Is Kenne Bell no longer supporting the TR crowd?

[coldair85GN]

Was flipping thru my old Kenne Bell catalog full of TR stuff and decided to check their website only to find NOTHING Turbo Buick related. Looks like they have completely abandoned the TR crowd. Is this so?

 

[jurassic five 7]

He's (Jim Bell) all about mustangs now, and superchargers.

 

[WeSS]

lol

buicks are dinosaurs. They are getting extinct. Gotta go where the $ is

 

[Boost231]

cant blame someone for that.

 

[Grumpy]

cant blame someone for that.

no you can't ... $$$$ makes the world go round and round

 

[QuickBuick87]

Guys, to completely abandon the people who got you where you are today??? I agree, the Buick segment of the market is no longer enough to keep most venders afloat(with some exceptions), BUT to basically just drop it like it never even existed?? Guess that says a lot about KB's loyality to the BUICK community........IMO And yes, I did support KB thruout the years and my cars still have there products on em today.

Ken B.

 

[Grumpy]

"to completely abandon the people who got you where you are today" ummmm this was a business to make $$$.. KB did a lot for Buicks for years as you know BUT hey ya have to make $$$$ to stay in business.. Buicks are dead for the most part .. a dying breed .. I see performance stuff tapering off for the show and shiners who will take over the market as years go by . look at 427 Cobra's and Vette's ... very few are driven like they should be :biggrin:

 

[acoen]

Was flipping thru my old Kenne Bell catalog full of TR stuff and decided to check their website only to find NOTHING Turbo Buick related. Looks like they have completely abandoned the TR crowd. Is this so?

You can thank God that the likes of Dennis Kirban and Brian Weaver haven't forgotten us. I would have to agree that they are in the business to make a bunch of money but they do like the cars too. Kirban has many other interests but loves the GN/TR and the community that surrounds the hobby. Kenne Bell found a market elsewhere, cannot kick him for that, believe me they know where they got their start and so do we.

I also have to agree with the dying breed, you don't see Kenne Bell making performance parts for SVO Mustangs do you?

 

[turbofish38]

"to completely abandon the people who got you where you are today" ummmm this was a business to make $$$.. KB did a lot for Buicks for years as you know BUT hey ya have to make $$$$ to stay in business.. Buicks are dead for the most part .. a dying breed .. I see performance stuff tapering off for the show and shiners who will take over the market as years go by . look at 427 Cobra's and Vette's ... very few are driven like they should be :biggrin:

Good Ridence!! IMO Jim Bell was in it only for the money. The K-B catalog was full of junk to support my claim too. Nothing but snake oil as far as the TR is concerned. How many times did you call there and get put on hold? I called once on a Wednsday morning and put the phone on speaker and hold. It rang for 4 hours before some a$$ picked it up and hung up on me. How long did you wait for your order to show up? Oh and here's the dandy. Why wouldn't they take credit cards? Keith Mease makes Jim Bell look like a saint in comparison. Its a good thing he got out of Buicks. He would have never made it in todays internet driven world.

 

[441120]

It's funny, it seemed like the Buick community turned it's back on Kenne Bell. I bought my TurboT new, and ATR was one of the few companies making speed parts for the TR and it all appeared to be crap, KB's products were quality and performed as claimed. I bought my mods from KB for years and dealt with the service knowing they were a small company dealing with a niche automobile. I never had a bad experience and all their parts worked though shipping was slow at times. Years later everyone on here is bashing KB then wondering why they don't support the Buicks anymore.
Kenne Bell was formed by two racers that were in love with speed and Buick delivered, that was at least 40 years ago I guess. Buick hasn't made anything in twenty years, time to move on.
Kirban started with the old GTO's and abandon them when the TR came out, time marches on my brothers. There's a thread about 'how many people are tired of their TR', some people will move on and others will hang on. Jim Bell is looking at retirement and his future, the future isn't in 1987. The last time I checked they still sold parts for Buick but that was a few years ago, and they never had any Buick parts online.

 

[corsair231]

I still miss Bowling Green Customs.

 

[GNVYUS 1]

Kenne Bell and the phones were ridiculous, I totally forgot about that until you mentioned it. Don't get started on BGC, how many cracked blocks do you think they got UPS to pick up the bill on??

I do remember going through that big catalog when I got into these cars and was like, damn what does some of this crap really do for your car??

 

[krom]

I had a Kenne Bell on my Mustang years ago when the only way to reach them was by fax. His answer to any tuning questions was Octane Octane Octane.

 

[garyk1970]

I still miss Bowling Green Customs.

me too............... ;<)

 

[441120]

My Kenne Bell shrine::redface: