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Fri Jan 06, 2012 11:14 pm

I am curious. I always wondered why the Berg boys work for themselves and not Gene Berg Enterprises?

Sat Jan 07, 2012 6:37 am

They have, all three of them, worked at GBE at one time or another.

Sat Jan 07, 2012 6:55 am

Not knowing any specifics of the Berg family or the various related businesses, I can't comment directly. BUT in general business its not always a good thing for second generation to stay in the family business.

Heres an interesting statistic - "Only 40% of family owned businesses survive to the second generation, 12% to the third, and 3% to the fourth (Boston Globe, May 4, 2003)"

I am not planning nor ever really wanted to pass my business on to my kids - and nothing against the kids - all 4 have worked in the business at one time or another. Just that I have seen too many second generations blow it. So my initial thought on Berg is that they are very smart people.......

Sat Jan 07, 2012 8:08 am

Yep, I have a niece engaged to the son of a very successful and wealthy man who made his way into the frozen food industry. They market nation wide to various outfits such as Walmart and other huge chains. Odds are, you've eaten their product at some point.
The father WANTS the son to come on board and take the helm, the son attended MIT and wants to design sail boats. Hmmmm to make a choice where you walk into and are handed the brass ring or to choose a life of beating the bushes and busting your butt for every dollar you bring home?

I understand the boy's passion for sailboats but I also understand that it is really hard and infrequent to get the brass ring during ones lifetime!

The kicker is, my niece has the brains and motivation to run the company! So we all figure that they need to put in place a really good pre-nup, the boy can go play with boats and she'll bring home the millions to finance his passion!!

Taking this pre-nup route, maybe a few crumbs will fall by the wayside for me?!! :lol:

Dave

Sat Jan 07, 2012 8:59 am

I dont know about all of them, I have met Clyde, and I know Doug from around town. Doug seems to be one of those guys that dont like the 9-5 world :wink: kinda likes to do things when he wants to do them.. Plus have you ever worked with relatives? It sucks!! you end up talking about work over Christmas diner :roll:

Sat Jan 07, 2012 9:30 am

My boss has 2 sons that he's tried at different times to get into our business and it's never worked out well. Bad enough his wife is our secretary/book keeper.

I would never want to work with a relative, keep those two worlds separate. When I go home from work, I want to be HOME, not still discussing work.

Sat Jan 07, 2012 11:33 am

I learned some very expensive lessons in the business world.

I no longer work with relatives or friends. (they both tend to screw you worse then your biggest enemies)

And I have an agreement with the bank. I don't loan money, and they don't repair medical equipment.

Sat Jan 07, 2012 8:27 pm

Watch "American Chopper" and you'll see why working in the family business can destroy a family.

Sat Jan 07, 2012 8:30 pm

MrBreeze wrote: My boss has 2 sons that he's tried at different times to get into our business and it's never worked out well.
So he put you in his will?

Sun Jan 08, 2012 1:29 am

I had the idea of my current business - I was going to be the person that makes the small niche market part and it was going to be a fun business/hobby. I was living in the heart of the aftermarket VW parts business – I was excited. Me and my big mouth - I mentioned it to my older brother and after some significant prodding from him, I very reluctantly let him in on it – he would make the parts all the way over in Florida and I would market them. To his credit, he devised a lot of the same processes that I still use. I most likely would have figured out a similar way to make parts, and now have better ways to make things that I have devised since then. But my brother and I are two very different type of people. I will spare the details, but I did the ground work, digging up OG parts, personally went to HVW's and Trends ( those days were , for the most part, pre-internet) to place product announcements, and I placed ads out of my own pocket. We had a deal that was not adhered to - I would promote , take orders from customers, and get my commission and he would drop ship them. It was a BIG mistake. I am very picky about what I put my name on, as I am sure he was too AT FIRST. He very soon tired of it the whole idea and started cutting corners. I was very pleased when he relinquished the whole thing to me, and I was able to "iron-out" the details and make the parts to a better standard. But it took quite awhile to get my product reputation up to where it is today, even after 15 years, I still have some fence-mending to do.
Bottom line:
I have done business with close family members twice in my life, and I do not plan to do so ever again. I still love my brother and we stay in touch. But I will not do that again. It's amazing how well family members can get along when the entire North American continent is separating us.

Sun Jan 08, 2012 3:39 am

Glenn wrote: MrBreeze wrote: My boss has 2 sons that he's tried at different times to get into our business and it's never worked out well.
So he put you in his will?

Supposedly I am. But I doubt it. One of those things they say but never get around to doing

Sun Jan 08, 2012 8:19 am

It takes people that can relinquish control and responsibilities when the time comes to trust the next generation to run the show. It also takes someone that can fully understand how that first generation got to where they are and build on that base without damaging the works. This is way more than just business. This is messing with the very lifeblood of the family. When it work, there is nothing like it. When it doesn't, the pain runs very very deep. The risk was too great for me and I chose a different field. Before he died, my Dad and I came to terms with all that. Maybe the Bergs made the same choice.

Sun Jan 08, 2012 11:24 am

without getting into too much speculation i will explain as i understand it.

GBE is a mere shadow of it's former self--a shadow of a shadow; a ghost of a shell, if you will.

the "new" owner is the reason for this and is the same reason why the sons are not involved...

Sun Jan 08, 2012 12:26 pm

I think Dee Berg is still in charge and running it. Not aware of any "new" owners running the place. Doug was back working there a few years ago, don't know if he still is though. Clyde is doing cylinder heads on his own, and Gary is in Hawaii renting Vanagons to tourists last I heard.

Sun Jan 08, 2012 1:08 pm

Eaallred wrote: I think Dee Berg is still in charge and running it. Not aware of any "new" owners running the place. Doug was back working there a few years ago, don't know if he still is though. Clyde is doing cylinder heads on his own, and Gary is in Hawaii renting Vanagons to tourists last I heard. that's the same info I have, haven't heard anything different.. But it has been A few years cents Doug moved from WA. and the last real news I heard was Gary was moving to Hawaii,, both were selling there cars at the time.

Sun Jan 08, 2012 2:28 pm

Eaallred wrote: I think Dee Berg is still in charge and running it. Not aware of any "new" owners running the place. Doug was back working there a few years ago, don't know if he still is though. Clyde is doing cylinder heads on his own, and Gary is in Hawaii renting Vanagons to tourists last I heard.
Agreed, there is NO new owner, Dee Berg still owns/runs the shop.
Gary Berg is back and living in the Orange County, he sold his Vanagon rental business in Hawaii, then moved to Arizona for a brief period, then moved back to SoCal.
Gary has also opened up his own shop in Orange building engines and transmissions - http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1027343

***NOTE: Just noticed he still has the old Hawaii phone number listed***
but the pictures posted in the ad is from his Orange, CA shop

Sun Jan 08, 2012 3:05 pm

Gary is in Orange California and is at the next shop over from Clyde.

Sun Jan 08, 2012 7:44 pm

Eaallred wrote: I think Dee Berg is still in charge and running it.
you are correct.
when gene died, dee took over.
maybe "new management" would have been a better choice of wording.

i got the opportunity to hang with and learn from gary while he was here and i now consider him a personal friend.
i was trying to convey my understanding of the situation without explicit speculation as to berg family politics, name dropping, etc :wink:

it's really not anyone's business but their own.
all you really need to know is that with gene gone and gary & clyde absent, GBE is not and never will be what it was.

Sun Jan 08, 2012 9:31 pm

borninabus wrote:

all you really need to know is that with gene gone and gary & clyde absent, GBE is not and never will be what it was.

You never know what the future may bring. But the market place will also never be what it was.

The hard core car culture hot rod days are over and done. For the most part, the real hot rodders have been replaced by check book jockeys. And the cars of today available to most hot rodders require computer parts and training to operate.

The days of a local shop cranking out quality parts to a big market are just about over. A lot of the stuff the bolt on guys have available is coming from China and has no quality.

Even if the family members could all get on the same sheet of paper and try to make a serious go of it, I'm not sure there is enough of a market anymore to keep them afloat.

Sun Jan 08, 2012 11:52 pm

very well put!!