A new and fresh idea for ALL car people has arrived in Milford, OH. Easy Street Rides and Rods will fast become the center of the Midwest's Car Culture. Whether it is your Daily Driver, your Teenager's First Car, that Sunday Cruiser or the Classic Car of your Dreams, you will find your car needs met on Easy Street. Easy Street is a unique business due to our world class talent and unprecedented diversity. No one else in the market across the nation offers everything car related the way that it is done at Easy Street Rides & Rods. It is the only place in America where a person can go to a Friday Night Cruise In attended by 300-400 first class Hot Rods and Street Machines, ride with his/her teenager on a test drive of a top notch pre-owned vehicle for their first car, set up an appointment for service on their late model daily driver, discuss the design of their dream Custom Car with a National Award- Winning design team, while having the alignment done on their late-60's muscle car all while the family is listening to a live DJ spin classic tunes as they eat delicious homemade ice cream, burgers and hot dogs all in the same evening. This type of atmosphere is the routine at Easy Street. Sole Owner of Easy Street, Rita Odom, puts it best, "It is our Company goal to be at the center of Greater Cincinnati's Car Scene because we are car people at our very core and have been a part of that culture for many years. It is where our employees, Tim, our three kids and I want to spend our time. We love it." Every Car Person owes it to himself to stop in at Easy Street Rides & Rods to see what it is all about and to enjoy an all new and all American Automotive experience.
The Story
The Easy Street story is a perfect example of what happens when the American Dream runs smack into a community of "Car Guys." In 1968, a small boy pedaled his bike around a gravel cul-de-sac in a Crescent Springs, KY trailer park at the bottom the hill on a street named Easy Street. As he rode, this youngster weaved in and out of dozens of vehicles what would become Classic Car icons, such as a '63 SS Impala, '69 Mercury Cyclone 429CJ, '57 Apache Chevy Pickup and '63 Galaxie 500 XL 427. Although he was totally oblivious at the time to the future value of these vehicles, he knew well enough to be very careful around them. Easy Street was home to avid "car guys." Tim Odom grew up on Easy Street with his dad Bob and neighbors Frank Butler and Steve Smith. Bob Odom had built cars and raced on the streets, drag strips and dirt tracks of Western KY since he was a young man. Naturally, the three men developed a close friendship centered on their mutual love of fast cars. Not only, in order to supplement their incomes, but also, for the sheer joy of building fast cars and trucks, they bought and sold cars after installing performance upgrades. Bob Odom declares, "While the rest of the world was working their butts off to get on Easy Street, we were the only three guys working ours off to get the heck out of Easy Street." During their time on Easy Street, the three made several other friends involved in the Northern KY and Cincinnati Hot Rod and Racing scene. During a time in history where the Greater Cincinnati area was at the center of the Drag Racing world especially in Modified, Pro Stock and Gasser classes, these men and their friends, such as NHRA Hall of Fame members Bill Roell, Jim Farr, and Fred Hurst, were right in the thick of it all. In fact, Bill Roell, Walt Van Gorder and Bob Odom, with the help of many friends and family, built a beautiful 1969 Barracuda Drag Racer that ran on the "B" gas classification world record at the NHRA Spring Nationals.
As what usually happens, time moves on and things change. Steve Smith moved on in his career as a Secret Service Agent to eventually work the personal protection details for the Presidents of the Seventies, Nixon, Ford and Carter. Frank Butler moved on to raise his daughters, becoming President of the Local Electricians Union. Bob Odom's family grew to include two more sons, Dennis and Steve, who along with Tim enjoyed successful high school and college athletic careers. Bob eventually became Regional Manager for Marathon Petroleum's TTM division. Most of their friends moved on to other careers as well. They all stayed close to the car scene, but many moved from racing, namely Steve Smith and Frank Butler, to collecting and restoring rare high end collector cars. Steve became a nationally known expert on early 60's Chevrolets and the 409 engine although his collection includes everything from a beautiful self-built '32 Roadster, Tri-Five era cars, and Muscle Cars. Frank is one of the world's leading experts in early 60's Fords and is well-versed in all Ford, Mercury and Lincoln collector car knowledge. His collection includes some of the rarest and priciest Ford Galaxies and Starliners in the world.
Growing up in the middle of all this automotive excitement, Tim Odom had no choice but to become hooked on fast cars. "My best childhood memories all come from this special time in our lives," Tim wistfully states. With a burning desire to one day recapture those wonderful days, the idea for Easy Street Rides and Rods was born in Tim's heart. At 23, Tim married the love of his life and avid "Car Chick", Rita. Together they are raising their two sons, Jake and Beau and their daughter, Scout. In 2009, Tim and Rita brought the Easy Street guys back together with a trip to visit Steve Smith at his Phoenix, AZ home. With friend and national award winning Roadster builder, Mike Craner, they attended the Barrett-Jackson and Russo-Steele auctions during the visit. On the way home, Tim told Rita of his lifelong dream of reliving his childhood through a collector car company. Rita caught the fever and started Easy Street Rides and Rods, LLC in September of 2009 employing the help of award winning Hot Rodder, Gary Lee and NHRA Hall of Fame member Jim "Dauber" Farr as well as Bob and Mike
The Business
Easy Street Rides and Rods, LLC began operations in September, 2009 as a high-quality custom car builder and classic car restorer for the Collector Car market. The Company has built a strong team of experienced employees who are totally committed to its philosophy and who share in Easy Street's financial success. Its customer's consider its products to be the finest available and its services to be exemplary. Easy Street Rides and Rods is a unique company who is setting the standards for its industry. Although building and restoring high end Collector Cars, Classic Cars, and Street Rods/Machines are Easy Street's principal business, selling retail used cars for all preowned vehicle consumers is a key part of the overall business diversified business plan. The Company maintains a consistent 30-car inventory of quality pre-owned late model vehicles in all price ranges with GUARANTEED CREDIT APPROVAL and special programs for First Time Buyers. Additionally, it has synergized the processes it uses for its principal business building world class collector cars to provide services to all its customers for car cleaning, detailing, paint repair and turn around mechanical services on new and used cars for the retail industry. As a member of the Specialty Equipment Manufacturer's Association (SEMA), this company also offers a full line of mechanical services and repairs along with a retail distributorship for the industry's best performance part manufacturers for DIY car enthusiasts and smaller commercial custom car builders. Easy Street Rides and Rods has significant advantages over its competitors due to its diversity in capabilities, the years of experience of its personnel along with the depth of its relationships with its customers.
Easy Street Rides & Rods maintains a full-time buyer located in Phoenix, AZ who is constantly looking for good buys on "West Coast cars" (automobiles originating from CA, AZ, NV, UT, TX, NM) that fit the Collector Car market. The Company has developed a niche in this industry by providing premium Collector Car projects by bringing rust free, West Coast automobiles and employing highly skilled and nationally recognized designers, builders and painters to build its projects. Easy Street Rides and Rods is an organization that strives to exceed all expectations in the Collector Car marketplace. Moreover, Easy Street Rides and Rods sells those same services to the general public via retail sales of pre-owned vehicles, mechanical service, paint and body shop repairs and restoration, performance parts including installations of upgrades and 13-full service bays with two alignment bays and a dedicated climate controlled "build room." It has the ability to meet the needs of most vintage car collectors, used car dealers, special order customers and retail pre-owned automobile consumers. This diversity gives Easy Street a significant advantage in the marketplace as its competitors depend solely on the Collector Car market for sales.
The future looks bright for Easy Street Rides and Rods in terms of anticipated sales and operational growth. The Company has the necessary foundation for success in place. Easy Street Rides and Rods is positioned to increase its market share based on the strength of its experienced people, equipment, products, and services. Its six-member management team makes the day-to-day decisions and sets the strategic goals. The team possesses over 120 years of experience in all aspects of the automobile industry. This team has implemented various plans to achieve these goals. These plans include a sales and marketing plan targeting specific markets and customers, an estimating and pricing strategy, a cash management tool and a plan that evaluates and rewards employees based on production efficiency and job profitability.
The People
Compromised of award-winning designers and builders, as well as a full complement of ASE certified mechanics and precision tuners, the staff of Easy Street is the foundation of its future. "Because of the people on our staff we are able to offer top quality vehicles of all types and eras with the best after sale maintenance service and aftermarket upgrades anywhere in the country," states GM Chuck Baker, himself a 15-year recipient of GM's "GM Mark of Excellence Manager" as well as recipient of Motor Trend's Manager of the Year award. Easy Street Rides and Rods is first and foremost a company of car people for car people as illustrated in any event that the company holds. The employee families come to all of the events, pitch in with concessions or other needs, and are constantly among the crowd meeting, greeting, and bench racing. Tim Odom proudly declares, "This Company employs only "A" level people. We have the best Service Manager and A-Techs in the city. Our Front End people complement our Back End operations perfectly. It is exciting to be around so much motivated talent on a daily basis. I come in here most days just to get my batteries recharged."
The Place To Be For Car Lovers
Easy Street Rides & Rods is the place to be everyday if you truly love cars and want to hang around with car people. It has the "Car Guy Lounge" where it is not unusual to meet one of Cincinnati's automotive legends sitting with a cup of coffee in the middle of the morning telling stories of "back in the day." Browsing the well-appointed show room is a treat in itself as there are always rare and special historic muscle cars and race cars such as the Butler '64 Galaxie 500 Light Weight 427 High Riser (list price $259,995.00) that used to tear up Detroit Speedway sitting next to some of the most powerful late model muscle cars such as the SmokinSS 2010 Camaro (list price $99,995.00) with its Supercharged 626 rwhp and 587 ft-lbs of torque. Both cars are National award winners in their respective classes and the Butler car is a world class Concours d'Elegance car. The show room is decorated with automotive memorabilia and artwork worth thousands of dollars. National Hot Rod Hall of Fame members Bill Roell and Jim "Dauber" Farr have some of their best work hanging on the walls to be viewed and for purchase. Every Friday night weather permitting Easy Street hosts a huge Cruise In they call Cruzin The Parkway. With over 1200-spaces available it has the potential to be the largest weekly cruise destination in America. On the 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month, Easy Street opens its doors and lot free of charge for swap meet enthusiasts which they call the Swap in the Alley.
"Where else in the world can you find Car Culture like this place?" asks Rita Odom. A very good question indeed! While grilling burgers at the Cruzin Concessions, a sweaty but smiling Tim Odom proclaims, "I love this place! Nobody cares about people and their cars with the passion we do here on Easy Street." Visit the company website at www.easystreetrnr.com to learn more about the excitement this cool new venture is generating.