The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network - View Single Post

**KP Jon** · 06-30-2017, 02:09 PM

On the lighter side I'll give you a little history on how the first repair panels came to be in Taiwan.

In the late 70's there was a young Italian guy in Albany New York whose parents owned a body shop where he worked. On a whim he went with a buddy of his to a trade show in Manhattan. Seeing some of the exhibitors got his mental wheels turning about how to make some money.

He got talking with a guy from Taiwan and explained that the rocker panels on all of the square bodied trucks were rusting and that they had to repair a lot of them at their shop. He thought if he could get them to make just the part they needed they could sell a lot of them.

The guy told him that for $25,000.00 he could make the tooling and produce them.

The guy went home and pleaded with his parents to loan him the money to do the project. His mom finally gave him the 25K and he sent it off to Taiwan along with samples he cut out.

Months went by with an occasional phone call or letter (No email or fax then) and then those stopped and he realized that he couldn't get in touch with them anymore and thought he might have been fleeced.

He grabbed a passport and plane ticket and took off to Taiwan with no idea how to speak Mandarin and no contacts there. He checked into the Taipei Grand Hotel, got a cab, and set out to the "Factory" that he had met in New York. When he arrived at the factory he found out that his money was gone, there were no parts, no tools, and no real recourse so he returned to the hotel.....completely distraught.

That evening he went down to the front of the hotel for some air. He was overcome with emotion about how he was going to explain to his mother that he'd lost their money. As he sat crying on a bench a well dressed young Taiwanese couple going to the hotel for dinner approached him. the Taiwanese guy didn't speak english and the guy from the US didn't speak Chinese so they got someone to interpret for them. He explained what had happened with his family's money and the Taiwanese guy guy said "Don't worry", "My father makes parts for Toyota", "I will help you".

They had dinner and when he returned to New York he sent this guy new samples. To his word the guy him made the rocker panels (Without paying again for new tooling) and shipped them to NY. The body shop guy found some people in the bumper business that were interested in trying to distribute them. The rockers were a big hit and he started getting feedback about more parts so they did the cab corners, then the upper wheel arches, then fenders............and on and on.

That guy from Taiwan was (Is) named Legion Liao. Almost every factory in this business in Taiwan traces directly back to Legion. They were either people that worked for Legion that opened their own plants, subcontractors that grew into larger factories, etc.

We lost the guy from that body shop a couple years ago but every time a patch panel is installed it's owed to a kid from Albany that had an idea 40 years ago.

06-30-2017, 02:09 PM	#32
KP Jon Active Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Forest, VA Posts: 152	Re: Bed side replacement parts On the lighter side I'll give you a little history on how the first repair panels came to be in Taiwan. In the late 70's there was a young Italian guy in Albany New York whose parents owned a body shop where he worked. On a whim he went with a buddy of his to a trade show in Manhattan. Seeing some of the exhibitors got his mental wheels turning about how to make some money. He got talking with a guy from Taiwan and explained that the rocker panels on all of the square bodied trucks were rusting and that they had to repair a lot of them at their shop. He thought if he could get them to make just the part they needed they could sell a lot of them. The guy told him that for $25,000.00 he could make the tooling and produce them. The guy went home and pleaded with his parents to loan him the money to do the project. His mom finally gave him the 25K and he sent it off to Taiwan along with samples he cut out. Months went by with an occasional phone call or letter (No email or fax then) and then those stopped and he realized that he couldn't get in touch with them anymore and thought he might have been fleeced. He grabbed a passport and plane ticket and took off to Taiwan with no idea how to speak Mandarin and no contacts there. He checked into the Taipei Grand Hotel, got a cab, and set out to the "Factory" that he had met in New York. When he arrived at the factory he found out that his money was gone, there were no parts, no tools, and no real recourse so he returned to the hotel.....completely distraught. That evening he went down to the front of the hotel for some air. He was overcome with emotion about how he was going to explain to his mother that he'd lost their money. As he sat crying on a bench a well dressed young Taiwanese couple going to the hotel for dinner approached him. the Taiwanese guy didn't speak english and the guy from the US didn't speak Chinese so they got someone to interpret for them. He explained what had happened with his family's money and the Taiwanese guy guy said "Don't worry", "My father makes parts for Toyota", "I will help you". They had dinner and when he returned to New York he sent this guy new samples. To his word the guy him made the rocker panels (Without paying again for new tooling) and shipped them to NY. The body shop guy found some people in the bumper business that were interested in trying to distribute them. The rockers were a big hit and he started getting feedback about more parts so they did the cab corners, then the upper wheel arches, then fenders............and on and on. That guy from Taiwan was (Is) named Legion Liao. Almost every factory in this business in Taiwan traces directly back to Legion. They were either people that worked for Legion that opened their own plants, subcontractors that grew into larger factories, etc. We lost the guy from that body shop a couple years ago but every time a patch panel is installed it's owed to a kid from Albany that had an idea 40 years ago.