For this shop, it's all about quality, details in the hood

By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
WEST MIDDLESEX, Pa. -- A small shop here is helping shape a new nationwide trend -- customized big rigs.
Jones Performance Products helps owner-operators set themselves apart with its own line of truck hoods. The designs -- which might include fenders that slope down in a sweeping fashion or sides with scoops cut out -- have been noticed around the country.
"Their custom designs are awesome," said Bryan Mitchell, owner of 4 State Trucks in Joplin, Mo.
Mitchell was so impressed with Jones' work that he gave the company a call when he was asked to overhaul rigs for the new TV show "Trick My Truck." Jones made six of the eight trucks' hoods used on the first season of the show, which ended earlier this month.
Mitchell just signed on for a second season, which will begin airing on CMT in September. Jones again will be making some of the 12 hoods that are needed.
Jones is far ahead of other companies that make replacement hoods because of its quality and attention to detail, said Mitchell, who has been stocking Jones' hoods in his company's store for 10 years.
Reason for success
Dave Jones, owner of Jones Performance, said his company's success comes from having a good ear.
"When you listen to your customer, it's amazing what happens," he said.
Jones knew truckers were starting to join the trend toward customizing, just like car and motorcycle owners, so three years ago he created Truk Rodz -- a line of hoods designed by the company. Previously, the company made only stock replacement hoods that were designed to meet the specifications of truck makers.
Jones said he figured new-look hoods would be a hit with truckers.
"Their passion runs deep," he said. "These people eat, sleep and drink trucks. They wouldn't have it any other way."
The company, which employs 55, has a line of six models of Truk Rodz hoods. It also makes 90 models of stock hoods.
Jones didn't want to release sales figures on Truk Rodz but said business in that segment is running double what it was at this time last year. The company makes more than 5,000 truck hoods a year.
Mitchell said Jones' hoods cost more but they are worth it because they take less time for a body shop to install. Jones' hoods are designed to make it easy to install attachments under the hood, which can save a body shop four to 10 hours of work, Mitchell said.
The retail cost of a Jones' hood is about $3,500.
From plain to wow
When the hoods leave the shop at 1 Jones Way, they are plain white. It's up to owners or body shops to put splashy colors or designs on them.
But Jones knows how to liven things up when he wants to.
The company has a delivery truck that's covered in multicolored graphics and has propane-fueled stacks on either side of the cab that can shoot flames 16 feet high. It also has a show truck with the flame-shooters and multicolored twinkling lights in the grill.
Truck shows are important to the company, which will have a prominent place at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky., this coming weekend. Jones and PPG Industries are sponsoring a competition that pits four companies in a custom-truck-building contest.
Jones started his company in 1978 with his late father, Hap Jones. The company started in his father's garage in West Middlesex and moved to its current location in 1979.
How they're made
The hoods are made from fiberglass using molds created in the company's tooling shop.
After the hood is shaped, a coating of resin is sprayed on to seal in the fibers. Next, a mixture of fiberglass and resin is sprayed on and then hand rolled to produce an even coat. The hood is then cured in an oven.
Workers then bond parts to the hood that provide for easy installation of vents or lights. Those bonded areas then are sprayed with more fiberglass before the hood is sent to the finishing department for painting.
Jones and his father started the company by building fenders for trucks and patterns for ingot molds. They previously worked at an industrial company in Sharpsville.
They sold the pattern business in the early 1980s and focused on making truck parts because of the number of trucking companies in the region.
Soon, customers came to the Joneses with a problem -- hoods were breaking prematurely. The father and son started producing hoods, which sold briskly.
They set up a distribution system throughout the United States and Canada by making arrangements with truck dealers and body shops.
"You never would have known that something like a truck hood would be in such demand, but it is," Jones said.
shilling@vindy.com