Flaming River Through the Years
It has been 33 years since Flaming River began its manufacturing journey, and that seems like an ideal time to look
back at our history and highlight the milestones that have led us to become the company we are today. Each of these
events happened with a team of dedicated professionals that have helped make our Dream Vision our Reality, and it’s
with a sense of nostalgia that we remember all of the exciting projects that we have been able to launch and reflect
upon how quickly the years have flown by. Don’t worry – even amidst the nostalgia, we continue to look forward to new
opportunities and continued evolution within this ever-growing industry!
I am often asked how I got started in this industry, and at Flaming River, and I am more than happy to share some of
the highlights of this story.
1987
In 1987, Flaming River entered the
marketplace for the sole purpose of
developing unique products for the Racing
& Hot Rod Industry. This included products
that the OEM was no longer making,
like the Pinto rack & pinion, and many
others that soon fell by the wayside. In the
beginning, we offered 4 main products:
- Pinto – Drag Race
- Timing Light – Self Powered 2 D
Battery
- Big Switch – Battery Master Shut Off
- Tuff Ties in colors
While after all these years most of the original products are
still being sold, the overall philosophy of Flaming River is to
continue to develop new products for the specialty market –
parts that were assumed to be available forever no longer are,
and junkyard parts just aren’t good enough for today’s Racers
and Rodders!
1990
Jeanette Ladina started working for
Flaming River during her high school
years as an office student through the
Co-Op program. In 1990, at 22, she
became a part owner of Flaming River
Industries, Inc. This was the year when
we started to build upon the initial 4
product offering, and the expansion of
new product development began moving
forward.
1993-1995
By 1993, Flaming River was a known entity to racers
and rodders. We exhibited each year at SEMA
and Performance Racing trade shows to meet
with customers directly and expand our market.
Sure enough, we learned that our customers were
asking for much more, and the muscle car and
classic car enthusiasts came knocking on our door
for products they were having difficulty finding.
Exhibiting at SEMA each year is an important part of business
growth and allows us to connect with customers face to face.
1994
Flaming River takes a big step and decides to
add the 1974-78 Mustang manual rack and
pinion to its product line. The industry had
been waiting for this one – you couldn’t find
it anywhere and it was the standard chassis
platform for Street Rod builders. In fact, at
SEMA customers looked at the Pinto we made
for racing and asked “Why can’t you make
this other rack that we really need?” So we delivered what
they were asking for, and opened up a new and expanded
marketplace to us
1996
Listening to your customers is a great business
model. Customers kept looking at our new rack
and pinion and wondered why we didn’t offer
universal joints. We did the research, teamed
up with a U.S. company, and today we have over
600 combinations of universal
joints – best of all, they’re Made
in the U.S.A. During this same
period, we were also developing the Vega steering
box – another all new product that was commonly
used on a roadster chassis. We worked with a local
builder and friend for the final fitment and details.
Many knew him as the guy who was quoted as saying
“The Sun never sets on the Cool”
1999
History is proven again to repeat itself – the people
asked and we delivered: the first all new Made in the
U.S.A. tilt steering column for the aftermarket. From
the beginning, our tilt column was manufactured
and assembled at Flaming River Industries with all
new components and an attractive stainless steel
design…no cores used in our process. This was our first SEMA New
Product win, and a purveyor of great things to come: build in-house
manufacturing for true flexibility
and responsiveness to customer
requests
2000
Welcome to today’s Flaming
River! Jeanette Ladina became
the sole owner of Flaming River,
and decided to build us our very
own building to allow us the
ability to manufacture as much
of our own products as possible.
Tilt steering columns became
our flagship product, and
proudly say: Flaming River USA
2001
We bought our first laser
from Haas and retired the
punch press! In order to meet
demand and continue product
line growth, machinery was the
only way to go. Utilizing our
new purchases, we were able
to create the all new Stainless
Laser-Cut Collapsible Tilt
Steering Column and build them from the ground
up to add them to our product line
...The Best is Yet to Come!