the usual type of trail — this one is all about the scenery. It was shot by Brandon Lied, who does our videos. There’s some fantastic footage in here.
We were helped by Moab’s 4×4 Outpost. They’re a great bunch of guys, and Authorized Bestop Dealers. So make sure to say hi to them when you visit Moab for your adventure!
Classic Sweetness.
A video found on YouTube - it’s film footage from the very first Tierra Del Sol Desert Safari.
Check out off road fun back in the day when 31″ tires were really big. And no one had heard of “remote reservoir shocks” or “hydraulic ram steering assist.”
Megan’s Photo Shoot Adventure
Hello all, this is Megan from Bestop’s marketing team. I just got back from a photo shoot in Moab and wanted to share some pics. My two photographers from Digital Dawgs in Longmont CO and I got to hit Hells Revenge with the legendary Dan Mick (www.danmick.com for more information). Let me tell you - he didn’t disappoint! Being a trailblazer out in Moab the man has no fear, knows Moab like the back of his hand and took us through some of the hardest hot tubs on the Moab trails. Good thing because my instructions upon leaving Colorado were showcase our bumpers to their finest or don’t come back!
First up was the Dump site where our TJ and JK front and rear bumpers showed no fear! Then we went through Hells Gate - which I will be honest, it lived up to its name. We had the JK on 2 wheels at one point but our bumpers and Slider Steps saved us from any body damage.
We were also lucky to have a couple of guys from the social media division of Jeep(R) joining us. There were filming a video about adventures you can find only in a Jeep as well as four wheeling tips. You can visit them at twitter.com/Jeep or on Facebook. By the end of the day I had a bruise from my seat belt, a perma-smile on my face, dust/sweat combo on my hat and so many awesome pictures its going to take me a week to go through. Got to say that our hard goods match up with our soft goods - fit.function.style and quality. No matter what Moab can throw at it! You can see all the new pictures in our new 2011 catalogs and ad campaigns all coming in November of 2010.
IMZZ Industries
Check out this Facebook page from Imzz Industries. I highlighted my favorite part in yellow - where he says the best part of the install was the Bestop PowerBoard. I don’t know much about this company, but it looks like a great place to think about if you’re planning on adding PowerBoards to your truck. And cool rims, and lowering it all, and ….
Ice Cream. For my Brain.
It’s hot outside. And I just spent the day out there shooting a video. I’m burnt, and my brain may have fried. More.
So this photo I saw on WranglerForum was so perfect for today, I thought I’d share it. It’s like ice cream for my brain.
This is from Tom, who spent last winter helping patients get to the hospital in New Jersey.
UPDATE: Tom writes back to fill out the rest of his story, and correct what I got wrong. It’s a good story of Jeeps in action. Thanks for sharing!
I’m in Baltimore, actually, and I was transporting doctors and nurses. It was a blast. It was still white out conditions when I started. We were the only ones on the road along with National Guard Humvees. One doctor was very grateful and was trying to pay me. I refused naturally and told him that to be truthful I wasn’t being all that altruistic. I was having the time of my life! I was volunteering to go places that were hit the hardest, 34″. Some of the National Guardsmen were refusing to go. I think it was because of their inexperience driving in those conditions, but I grew up in Northern NJ so it wasn’t a big deal to me.
I went to one neighborhood that hadn’t seen any plows yet. The main road had been plowed so the street I needed to get down had a huge snow berm in front of it. I flagged down a truck plowing a nearby parking lot and explained what I was doing and asked if he could just open the entrance to the road. He agreed and then I was able to get threw. I was pretty amazed what my JK could do with the stock GY SRA’s.
I had a couple of fun adventures all day and most of the night. I started again at 4:30 AM Sunday and went until about 2PM.
