Snap-on's Glomad

Using a purpose-built show vehicle as a way to "engage" Snap-on franchisees and their customers is not new to the company. For the past three years, a custom chopper motorcycle built by the Tuetuls of Orange County Chopper and featured on two episodes of American Chopper on the Discovery Channel has been touring the country and put on display at various shows.

"The Glomad was simply taking that show vehicle concept to the next level," said Rick Secor, director of marketing communications at Snap-on Tools Company based in Kenosha, Wisconsin. "In addition to creating a vehicle that our franchisees could talk about with their customers, we wanted to reach out beyond that audience to a larger audience with the interactive aspect of a special Web site (www.aintstreetlegal.com).

"It was a natural move," he added. "We wanted to do something to recognize the 50th anniversary of the 1957 Chevrolet Nomad and we wanted to involve as many different members of the 'community' as possible."

For the uninformed, Snap-on Tools Company has been in the tool business since it was founded in Milwaukee in 1920. The company moved to Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 1929 where it does business today. Snap-on has two retail sales outlets: mobile trucks, which are owned by franchisees, and via the Internet. However, when an online sale is made, a local franchisee gets credit for the sale. The company has more than 4,000 franchisees worldwide.

Anyway, to further involve franchisees, customers, and auto enthusiasts in general, Snap-on created the Web site, which is still up and running. "We've already had more than 100,000 visitors to the Web site since it went up in May. It will continue to be active, even as we post video from the unveiling of the Glomad at the SEMA Show. Glomad and aintstreetlegal.com merchandise, including caps, cups, and apparel, can be purchased via the Web site or from Snap-on mobile dealers.

One of the ways Internet visitors participated in this Web 2.0 project was in the actual naming of the project. The winning name—Glomad—honors the Nomad vehicle and Dr. Neon's work with neon lighting and was submitted by David Graves, a fleet manager and general contractor from Carrollton, Texas. Graves is a member of his local classic Chevrolet club and had just finished restoring a 1956 Chevrolet Corvette. The project took him nearly five years.

Graves was a regular visitor to www.aintstreetlegal.com and had watched the car's construction progress via live Web casts and video of Dr. Neon and his crew. For his name suggestion, Graves will receive a Snap-on gift certificate for $1,957 in honor of the Glomad's model year.

The winning name was also featured in a Web video in which Dr. Neon announced the winner and the name selected. "The average time visitors spent on the Web site was calculated to be 4.5 minutes," said Secor. "That means they were 'engaged' and involved."

Building the special vehicle is only half of the project. The Glomad is now "on the road" where it will be seen at various auto shows, tools shows, and other special events.

"The Glomad will be used to showcase the Snap-on brand," explained Secor. "It will be integrated with other marketing efforts."

THE GLOMADThose interested (the community) could follow along as Dr. Neon and his crew designed and built the Glomad. "The original plan was to restore an original Nomad," said the colorful Dr. Neon. "Then, after we found out how much people wanted for old Nomads, we decided to build an out-of-the-box vehicle."

"We started with a Hot Rod Jim frame and then we bought a $3,500 hulk, where the only thing we could reuse was the roof. GM Performance Parts supplied the engine and Phoenix supplied the automatic transmission. The doors and hood are fiberglass. Wink Eller, Pancho Clark, the rest of the crew and I built the rest of it by hand. We hand-made the stainless-steel trim. We found out the hard way that there are not that many parts available in the aftermarket for the Nomads," said Dr. Neon.

The frame was powder coated with a metallic black from PPG. Dr. Neon also developed a special Snap-on red paint for use on the Glomad and the next generation of tool storage cabinets coming from Snap-on. "I really like that new red," said Dr. Neon. "It's kind of a lipstick/Red Rover color."

Dr. Neon and his crew used more than 350 special wrenches supplied by Snap-on to construct some of the trim. "They made us special wrenches that had the Snap-on name stamped on both sides, so we could use them on either side of the car," he explained. "We used big 2-inch wrenches to fabricate the suspension arms and those came right out of the Snap-on stockroom."

The grille was constructed of "specialty box end" wrenches (curved wrenches we used to call "distributor wrenches" and used for setting the initial ignition timing on older cars), which were cut and fabricated to replicate the Nomad grille.

Dr. Neon also used Snap-on diagnostic tools mounted both in the dash and under the hood. These tools are much too valuable for such use, but it makes the point and helps showcase the brand.