I had a very interesting conversation with Ron Kimball today.
As I have learned, Ron Kimball who owns Power Tec company, that supplies parts for Heald power equipment, was employed by the Heald Company. Makers of our vt-5,7,8 and 10's.
Ron was the executive who ended up tasked with 'locking the door and turning off the lights' in 1988, when Heald's new owner finished ruining the companies finances.
Ron knew, and had relationships with all of the suppliers to the Heald company. Being the forward thinker he seems to be, Ron made the best of a bad situation, and opened a new company to support the needs of all the Heald Kit power equipment owners out there....that was 1989, and Power Tec is still here. And so is Ron, now 80 years young !
Ron shared some stories and history about Heald that I was not aware of, and would like to share with you all.
First off, Carl Heald, the original owner of Heald company (who is still alive also), had a designing / engineering type background, and at some point was employed by the 'Heath' company.
Heath's specialty was electronics. You folks my age or older will remember the 'Heath Kit Radios' you could buy, and put together your own radio. I think mine was called a 'crystal radio' or something like that, and was in 'kit' form.
Anyway, at the time, Heath company wanted to diversify their product line, and asked Carl Heald to design a trail type motor bike. Heald's design answer to them was the "Heath Kit Hilltopper", and then later the "Heath Kit Boonie Bike".
As many companies do, Heath company decided at some point they did not want to be diversified outside of electronics, and a deal was struck to sell Carl Heald the rights to the Heath motor bike product line for one dollar !
Then was born the Heald Company. Carl Heald started Heald company, and directed it through it's successful years, manufacturing a variety of power equipment from Heald motor bikes, to 3 and 4 wheeled haulers, and a variety of other vehicles....all sold only in kit form !
That's right, the purchaser got their vehicle in a box, and got a schematic detailing the assembly and parts of each piece of equipment....every single vehicle they sold....kit form.
Ron said they had one guy that was the customer 'support' help line guy, and if someone was building a kit, and had a question or problem, they called the 'help' line, and the one guy would talk them through it. Ron said the one guy supported all of the products, and the documentation and design
was so good, that the 'help' phone guy did not even stay that busy !
And it's not as if there were only a few items out there....Ron said one project he had was to design a 3 wheeled hauler. He did, and Heald sold 158,000 units of that model alone ! I said dang Ron, there must still be a lot of them out there...to which he replied, yes there are, and that he hears stories daily of folks finding and rescuing one of their Heald vehicles
that has been sitting in the barn for years.
Ron said the team at Heald was the best group of folks he'd ever worked with, citing the fact that they really were a team, and the whole place was a great environment to work in.
Ron said the demise of the Heald company came when Carl Heald was advised by his doctors that his health was being affected by his demands at work, so he sold the company. The person that bought the company did not respect the established Heald company ethics and philosophies. Ron said
the new owner ordered up and sold a bunch of parts inventory and did not pay for the orders, thus ruining Heald's credit rating, and disabling them from carrying on business. Ron said the factory was full of lots of different parts when closed but none of them were enough to make any one complete vehicle kit product. Said the new owner disappeared with the funds, and ordered the facility closed.
Seems the time frame Ron cited was Heald closed in November of 1988, and Power Tec Replacement Parts company was started in February of 1989. And been there ever since.
I asked Ron if he'd ever been to Windber, and he said no, so i told him about it, and said we'd be honored to have you come down for the event...Ron said he'd like too, but that June is one of their busiest times of the year, and hard to get away. I told Ron that I'm glad to hear he is that busy, and to keep up the good work.
Heald sounded like a real family type business, and so does Power Tec, as Ron's son works with him there as well.
Well, that's about all the history lesson I can recall...oh yeah, one more thing...Ron said if you ever want to repaint your Heald motor bike frame, they were all painted 'International Harvester red' !
I'm sure I'll remember more, but wanted to share this. From my two conversations with Ron, I've found him to be a great person, and realized he is a big part of mini bike history. I felt blessed he shared his stories with me :thumbsup: .
As I have learned, Ron Kimball who owns Power Tec company, that supplies parts for Heald power equipment, was employed by the Heald Company. Makers of our vt-5,7,8 and 10's.
Ron was the executive who ended up tasked with 'locking the door and turning off the lights' in 1988, when Heald's new owner finished ruining the companies finances.
Ron knew, and had relationships with all of the suppliers to the Heald company. Being the forward thinker he seems to be, Ron made the best of a bad situation, and opened a new company to support the needs of all the Heald Kit power equipment owners out there....that was 1989, and Power Tec is still here. And so is Ron, now 80 years young !
Ron shared some stories and history about Heald that I was not aware of, and would like to share with you all.
First off, Carl Heald, the original owner of Heald company (who is still alive also), had a designing / engineering type background, and at some point was employed by the 'Heath' company.
Heath's specialty was electronics. You folks my age or older will remember the 'Heath Kit Radios' you could buy, and put together your own radio. I think mine was called a 'crystal radio' or something like that, and was in 'kit' form.
Anyway, at the time, Heath company wanted to diversify their product line, and asked Carl Heald to design a trail type motor bike. Heald's design answer to them was the "Heath Kit Hilltopper", and then later the "Heath Kit Boonie Bike".
As many companies do, Heath company decided at some point they did not want to be diversified outside of electronics, and a deal was struck to sell Carl Heald the rights to the Heath motor bike product line for one dollar !
Then was born the Heald Company. Carl Heald started Heald company, and directed it through it's successful years, manufacturing a variety of power equipment from Heald motor bikes, to 3 and 4 wheeled haulers, and a variety of other vehicles....all sold only in kit form !
That's right, the purchaser got their vehicle in a box, and got a schematic detailing the assembly and parts of each piece of equipment....every single vehicle they sold....kit form.
Ron said they had one guy that was the customer 'support' help line guy, and if someone was building a kit, and had a question or problem, they called the 'help' line, and the one guy would talk them through it. Ron said the one guy supported all of the products, and the documentation and design
was so good, that the 'help' phone guy did not even stay that busy !
And it's not as if there were only a few items out there....Ron said one project he had was to design a 3 wheeled hauler. He did, and Heald sold 158,000 units of that model alone ! I said dang Ron, there must still be a lot of them out there...to which he replied, yes there are, and that he hears stories daily of folks finding and rescuing one of their Heald vehicles
that has been sitting in the barn for years.
Ron said the team at Heald was the best group of folks he'd ever worked with, citing the fact that they really were a team, and the whole place was a great environment to work in.
Ron said the demise of the Heald company came when Carl Heald was advised by his doctors that his health was being affected by his demands at work, so he sold the company. The person that bought the company did not respect the established Heald company ethics and philosophies. Ron said
the new owner ordered up and sold a bunch of parts inventory and did not pay for the orders, thus ruining Heald's credit rating, and disabling them from carrying on business. Ron said the factory was full of lots of different parts when closed but none of them were enough to make any one complete vehicle kit product. Said the new owner disappeared with the funds, and ordered the facility closed.
Seems the time frame Ron cited was Heald closed in November of 1988, and Power Tec Replacement Parts company was started in February of 1989. And been there ever since.
I asked Ron if he'd ever been to Windber, and he said no, so i told him about it, and said we'd be honored to have you come down for the event...Ron said he'd like too, but that June is one of their busiest times of the year, and hard to get away. I told Ron that I'm glad to hear he is that busy, and to keep up the good work.
Heald sounded like a real family type business, and so does Power Tec, as Ron's son works with him there as well.
Well, that's about all the history lesson I can recall...oh yeah, one more thing...Ron said if you ever want to repaint your Heald motor bike frame, they were all painted 'International Harvester red' !
I'm sure I'll remember more, but wanted to share this. From my two conversations with Ron, I've found him to be a great person, and realized he is a big part of mini bike history. I felt blessed he shared his stories with me :thumbsup: .
