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| Tom Martin of Classy Chassis: Storage Beds and Beyond |
| Angela White | Tuesday, 05 January, 2010 | ||||||||||||||||
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Tom Martin, President of Classy Chassis, talks to us about his company, custom aluminum storage beds, and luxury interior truck conversions. ... ... ... ... ...  Custom aluminum storage beds are the holy grail of truck beds. To see one is to want one, or at least strongly consider the idea of having one. Even in our own house, we often talk about how amazing it would be to have a fully featured custom aluminum storage bed. The items we could take with us. The stuff that could be in the storage bed instead of the camper. How organized we could be. And just how cool a truck camper looks with an aluminum storage bed. Way cool. Tom Martin, President of Classy Chassis, is reading the above paragraph thinking to himself, "But we do so much more than just custom aluminum storage beds". You're absolutely right Tom, Classy Chassis does a lot more than just custom aluminum storage beds. But who better than Tom to tell us about Classy Chassis' luxury interior truck conversions... and custom aluminum storage beds! Sorry Tom, the storage beds are just too cool. We can't help it.
TCM: How did you get involved with trucks? Tom: As a kid, my hobby was to go off-road in the sand dunes. My friends and I were into 4x4’s and we ran the dunes and played in the mud trails with our quads, motorcycles, and dune buggies. After graduation, I began entering local off-road races and competitions. I didn’t do well. I am very competitive so I decided to build something that I could better compete with. That’s when I got into professional racing with the United States Hot Rod Association. My first big event was a competition at Soldier Field in Chicago. I finished third, which was great. I went on to win four championships over eleven years with the United States Hot Rod Association including Two Camel Mud and Monster Truck World Championships. I won a race at the Pontiac Silver Done that was televised on NBC sports, which was very exciting. TCM: That is cool. How did things progress from there? Tom: As my team grew, I got bigger trailers and needed a dually pick-up. I bought my first new vehicle here at Classy Chassis and purchased more and more trucks here as my team grew. I was also building race cars for other race car drivers out of my own shop. TCM: You were like Carroll Shelby, racing and building race cars. Tom: Yes, but on a much smaller scale.
TCM: How did you then come to work for Classy Chassis? Tom: The owner of Classy Chassis came to me because one of his main guys became ill. He asked me to help at a horse show in Columbus, Ohio. I told him I couldn’t help him, but he finally convinced me go. He knew that I understood what people needed to be safe towing campers and horse trailers. TCM: How did you become the Owner? Tom: I started at Classy Chassis in sales, then sales manager, general manager, and then I bought the place. I really liked the company and then bought it, like the Gillette guy. For three years now I’ve been President and Owner of Classy Chassis. TCM: What happened to your racing team? Tom: I raced professionally from 1980 to 1991. After that, I started working here and racing became a part-time hobby. In 1994, I sold the racing team and equipment to work full-time at Classy Chassis. At that point, I was married, and was ready for the next chapter of my life. I converted my race car shop into a muscle car restoration shop, which is now Classy Muscle Cars. We would restore a car, sell it, then start a new one. We have a 1968 Camaro at the shop right now and we just sold a 1970 Chevelle Super Sport big-block four-speed.
TCM: That sounds like fun. How did Classy Chassis get into truck conversions? Tom: Classy Chassis started in 1975 as a van conversion shop with one bay. It grew to become this area’s leading van conversion company. Then the company went through some struggles in the early 80s when interest rates were around 22%. Not long after, the mini-van was introduced and that hurt all of the van conversion companies. The original owner was a horse hobbyist at the time. People who towed horse trailers bought dually trucks which drove like log wagons. The trucks had no frills, no cruise control, and no luxuries of any kind. That’s when the owner got the idea to take the van conversion process and apply it to trucks. I believe Classy Chassis was the pioneer of truck conversions. I’ve looked back and can’t find any body else who was converting trucks before Classy Chassis. TCM: When did you get started building custom beds for truck campers? Tom: At the 2008 RV Show in Hershey, Pennsylvania, we met Brian Hale. Brian was impressed with the quality of our aluminum truck beds and said, “Boy, I wish you had a custom bed for a slide-in camper”. I knew we could build a bed for a slide-in camper, but I had never had anyone ask me for one. Brian sent me great design ideas. From that foundation, we fine tuned the design and built the bed. Since then we’ve worked with several truck camper customers with great success. TCM: How do you work with someone who’s interested in a custom truck camper bed? Tom: We begin with camper measurements and digital photographs from customer. I ask the customer to hold a tape measure up to their camper and take pictures. I try to make it easy. I would like to build a bed that any camper can fit in, but that’s not possible since the dimensions between camper manufacturers and models aren’t standard. We play it safe by getting all my information before we build. TCM: If someone doesn’t want to go through the planning and design process, are there popular configurations you can start them with? Tom: Absolutely. There’s really very little you can change with our design. Your camper and truck dimensions determine the bed design and placement of the six storage compartments. We have to look at where the wheel wells and fuel doors are located. With a truck camper, we also have to watch for where the jack legs come down on the camper. We have to be careful that the jack leg doesn’t make it so you can’t open the storage door. We shoot for the absolute maximum storage you can get within the space allowed. If there’s a special request, like generator compartment, we’ll certainly do that. We have a slide-out camper generator compartment option available. The good thing about the Torklift Fastguns is that you can take them on and off quickly. When installed, you have to pop them off to open your storage doors. It’s really easy and fast to do. We want to keep the doors accessible.
TCM: What kind of options are available for a Classy Chassis storage bed? Tom: There are some options that everyone seems to get. For example, the LED light pylon is an option that everyone has purchased. The LED light pylon follows the cab, comes up off the bed, and follows the bed. The industry name for it is A headache rack. The tailgate is an option that 99% of people buy. On our new bed, the tailgate folds down and clips in, so you don’t have to remove it from your truck. It’s not a full height tail gate, but it’s still A tail gate. When you put the tailgate down, it pops into an insert, and stays with the truck. A lot of slide-in camper people go south for the winter and want to park at a campsite, remove the camper, and want to have the truck with the tailgate. We also offer a heavy duty rear hitch that can be built in. Again, most everyone has opted for the heavy duty rear hitch. We also have a heavy duty tie-down system that so far everyone with a slide-in camper has purchased. We have adapting hardware to work with the Torklift system. TCM: What is the weight of your custom beds in comparison to a regular truck bed? Tom: To be honest with you, I have never weighed one. We will weigh the next truck and then take the completed unit over to a scale. TCM: What does a typical Classy Chassis custom bed cost? Tom: With all of the options, MSRP on a Classy Chassis custom camper bed is $15,995, plus any extra options. I usually give a package deal for about $15,000, for the works! Please remember that this is a hand made aluminum bed. You wouldn’t believe the hours that go into it. TCM: Can someone get just the custom bed without extra options? Tom: Yes. The bed itself costs MSRP $15,995. The tailgate option is $395, the light pylon is $995, and there is a mandatory charge for a sprayed in bed liner that’s $495. The HD rear hitch is $395. And the generator compartment with the slide-out tray is $1500. TCM: If a customer already owns a truck, do they need to bring it to you? Tom: We need their truck here in Valparaiso, Indiana. If they don’t want to drive their truck here, we have nationwide pick up and delivery service. Together, we will research the least expensive way. Most people ship their truck to us and then fly in and pick it up. I prefer that our first time customer comes in to pick up their new truck in person when possible. TCM: Is there any advantage to buying a new truck through Classy Chassis when you order the bed? Tom: For 90% of the units sold here, we provide the truck. If someone calls in for a truck, I sell the truck chassis for $500 dollars over invoice in most cases. Most truck dealers are getting $2,000 to $3,000 over invoice. Plus, you save on shipping to get your truck here. The biggest thing is that we save you time and make sure you are building the right truck. Also, when you buy a new truck at a dealer they want your trade-in truck that day. If it takes a few weeks for your custom bed to be done, you will have no vehicle to drive. If you buy the truck from Classy Chassis and trade your old truck in to Classy Chassis it is much more convenient. The benefit to that is that you can drive your current truck until you drive here to pick up your new truck. That’s one reason it easy to shop here. If you were to buy a Ford F-550 Lariat from us and get only the truck bed done, it would cost approximately $65,000 out the door without any exterior or interior extras. TCM: Tell us about your customer service and warranty. Tom: We match the factory warranty of three years or 36,000 miles. And we will go beyond that if we find it to be a legitimate claim. TCM: How do customers get service or warranty work done if they’re out of state? Tom: If you have an issue, give me a call. We have contacts around the United States. We will find someone close to where you are to get it repaired. I don’t really have any issues with my custom beds. I also own a body shop in this same facility. If someone has an accident with pick-up truck or hauler, there’s no better place in the United States to bring it than Classy Chassis Auto Body and Restoration. TCM: Looking forward, what’s your vision for Classy Chassis? Tom: I see a huge potential to help the truck camper enthusiast. We’re going to continue to develop new, exciting, useful, quality products to make life easier for camper, fifth wheel, horse camper, and race car teams. I put myself in my customer’s shoes and think about what they want and what’s going to work. Basically, what we can do to make them happy for ten years? My goal is that I want the products we provide to outlast the truck. If our products outlast the truck then I don’t have to worry about it.
TCM: Is there anything we didn’t ask that you want included with your interview? Tom: I like your readers to know about other things we offer besides custom truck beds. You’re going to have a lot of readers that are perfectly happy with bed they have. Classy Chassis is not just about beds. We’re a truck conversion company and beds are just one part of it. We offer many other great upgrades like custom interior packages. Our seats are super luxurious. Our seats have options like dual oversized arm rests, kidney support boosters, pillow top pleated lumbar zone, adjustable headrests, and heated bottoms and lower back zones. We also offer vibrosonic massage that promotes blood circulation. With our seats, you can go ten hours and won’t get cramped. It’s a night and day difference with your driving experience. Until you do it, you don’t understand the difference. With our seats, you feel better longer each day you drive. We also provide other interior upgrades like overhead consoles with CB and lighting, power assist steps that help if you enter your truck if you have a bad hip or knee. With our power assist step, you open the door and an extra step comes out that splits the difference between the ground and the running board. Wood dash and door trim is also available. We also have custom rear seats that convert into a bed. You could pull over and sleep on the back seat. People also call to get a remote start this time of year. There are so many people who call and say, “Oh, I didn’t know you could do that!” TCM: The heated seats with massage sound wonderful. Thank you for the interview Tom. We’ll be see out to meet your team and tour Classy Chassis this Summer. Tom: Come on out. We would love to show you and your readers our facility. For more information on Classy Chassis, go to www.classychassistrucks.com. |
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