Whats goin on everyone,
Well 2005 has come and gone faster than any of us could have imagined here at Hybrid. I just wanted to take this time and reflect on the last few years abit with all of you here. Everyone we have met here have become good friends to everyone here at the shop and the overwhelming sense of commrodery and support we receive when we are out is down right touching.
We started this venture in late 2002, working out of Lee’s home garage just having fun, we soon learned that this would take a turn for the interesting. Word soon spread thanks to UBRF and WNYDSM (and now NYspeed) and all of its members that there was a couple guys working on imports and doing a decent job. As word spread so did our customer base. We were shocked at how much people appreciated the work we were doing. In April of 2003 we decided to start looking for a real place of our own to open a shop. We soon found a place in NT and began working out of it. Most of you here remember the old shop and remember what we had to work with at the time. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t too much fun. What alot of you might not know was how many hours Lee and I put in at that old shop. A typical day consisted of waking at 730 and going to a regular job until 5 then going to the shop and working anywhere from 5pm to 2 to 3 am only to get up and do it all again. We were driven to make this succeed and we were more driven to try and do the best work we could because we loved to see the looks of joy on peoples faces when they would take the first ride in their cars after a transformation had occoured. No matter how new the customer they were and are still welcomed in as though we have known them forever. We used to have some good times at the old shop as many of you remember the nightly BBQs with howie on the grill and soon 20-30 people showing up, Big holiday parties and whatnot, we also had some bad times as well. In July of 2004 we were robbed of everything we owned. Long story short it sucked. To our amazement all of our friends from the local forums stepped up and threw us a fund raiser BBQ. I cannot tell you all how much this meant to us as we could never imagine a bunch of customers helping out a business get back on their feet. It was at this moment that I realized that the Buffalo car scene was more like a big family rather than factions. It is this warmth and welcoming that we have focused on and what we feel has helped our success and progress in this business. We sooned moved from the NT location and ended up in our current location and work here full time now. This year was more crazy than any of us could have imagined. We have pulled on 3 people in this last year alone, Josh (ecoshardcore), Justin (Jrex) and last but certainly not least Gary (DeviousTsi). We were soo overwhelmed with work it was great and stress at the same time as we spent countless nights straight working to get customers cars together for the season and summer. I remember staying here 60 hours straight working to get some cars together for everyone so that they could get out and enjoy what they worked hard for. In short we work harder so that you dont have too. It was stressful but rewarding at the same time. We learned soooooooo much of what to do and how to run things on a full time basis, but most importantly we learned more what NOT to do. I want to personally thank all of you who have given us constructive criticism and feedback or those of you who have physically come down and offered to help out just to make things better here at the shop. We want to do the best we possibly can and without you guys correcting us we would never get better. Thank you. This brings us to the present.
As much as the past is the past and in order to move forward in life we must focus on the future I enjoy reminiscing on all the events and people that have made soo much of a difference in our lives here at the shop. Without all of the friends who have supported us in the past we would not be here. Whether you had us change your oil or build you an engine, everything was much appreciated and looked upon as a blessing. No matter who has come here we have strived to keep things grass roots and comfortable. Buffalo is a very warm place compared to the rest of the world and I for one intend on keeping it that way for all of my customers who I proudly call my friends. I love walking into a meet at Mighty, Bubble tea, or Taffys and being bombarded with questions or people coming up to say hi. I enjoy taking the time to help people out because as much as we are a business, I love trying to give back to this community of fellow Carnuts as much as I can.
2005 has come and gone and hopefully 2006 will bring more fun, friends and fast cars.
Everyone have a happy and safe New Year and lets all do our part to support the local car scene and make 2006 a good year to remember.
Love,
The Hybrid Guys:headbang:
thats all I will say for now. Happy New Year.