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Looking For A Hubcap? Call This Wheeler-Dealer

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By CHRISTIAN M. WADE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 12, 2007

PORT RICHEY - Lost a hubcap? Need a wheel? Looking for new rims for your ride?

No problem. Ed French can help. If he doesn't have it in stock, he'll find it.

The 49-year-old Port Richey man owns EMF Hubcap & Wheel, a yellow hubcap-adorned building across from the Gulf View Square mall on a congested stretch of the highway.

He's been here for the past eight years, and he knows the business like nobody else.

"If you loose a hubcap on the road, I'm the guy you come to see," said French, who hails from Washington, D.C., but has lived in Florida the past 15 years.

The average hubcap sells for $25 to $30; rims usually sell for between $60 and $175.

French's No. 1 seller? Plastic hubcaps for Nissan Altimas. They're prone to falling off.

His business slogan guarantees satisfaction: "If you need it, we can find it."

The hubcap trade isn't what it used to be, though. These days, auto manufacturers are putting out full aluminum wheels instead of hubcaps and wheel covers.

For a man whose business is hubcaps, that's not an encouraging trend.

Still, the growing popularity of full aluminum wheels, which can cost hundreds of dollars, also means that there's a potential for big money in the so-called after-market sector.

French figures at least half of his business comes from wheeling and dealing in wheels.

"You need more than one thing to stay in business nowadays," he said.
Chrome wheel inserts, mostly for trucks, have become a big seller recently.

His small business faces other threats as well. Anything that hampers the sale of used cars - which often require wheels and hubcaps - is not good for his sales.

The struggling economy is taking a toll.

"It's tough," French said. "But I never really expected to get rich doing this."

Reporter Christian M. Wade can be reached at (727) 815-1082 or cwade@tampatrib.com.

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