Richmond Times-Dispatch : Lisa Prezioso Linnell : 03-19-2001

PERFORMANCE AUTOSPORT "LOVES" RIGHT MATCH
SPECIALTY DEALERSHIP OWNER OPERATES LIKE AN `ADOPTION AGENCY'

When Mark LaMaskin sells one of his collectible Saleen Mustangs, his priority is getting a perfect match between the buyer and the vehicle.

"We're like an adoption agency," said LaMaskin, owner and president of 3-year-old Performance Autosport, a specialized, high- end dealership. "We place (the Saleen Mustangs) in their homes."

"I absolutely love what I do," LaMaskin said. "It's easier for me to sell the car if I'm in love with it, too."

LaMaskin says he would rather lose a sale than sell to the wrong person.

And he has.

"I tell it like it is whether people like it or not," said LaMaskin, referring to a customer who wanted to buy a 1995 supercharged Saleen 351 with 480-horsepower. "He wanted to put it in the hands of his 16-year-old kid. I said it wasn't the proper automobile for his son and I didn't sell it to him."

LaMaskin, owner of what is purportedly the only Saleen specialty reseller in the United States, personally knows many of his customers through friendships developed at car clubs and races.

"Our business is based on trust and loyalty," LaMaskin said, adding that it was not uncommon to "do business with a customer three or four times in a one-year period."

One customer now on his second Mustang is Richmond resident Michiel Muizelaar, LaMaskin's accountant with Keiter, Stephens, Hurst, Gary and Shreaves of Richmond and a fellow Saleen enthusiast who sees LaMaskin "at all the Mustang shows."

Muizelaar, 26, who wanted a second Mustang that was "a lot tougher" than the Mustang he currently uses for daily transportation, recently purchased a collectible 1986 Saleen. It is number 119 of a mere 199 made that year.

"It's jalapeo red with a stock motor with some racing suspension. When I looked at it, I just couldn't walk away from it. I couldn't stop looking at it. It's a way to own a somewhat exclusive car without getting into something like a Ferrari," said Muizelaar, acknowledging that "my girlfriend wasn't very thrilled with it. She said, `You already have a car.'"

Only $10,500, which is apparently well worth it according to Muizelaar, who said it had "extremely low (45,000) miles. I plan to keep it that way."

For more than 15 years, the Saleen Mustang - a standard Mustang enhanced by Steve Saleen - has been offered and "sanctioned by" the Ford Motor Co., according to LaMaskin.

The modifications occur in the areas of the vehicle's aerodynamics, suspension, engine and interior. The automotive warranty is from Saleen and Ford.

The Saleen is sold new by Ford and comes with an original Manufacturer's Source of Origin also called a "Certificate of Origin." "It's like a birth certificate," La Maskin said. "Saleens are brand new cars from Ford. They've never been owned by anybody but Ford."

Great condition, low mileage Saleen Mustangs such as Muizelaar's are hard to find. The most difficult Saleens to locate are the desirable 1990-1993 Mustang LX two-door sedans "that are the trunk model, not the hatch back," LaMaskin said.

So how does Performance Autosport meet its customers' requests to find those collectible models?

By relying on an indispensable tool: the Internet.

"Before the Internet, I used to spend a fortune making copies of photos and sending them out," said LaMaskin, noting that many requests came from car lovers who were not sincerely interested in purchasing a vehicle, just interested in collecting photos of it. Now, instead of mailing photographs, LaMaskin posts them to his Web site.

The use of e-mail also has allowed LaMaskin to keep this expenses down, enabling him to pass the savings to his customers, he said.

Often, prospective sellers will respond to his Web site, or to his full-page advertisement placed in the Mustang and Ford Trader publication. Another way LaMaskin locates sellers is by going online to scan the classified ads of newspapers all over the country.

After viewing e-mailed photos of a vehicle's engine, body and interior from a number of angles and after retaining information from sources such as CarFax - an online database providing reports on a car's title, odometer and history - LaMaskin is ready to buy "sight unseen."

"We take a huge, huge risk in buying these cars," he said. "We only got burned once." He said in that case, he had overpaid for the car and had to sell it at a loss of several thousand dollars.

Once a purchase is made, LaMaskin arranges for pick up by Thomas C. Sunday Inc., a Pennsylvania-based vehicle moving company that delivers Saleens to Performance Autosport's warehouse showroom located in Goochland County. Sunday also transports sold vehicles from the Goochland warehouse to customers throughout the country.

"He (LaMaskin) is dealing with a very exclusive type of car," said Thomas Sunday, owner of the 53-foot-long trailers that can carry up to seven cars each.

"The reason he uses our type of service is because these cars should not be exposed to the elements. It doesn't matter if it's hailing or snowing. When the car comes off the trailer to Mark, it looks the way it did when (we picked it up)."

After transportation expenses, and the costs of improvements such as tires or repairs, LaMaskin - who declined to disclose any sales figures for his company - said he usually makes far less of a profit per car than would be possible.

Longtime friend Earl Morris, 38, a financial adviser with Scott & Stringfellow Inc., contends that while LaMaskin's meticulous fine- tuning of the cars before putting them on the market may diminish profit margins, it has helped boost his national reputation.

"Mark has really become the expert on Saleens for the whole country," said Morris, a resident of Henrico County's West End. "The Saleens (Steve Saleen who designs the car's modifications and his wife, Liz) even refer people to Mark. It's almost a little bit like a fraternity," Morris said.

LaMaskin agreed, noting that the Saleen is popular with those who may have missed a chance to own earlier muscle cars and now want to own what could be a classic car in the future.

"The five liter '87 to '93 (Saleen) Mustang is the '57 Chevy of years gone by."