Trix Talk

With Deployment Times Dragging Out, Family Units of Our Airmen, Guards, Marines, Sailors and Soldiers Have Become the Unreported Casualties.
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Van Joints popped up Like CB shops and 7-11s’, every town had one; some towns had lots of them. There was no way that this van mania would last, so in 1976, the search for a name that said something about Customizing without limiting the business to vans began.
In 60’s and 70’s racing circles, everybody was ‘Tricking-Out’ their cars, engines, distributors, etc. The name TRIX Mfg. was short, sweet, easy to remember, said something custom and was a kind of a joke on my own name, so TRIX it was. Don’t bother knockin’ if this vans rockin’ was our first #1 best selling item.
Vanbuilding is an art-form in its’ own right so it only seemed natural to apply the art of assembly and decor creatively to everything that would fit in the door. Wood, steel, plastics, paper, vinyl, rubber, glass, gas, paint, glue, goo, light, heat, cold, photography, drawing, drafting, mirrors, math, mechanisms, electronics, physics, humor, chemistry, and more come into play when you do Trix. Now, for the first time in 3 decades, Trix opens up its’ box of non-vehicle artful customization creations for your pleasure and scorn.
A thought, the biggest sin is to cry and not to try, so here’s trying your senses baby!

If you can think it, it can be specked and built. By now, you have already begun to consider the how a custom vehicle can help your company. Now, move forward and get some professional help on your side.
Fancy papers in a frame on a wall do not qualify consultants like experience in the reality field does. Solicit and listen to real professionals that are experienced in concept vehicle building, development, design, component purchasing and interfacing and whose hands and heads keep it all working. Working at Trix for 28 years on all classes of stock and custom vehicles built by us and thousands of earths other brightest minds has given me a Masters degree from the school of hard knocks in making things work and a Doctorate in making it possible to build vehicles that let people drive their dreams. Transportation with Imagination makes our world go around.

As technology keeps moving, new products will want exciting new presentations and technicians need the latest and greatest new tools, so how can you be sure your vehicles can flex with the future without having to re-invent your wheels you wonder?
Think modular. Dinner tables, arenas and aircraft interiors are designed to be reconfigurable, your fleet can be too. Around your core systems, you can ‘plug in’ interior accessories to enhance any new product or accept any new work assignment. Flexibility in interior design allows you to beat the competition to market as you squeeze every last drop of equity out of your fleet. By considering this possibility at the outset of your custom design, you can own your markets as they emerge and leave your competitors to wonder who and what blitzed them.

Your CFO may want you stay within a budget they think will accommodate your project but chances are they never tried to do half the things for your business you need this vehicle to do.
On board auxiliary HVAC, 110 volt power, 12 volt power, sound, lighting, video, satellite uplinks, fresh water, refrigeration systems and more, can all be designed to operate without having to keep your vehicles engine running or plugging in a land line. This will give you and your team the flexibility to work your vehicles in non-powered locations like trade show floors, expos, fields, tailgate parties and at your customer’s curbside. One good sale is often enough to pay for your entire fleet so build your vehicle right and no sale or service opportunity will go unmet. Most importantly, multiply power supply options spread the load around and prevent you from overtaxing any single sources, good for system longevity.

The pride of your fleet, your display vehicles, are going to be around for quite a while and as such, will probably be used and operated by many folks over life-span. Although it may take some very complex systems to do your work in the field and present your products in their best light, your vehicles should be a no-brainer to operate. Trix specializes in simplifying operations so all users, new or old, can operate your vehicles and their systems and displays effectively and efficiently. No matter if you are a local, national or international corporation, servicing may be preformed in many different locations so a good wiring schematic, systems diagram and an understandable operator’s guide for each vehicle is a must. Keep these resources in the vehicles and everyone’s phones will run a lot cooler.

Paper Plans Can’t Beat Scenarios from Those in the Hot Seat.
Cocktail napkin sketches and engineered cad drawings, informational and inspirational as they can be, often ignore two key minds in the development of a successful road vehicle, the end user and the builder. The input these two players bring to the table is based on reality. Your builder, who you will depend on to bring your concept to life and guarantee the up fitting, will want to install equipment that is dependable, serviceable and that is backed by good warrantees. The end user has to drive the vehicle and run the ‘show’. They know how to talk to your customers and what it will take to get the job done. Some items may seem like frills to you and frivolous to your accountants but may be a real deal closer for your sales or tech team.
It is less expensive to install the things important to your sales team in the initial building stage than retrofit them later.

Corporate campaigns that involve working with and presenting your products and services in the field often require you to leave the virtual world of lap tops and slideshows and delve into the world of vehicles. Developing your vehicle is a unique exercise that should assure product presentation, operator friendly usability, easy maintainability and build-ability. The time line may get fractured in the planning or building stages, but the benefits of a thoroughly conceived vehicle far outweigh adhering to false, self imposed deadlines and undercooked project prepping and planning. On budget and on time is nice but meaningless if the vehicle is ornery to own, impractical to build and service or is under equipped.

 Embarking on a trip to a customizing shop useualy begins days, weeks, months or even years before you get there. Every custom customer has detailed plans drawn out inside their heads designed to fulfill a very specific need in a very unique way. The trick for your cutomizer is to be able tosomehow get the keys to your custom dreams from you imagination and put onto paper in a basic form you bolth agree upon. As your customizer co-invites your dream project, they must see it thru the creative and manufacturing process in such a way that you can afford it and they can build andguarantee its utility and value. A good customizer lives for this challange and really cranks to make your trick look so cool and perform so smoothly that your friends and you think it came that way from the factory. Quality customs, like fine wine, increase in value and pay you back in pleasure and performance as they age.

Pssst, Psssst. Hey Bud, over here. Shhhhhh.
Now don’t tell anyone, but this little rusty hinge pin removal trick just
came over from our shop floor.

When all else fails and you want to save the paint on the body part
get a commercial class heat gun. I used a 110 volt Milwaukee 1500 watt version and get out some soldering flux. Cover your gaskets, vinyl trim and graphic tapes with a makeshift metal heat shield so they don’t melt or burn. Heat the bazoolies out of the part the pin is stuck in and keep wiping the soldering flux at the top of the pin. When the flux runs out of the bottom you are only a few E Z hammer blows away from victory!