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Auto Harness Maker Strives To Keep 40 Years Behind The Industry Rod, Wire & Fastener, October-November, 1980

Pease Wire & Cable makes braided and lacquered harnesses for Lincoln Zephers, Buick Roadmasters and Hudson Freight Eights. Antique and classic car restoration is a big, expensive hobby which makes one demand on its suppliers: It has to be authentic. One thing certain in the present economy is that companies making automotive wiring harnesses have plenty of empty time on their hands. Right? Wrong. At least it's wrong for Pease Cable & Harness Co., Inc., of Rhode island and its retail arm, Narragansett Reproductions Co. Ed and Miki Pease, the husband and wife owners, haven't had trouble seeing at night. They've had trouble finding the time. What other automotive harness makers were doing wrong, they find, is trying to make the things for new cars. Pease specializes in braided and lacquered wiring harnesses for classics and antiques. It's biggest seller fits the Ford Model A, which was made from 1928 through 1931, some fifty years ago, "You'd think all of the Ford Model A's would have been restored by now," says Ed Pease. "Yet we're making them on runs of 500 and can't keep up with demand. Evidently what they are doing is re-restoring. It's an inexpensive harness so they can take it out after a couple of years, when it begins to look tacky, and put another one in." If the antique and classic car business isn't big enough to make waves in the national economy, as Detroit can, it is solid enough to withstand those waves. The Antique Automobile club of America has some 60,000 members; the Ford V-8 Club has about 30,000 and the Lincoln Continental Owner's Club has about 2,500, to name just three out of scores. Generally the members are people who have money-or did have money before they got into this expensive hobby. A classic care restoration can cost $10,000-20,000 for parts and $20,000-$40,000 for labor, not counting the original cost of the unrestored flivver or classic. Completed restorations sell for $60,000 on up. Generally the owners are restorers of these cars keep buying parts whether the economy rains of shines. Please click an image below to read the rest of the articles and view photos: Page 1 Page 2 Page 3       Page 4 Page 5