Private Lives

Microcomputers, welding equipment, wheelcharis, prefabricated churches, and five other businesses earned their companies a spot on this year's INC. 500.

By C.H. | 
 

#87 Corvette American Inc.; manufacturer and distributor of Corvette automobile parts; Boalsburg, Pa. For Dan LeKander, it was a lucky accident. In 1974, LeKander wrecked his 1966 Corvette.

"I was going to rebuild the car " he remembers, "but I got discouraged and advertised the parts for sale." Some parts he sold, others he swapped. By the end of the year he had $6,000 in cash $4,000 worth of parts, and an idea. The idea became, in 1977 Corvette America Inc., a Boalsburg, Pa.-based manufacturer and nationwide wholesaler and retail distributor of Corvette parts and accessories with almost $3 million in sales for fiscal 1981.

A huge market and a strict credit policy have been responsible for LeKander's success. There are more than 500,000 Corvette owners in the United States today. Rather than selling them the parts most dealers supply, LeKander, 37, concentrates on high-profit-margin-items -- such custom accessories as car covers, aluminum wheels, and interior parts. Retail customers, who account for 70% of his business, can order by credit card or COD. LeKander's 600 wholesale customers are denied credit as well; instead he encourages them to keep $10,000 on account by offering a discount price.

The business has grown some 1,220% in five years, from one man in a garage to a 35-person staff. Now LeKander plans to promote his wife, Peggy, to the company presidency and spend his time fishing and working on a 150-page catalog for the company. He still owns a Corvette himself, but in the business it will be Peggy in the driver's seat.