M&M Speed & Custom Moves To New Digs

[dinoKeymaster]

Rich and the ‘new’ M&M Crew are REALLY busy Lately …He’s Sold His House where the old M&M warehouse was and is the Process of making a big Move to new local location.Mikey is on the scene and can give us updates.

[mikey]

Just had to post this. If Rich didn’t have bad luck, he wouldn’t have any luck!! He just got his ’83 Malibu wagon re-registered and insured so he had a daily driver and a tow vehicle again, and disaster literally struck! He went to Walgreens to get his prescriptions, and do a little shopping, and then put his stuff in the wagon. He forgot his carton of smokes, and went back to Walgreens to get them. When he came out and got to the car, he noticed smoke under the hood, and inside the car. When he opened the drivers door, the smoke turned into fire! He got the hood opened to pull a battery cable off, but could not do it. He then went to the back of the car for a pair of pliers. When he got by the front of the car, people had to pull him away, the car was fully engulfed in flames! His good friend Jim Cady’s daughter was there, saw it happening, and was one of the first people to get Rich away from the car.The car is JUNK, it melted the windows, or blew them out, nothing left of the inside, and all 4 tires exploded. With any luck, the drivetrain will be salvageable, since this was a “purpose built” tow car. 406 SBC, good heads and cam, beefed up 700R4 trans, and a narrowed 9″ Ford rear. Rich built this car 17 years ago, and it had less than 20,000 miles on it. The car was very special to him, and he’s really down. With all the other things that have happened to him in the past year, he didn’t need this at all. I’m going down to visit, and help out for a few days, and Jim Cady will be helping out too. Well, just thought you guys should know what’s up. I transfered this post to this topic, as soon as can get pictures to my e-mail, I’ll post pictures of the car.
………………..Mikey 😮 😯 🙁

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mikey
King of the Hill

Posts: 1049
Joined: Thu Nov 19, 2009 12:41 pm
Location: Drake Elm Drive, Kissimmee, Florida, 34743

[mikey]

As far as M&M goes, we went yesterday and bought an old U-Haul 14ft box truck for the business. ’97 Ford F250 or 350, can’t remember, really good shape, good tires, runs good, good maintenance records, just a lot of miles. Should do a good job of moving the inventory to the new warehouse, and it will be a great tow vehicle and “selling station” at car shows, and maybe the track. Good advertisement once it’s wrapped or lettered. Pictures to follow soon. I’m going to start posting some of our G-body things on our M&M Facebook page. No prices, just what we have. Just call the number for M&M. 888-327-0454. Don’t forget, we sell Speed Equipment too, and you Dover guys get a discount. We can usually match, or beat the big guys like JEGS and Summitt on their prices, and we ship ANYWHERE!! …………….Mikey 😆

For you G-Body guys up in the “Great White North”, we have complete frames, rolling, $400.00 😮 , bare, $225.00 😯 . Right now, we’ve got 3 rollers left, and 5 or 6 bare ones. 😀

[mikey]

I wanted to post the pictures of Riches burnt car, but under a new post. So, here they are. What a shame. ……………..Mikey 😆 😥

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[mikey]

Now a couple of the car before the fire. 😥 This car was purpose built for towing. Rich, with a little help, 17yrs ago put this car together just to tow his El Camino to car Shows, and the track. 406 SBC with all good parts, rated at 435 HP. 700R4 trans,beefed up. Narrowed 9″ Ford rear, and HD suspension. This was, before the fire, a pretty nice ride. Almost all the body work had been re-done, and we were going to get it finished and painted after New Years. Right now, we’re just hoping that the engine and trans are still OK. I pulled the nose off the car so we can get the engine and trans out, and I might bring the engine up to my garage to pull it apart and check it over. Then, we will see if there is another Malibu wagon out there in decent shape for “cheap”, so we can swap out the drive-train. ………………..Mikey 😆

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[anthonyc]

Jeez,it was a nice car. WHat caused it to go up? Just so it might be avoidable to someone else.

[mikey]

As near as anyone can figure out, including the fire department guys, it started up under the dash, somewhere by the heater core. But, no one can figure out how it got to be such an intense fire, and how it got fully involved in such a short amount of time. Rich said he thought he smelled something while coming back from his DR. But, his nose does not always work well for sniffing out different smells. We think it was smoldering for a while when he was driving, then even more when he parked the car at Walgreens. Then, when he came out and opened the door, the sudden blast of oxygen just ignited the flames. I guess we’ll never really know. Rich built that car 17 years ago, and it only had about 20,000 miles on it. It really is a shame. ………….Mikey 😆

[masracingtd1167Participant]

Wow that’s some mess Glad your friend is ok.

[mikey]

Rich is OK. just really sad. I think you might know Rich Marchese. He’s the principle owner of M&M Speed and Custom, the Title Sponsor of the Nostalgia Drags. 😆

[mikey]

Well, about half of the inventory has been moved to the new warehouse, and little by little, inventorying, and re-bar-coding is getting done, and things are looking good. Joann, the new Office Manager is working out nicely, and has made some sales on her own.Hooray, Joann!! We got the trailer for Rich’s El Camino registered so we can start taking the El Camino to some Car Shows, and maybe a couple of trips down the track, maybe. The El Camino is also “Street Legal” once again. Things are really starting to move along, with Jim Cady working E-Bay, and Craigs List, answering phones along with Joann and Rich, and me up here in Kissimmee/Orlando, working the M&M Facebook Page, and some other pages on FB where we are now posting sales, pictures of parts, etc. I also frequent some other Forums, and post parts on them too. Whatever works. Any of you Dover guys need parts, let us know. We can get parts for anything, and don’t forget, we sell Speed Equipment too. We were able to help out Tom Blake with some parts for his E/Gasser. ………………..Mikey 😆

Just To add to Mikey’s update…The New M&M truck will be decaled (I just Sent) by the weekend and will be hitting the Tracks…Cruises & Shows chock full of goodies and sometimes towing the El Camino. M&M on the rebound! …”Dino”

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[dinoKeymaster]

JUST in From M & M ‘Headquarters” -Florida:
Dino ,
Rich asked me to send you pictures of his new pvt office. Jo Ann and I have a separate office ( phone room). We will send you some pictures of the new offices and show room when we get close to getting it done. I have great expectations for our new merchandising format. Our new warehouse is shaping up. Unlike the old set up we are able to step right into the w/h to verify inventory. In addition to the computer checks on inventory we are able too do physical check in less than a minute.
Jo Ann and I are using the new customer contact system thru the computer. I’ll give you more update as we go forward.

Jim Cady
Operarations Manager
Southeast Division
M & M Speed and Custom

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[mikey]

Just some info on a car show this month. Super Chevy Show at Palm Beach International Raceway(formerly Moroso), March 21st through the 24th. M&M will be there with a display, and some cars, G-Body, and Race Cars, “Papas Toy” included. Maybe I can win another Trophy, or Plaque, that would be awesome. …………….Mikey 😆

I forgot to mention that I am now the “Operations Manager” for our Orland/Kissimmee Operation, which is in the works. My title will probably change, and I will keep you all informed of any new information. I’ve been looking at several possible Showroom/Warehouse type buildings locally in Kissimmee, and there are quite a few good looking places that I’m going to check out further. There are NO G-BODY businesses in the area, and only one well established Speed Shop, Murrays on OBT in Orlando. I know from going there with a couple of friends, that we can definitely beat their prices, and still make money. ………….Mikey 😆

[babycakesParticipant]

CONGRATS Mikey ❗ ❗ ❗ Wishing you all the success in the future ❗ Me and da ‘boys’ are happy for ya ❗ ” Motivation Mikey” go for it ❗ 😀 Pete.

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