International Engine Rebuilders Sees Its Market Continue To Grow

Located 3 1/2 hours from San Francisco, just south of the Whiskeytown Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area and east of the state's famous I-5, Redding, California is a gateway to outdoor recreation. What may surprise some people is that it's also a great place to have a car engine rebuilt.

International Engine Rebuilders, Inc., a company that serves Western clients but concentrates primarily on customers in the San Francisco Bay Area, opened its doors 11 years ago under the auspics of David Sumlin, Sr. At the time, the company was called European Engine Exchange and grew through its expertise in rebuilding engines for European and then Japanese cars.

A year ago, the company merged with a similar Redding business, Quality Engine Rebuilders. Since Quality worked on domestic engines exclusively, the combined company, International Engine Rebuilders, inc., broadened its market considerably.

"Now we do everything," says David Sumlin, Jr., who joined his father as a partner six years ago after working in the business "on and off" as a young man. International's other partners are Craig Brown and Ralph Caudill.

Sumlin recalls that in the early days, his father would drive to San Francisco twice a week to visit potential customers. "After the first three years," he notes, "word of mouth took over. Our referral business has been building ever since."

International's business is "99.9 percent wholesale," with a customer base of automobile dealerships, repair shops, and parts stores.

"We've been using Deves as a source for piston rings for the past nine years," Sumlin says. "They obviously have good coverage on European cars, especially Mercedes.

"Also, when we are rebuilding an engine originally manufactured to European specifications, we'll need special rings. We send a piston to Deves, and they'll make them for us."

As for the engine cores themselves, Sumlin explains that the company's sources are both customers and wrecking yards. "We keep over 2,000 engine cores in stock to pick from," he points out. "We have to make sure we have the latest in used engines."

Sumlin notes that International' builds approximately 150 engines a month, about one-third each American, European, and Japanese. The engines are delivered with a one year unlimited mileage warranty on parts and labor. He's also careful to distinguish International as a custom engine rebuilder as opposed to a production rebuilder.

"A production rebuilder may do a run of 100 Chevrolet 350s, then 100 Ford 302s and so on. We work on our product as it's ordered by the customers. Organizing the facility to produce fast enough is a challenge.

The shop itself is equipped with some $400,000 worth of the latest Sunnen machining equipment. All office work, that is invoicing, etc., is computerized. The next step in computerization is the parts inventory to be followed by a system for the shop foreman to track jobs. All these efforts are growth directed.

"In the last six months we doubled our previous year's gross," Sumlin points out. "And, I see business continuing to increase. Cars are getting so expensive that many people can't afford to get rid of them. If you keep a car five or six years and put on over 100,000 miles, in most cases you're going to have to put in a new engine.

"We're also looking into truck engines," he concludes. "We already do a few light trucks and tractors, but we haven't tackled big trucks yet. That's a good market, too."