Keisler Engineering Has Filed for Bankruptcy

[Mytur Binsdirti]

Anyone else get one of these emails?







Last Thursday January 16, I ceased operations of Keisler Engineering Inc by filing it into a Chapter 7 Liquidation Bankruptcy.  This was a sad day for our customers, vendors, employees and families, many of which had been with us for 5-10 years.  And this brought to a close a 22 year long run of the company I started in my garage in 1991 that grew to become the innovator and leader of the 5-speed overdrive transmission market for muscle cars and Corvette.



Why Close Keisler Engineering Now?



The decision to close Keisler Engineering Inc in Chapter 7 Liquidation is covered in some detail on our Facebook page here.  Another reason why I decided to place the company into a Chapter 7 liquidation type bankruptcy was to cleanse the assets of the liabilities that were preventing the company from thriving financially as well as providing the highest level of customer service our customers deserved.  The liabilities and overhead of KE coupled with my own personal financial liabilities that lingered from the $4 Million acquisition of GM's Muncie Transmission equipment purchase in 2006 made it impossible for me to bring in financing and working capital needed to get KE operating in the "sweet spot" where orders ship 100% complete and with quick delivery.  It was time to hit the START OVER button - both for the company and myself to get out of the financial entanglements.  As of January 16 2014, that process of start over has begun.



The closing of the company and the many vendors and customers affected rests completely on my shoulders as the President & CEO.  There is no good time when it comes to closing a company, but it was my fiduciary duty to take the action needed to prevent further loss to the customers and vendors.  From Dec 6 to approximately Jan 15, more than 122 transmission orders were shipped out the door, plus a whole lot of parts orders.  We finished out the 2013 year with over 1,000 transmissions shipped. Had we completed all orders on the books at the time of closure the number would have been closer to 1,300 transmissions. About half of the unfilled units were SS700 which I came to the conclusion would be impossible to fill swiftly.



What Happens to Keisler Engineering in Chapter 7 Bankruptcy?



The court assigned Mr. John Newton of Mayer & Newton as the appointed Trustee to Keisler Engineering's case.  Mr. Newton has determined it is in the best interest of the creditors that Keisler Engineering be sold as either:

1) Complete & Fully Intact Operation Asset, OR

2) grouped assets that comprise the whole operation



This means the Buyer(s) could purchase the Assets including the Trademarked name, website, customer list, designs and inventory ... everything - clean and free of any Liabilities or entanglements, and put them back to work at the same facility or a facility of the Buyer's election. There is more than $400,000 of Inventory assets.  And there are important pieces of machinery such as the Spin Test Machine.



Mr. Newton further states that he would like to select a Buyer in the coming 4-6 weeks, and get the sale approved by the Court in swift fashion.



There is a small amount of component parts product ready to ship, like special order driveshafts, that Mr. Newton would like to get shipped to customers in the coming 1-2 weeks.



Who can be a Buyer of the Keisler Engineering Operation?



YOU can be a Buyer.  There are NO restrictions.  If you are a Creditor to KE in the Ch7 Schedule F, you can be a Buyer.  But your Creditor claim amount does not serve to "credit bid" meaning new money would need to be provided.



The operation can be started in the existing facility immediately, or preferably relocated to a smaller facility nearby with lower overhead, or even moved out of state.  Most of the Keisler Engineering employees are available to be hired as of January 23.  I am also available to support the start-up and long term go-forward.



IF YOU WANT TO SEE A NEW COMPANY FORM TO CONTINUE THE PRODUCT LINE OF KEISLER ENGINEERING AND HELP CUSTOMERS GET THEIR ORDERS FILLED, then skip down to the next section now.



While we wait to see the outcome of the KE Operation Asset Sale, some of you may be seeking to purchase a Keisler transmission kit.  In Dec 2013, I sold the Keisler PerfectFit TKO 5-speed and T56 6-speed kit lines to Craig Liberty at Liberty Gear, please contact:



Liberty's High Performance Products, Inc.
6390 Pelham Road
Taylor, Michigan 48180
Phone (313) 278-4040
Fax (313) 381-2411
www.libertysgears.com

Tremec ELITE Distributor



I will update everyone just as soon as possible with more developments.



ALL INQUIRIES ABOUT KEISLER PRODUCT OR TECHNICAL SUPPORT SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO ME.  EMAIL REPLIES WILL BE SLOW AT THIS TIME.  THE PHONES ARE NOT BEING MANNED AT THIS TIME.  THE WEB REQUEST FOR QUOTE PAGE IS CURRENTLY NON-OPERATIONAL SINCE DEC 17 2013 AND WILL NOT BE FIXED AT THIS TIME.  I am the only one manning the company at this time (with no compensation) until Trustee John Newton can implement more help.  You may reach Mr. Newton at the following:

John Newton, Trustee for KE Inc Case 14-30100

Mayer and Newton

1111 N Northshore Dr, Knoxville, TN 37919
(865) 588-5111 ** do not call; email him only **

johnnewton@mayerandnewton.com



Again, I am sorry to bring this news and that I could not do a better job to maintain the KE Inc in operation.  But, as you read my lengthy posts on Facebook, you will understand that closure of the company to move forward was in the best interest of everyone.



Happy Motoring,

 

Shafi Keisler <mailto:skeisler@keislerauto.com> , Pres/CEO shafi.keisler@keislerauto.com

[autodynamics]

I have ,Customary in these cases
Hopefully someone with deep pockets can buy and keep it going

[Ghoste]

Maybe the expatriate employees should take it on, close their competing businesses and create one thriving one?

[bill440rt]

I got one too, this afternoon.
I was on their mailing list.

[1974dodgecharger]

Once finalized he will a start anew....

[shone190]

New Keisler

http://www.shiftsst.com/

[Cooter]

Sounds like same ole story. Fire up business, run business into the ground, bankrupt business so as to reopen under different name. Maybe building that high dollar Cuda wasn't such a good idea.....

[Ghoste]

Or the alleged XP Hemi, although he did get some sponsors on that one.

[DAY CLONA]

Sounds like same ole story. Fire up business, run business into the ground, bankrupt business so as to reopen under different name. Maybe building that high dollar Cuda wasn't such a good idea.....

Shafi Keisler has no vested interest in SST, SST purchased Kiesler Engineering for $150K thru the Bankruptcy Court/Auction , Reportedly Liberty Transmission purchased the KE trademarks/rights


Mike

[Ghoste]

So that would mean SST does the work and Liberty markets them or...?

[Cooter]

Liberty does good work. Great, now a tremec 5 speed will cost $6k.

[TUFCAT]

$150K for a bankrupt company seems cheap on the surface....but I'm sure it comes with a long list of liabilities and debts to pay.  

[Mike DC]

Liberty does good work. Great, now a tremec 5 speed will cost $6k.

A new anything in this hobby costs $6k.

 

[ws23rt]

Liberty does good work. Great, now a tremec 5 speed will cost $6k.

A new anything in this hobby costs $6k.

 

That would be expensive if it weren't that the value of money is so low and dropping.

Inflation is something that our conditioning can't seem to keep up with.

[1974dodgecharger]

New Keisler

http://www.shiftsst.com/

Asked for a quote....thx for link.

[shone190]

I asked for a quote and got answer, $6250 for a complete conversion kit for 1973 Charger with 493 stroker and 525HP. That is too much for this kit, it is my opinion 

[Ghoste]

How much was the same kit when Shafi owned it?

[Mike DC]

That would be expensive if it weren't that the value of money is so low and dropping.

Inflation is something that our conditioning can't seem to keep up with

Exactly. 

$6k is the new $3k.

[Ghoste]

Or the strategy of selling at a low price point and hoping to make it up in volume failed.  Of course we have yet to see that making it all up in a few sales will be any more successful.

[Cooter]

Inflation/inflated prices are fine cept. Ain't nobody's paycheck gettin 'inflated' to offset.
$4k was crazy money, and still is. Roots style blower kits have been $3500 for 25 years or better, I wonder why the same 5-speed set up suddenly costs another $2200.00???

Did the cost of materials/labor rise that quick?
for the less 'gifted', I can see needing a quick kit.
but for the more mechanically inclined, I can buy a scattershield and Tremec trans for around $3k and make it work if need be.

[DAY CLONA]

I asked for a quote and got answer, $6250 for a complete conversion kit for 1973 Charger with 493 stroker and 525HP. That is too much for this kit, it is my opinion  

Generally that's the "standard" Mopar application quote (even when Keisler owned it) for a complete conversion kit, tranny TKO 600 5spd, shifter/boot, bell housing, clutch, pressure plate, hyd throw out bearing, master cylinder (wildwood), hyd resv, braided hyd lines, pedals, driveshaft, trans cross member, flywheel, all fasteners, speedo cable, speedo gear, back up light harness, etc,etc,etc


But if  in the past when buying a TKO 600, if I, or the customer had some of the components, you could delete from the kit what you didn't need to lower the kit's cost some, the Mopar kits were the most expensive, as the market was small, smaller production run on mopar bell housings, mopar repro shifters, tranny mounts etc, etc, usually means higher costs because of the limited production, the "cheapest" complete Keisler tranny TKO 600 conversion kit I purchased was for a customers 55 Chevy Belair, nice kit, everything I listed above $3500 delivered, I know some had "issues" with Keisler, but I never experienced any problems over a decade of dealing with him, the worst "problems" would have been parts missing, or wrong parts shipped, but it was always rectified quickly....

I'm in the need for another TKO 600 5spd for a Mopar project, but I'll think I'll wait to pull the trigger with SST, give them some "track time" to see how they pan out


Mike

[1974dodgecharger]

6k huh, damn that means a year of downtime I'll stick with my 4 speed.

[BrianShaughnessy]

I think I had $4500 in mine??   I'm sure the later kits were more troublefree.    My biggest problem was the Keisler clutch MC that would cause me to loose pedal after driving around.   Later on they gave up and went to a McLeod which I had to buy and it rectified the problem.
It's all about options.  I had the pedals already.   I opted for the aluminum bell and hydraulic clutch.

But I'll still say that it's one of the best mods...  nothing like doing 80 on 81 heading to Carlisle in the left lane.   2400 rpm.  

Even meeting and talking to Shafi several times I wouldn't say he was a bad guy.  But he did have some faults.   As do we all.

[bill440rt]

IIRC that's about what I have in mine as well, Stage 2 auto-OD kit, though. Came with everything as well: trans, torque convertor, crossmember, mount, ECU, TPS, harnesses, cooler, lines, hardware, etc etc.
It was still cheaper than if I had the existing 727 rebuilt & went with a GV & then had to purchase everything else separately.
80mph @ 2500rpm is nice. 

[1974dodgecharger]

Did u guys do a auto to manual conversion for those prices? I was just quoted 3600 shipped with 60 month warranty no conversion I told I have a manual already.