Crane???

[Adger Smith]

I was told that there are some well know companies interested in Crane. One of my buddies at Comp said they had people there, but there were also Camels in the parking lot. What would a picture of Scooter on a camel be worth? :~) Wonder where Crane's bail out money is? I'm wondering how many times we are going to see this taking place in the near future?

[Michael Beard]

I've read that they were one of only two companies provided cores to the industry. With that and everything else they do, what exactly made the company unprofitable?

[tim worner]

I see NHRA has erased Crane from their contingency lists.

[Lynn A McCarty]

Originally Posted by Michael Beard

I've read that they were one of only two companies provided cores to the industry. With that and everything else they do, what exactly made the company unprofitable?

I have no idea of Crane's situation, however many times it goes like this. Way more companies go out of business because of cash flow, than profitability. With the current tightening of credit, banks are not allowing companies to "pass" on extra days of payment. In fact, they are asking many companies to improve the number of days out the invoices are. At the same time sales go slow so you have less money to work with. The bank calls up and says no more! So last years 40 days is asked to be 30 days, with less sales and maybe even less profitability.

My suppliers are giving me less days to pay invoices than they did last year, and they are blaming the banks. I had to make up the difference out of my pocket, actually out of Annette's spending money.

[Wade_Owens]

Guys, this is no where near the end. Mopar Perf is for sale (maybe bought by now) and Vic Edelbrock has to come up with 55 million to buy his own company back or it goes on the market. I'll never understand how a family owned company becomes an animal that eats its owner alive......Sad times......

Wade O

[Rick Carlson]

I believe Mikronite purchased Crane for the purpose of using the "Crane Cams" name to make their (Mikronite) entry into the performance market. Their plan obviously didn't work for anyone. With my "night" job of answering tech calls for a performance warehouse group, I have had the opportunity to speak to many Crane product users who are scrambling to find any Crane parts still left on warehouse shelves. There are a lot of quality specialty parts that only Crane manufactured....ie roller lifters for AMC products, roller lifters for TAD/TAFC Hemi's, various valve spring combos, and their old electronic ignition boxes...that now are not available. A few corporate entities are looking at purchasing the remains of the company and their products. Hopefully it will happen.

[BlueOval Ralph]

Edelbrock's deal is he took his company Public some years ago then bought it back. Does the banks want thier $$$ now???

Originally Posted by Wade_Owens

Guys, this is no where near the end. Mopar Perf is for sale (maybe bought by now) and Vic Edelbrock has to come up with 55 million to buy his own company back or it goes on the market. I'll never understand how a family owned company becomes an animal that eats its owner alive......Sad times......

Wade O

[trmnatr]

Originally Posted by Michael Beard

I've read that they were one of only two companies provided cores to the industry. With that and everything else they do, what exactly made the company unprofitable?

I have used Crane for years and Crane is/was one of my sponsors, i can shed some light of some stuff but not all.

Crane is a major supplier of 8620 cores, 8620 cores are billet roller cores that have the copper/gold plating inbetween the camshaft lobes like the one in this photo in the link below

Crane also makes their Titanium Retainers in house, I have been through the factory, They have/had a titanium retainer that is not affected by a springs damper, I have 3 sets of them here now. Crane Posi-Stop Retainers

Crane makes the GM roller rockers and stamps the logo on them for GM. They also do Fords roller rockers.

Crane has an ignition box out, 6 series, idles cleaner than MSD 6AL and i would say in performance its equal to MSD 7, I have 2 of them.

Cranes roller lifters i think were done in house but not 100% sure, i have had zero problems out of these

Crane cut many cams for GM and more. If i was the competition i would be trying to buy Crane for the cam cores, rockers and people who buy their own brand stuff from Crane such as Trick Flow rockers and more

There is still a little light in the tunnel for Crane, they may be able to hit the surface of the water, it could take one day, one week or one month

http://s510.photobucket.com/albums/s...t=IMG_0672.jpg

[Michael Beard]

Originally Posted by Lynn A McCarty

With the current tightening of credit, banks are not allowing companies to "pass" on extra days of payment. In fact, they are asking many companies to improve the number of days out the invoices are.

Brilliant. Now the bank won't get anything more out of Crane. If they don't lend, how do they make money?

The vast majority of my customers pay me either same day or within a matter of days, and I pay my suppliers either the same day or in a matter of days.

[Tim Kish]

Originally Posted by Michael Beard

Brilliant. Now the bank won't get anything more out of Crane. If they don't lend, how do they make money?

The vast majority of my customers pay me either same day or within a matter of days, and I pay my suppliers either the same day or in a matter of days.

Working at a Tier 1 automotive supplier I know that many of our customers go to great lengths to pay at the last possible day of their terms because the accounts have figured out how much money can be made each day they hold onto their money (assuming they even have it).