Aftermarket Performance Icon Holley Goes Chapter 11 -- Again
By Michelle Krebs October 6, 2009In a tale that chronicles the dwindling generation of do-it-yourself auto modifiers, storied 
aftermarket performance-parts company Holley Performance, which made its name manufacturing carburetors bearing its name, last week filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in two years.
Holley, whose name became synonymous with carburetors for all manner of high-performance engines and later branched out to own a handful of brands well known for bolt-on performance parts, first entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early 2008 and emerged later that year, transferring the company's equity to holders of its second-lien debt.
Some have called Holley the buggy-whip maker that is still trying to supply buggy whips -- although the company expanded into production of more contemporary engine and exhaust-system components. The last carbureted engine made by a volume automaker was in the mid-1990s and all current automotive engines employ some type of electronic fuel injection to deliver more precise fuel metering and mixing.
Holley, in fact, does offer a line of fuel-injection systems, but its name remains tied to the carburetor. The automotive market for new or rebuilt carburetors now rests exclusively with hand-built engines primarily intended for vintage cars, hot-rods and racers.
Lenders to Bowling Green, Kentucky's Holley said the company defaulted on debt-repayment terms from its original 2008 bankruptcy reorganization and Holley said sales have plunged 40 percent in that time.
The final blow may have been when an original-equipment contract to supply emission-control components to diesel-engine maker Caterpillar Inc. was lost when the engine was discontinued. -- Bill Visnic, Senior Contributing Editor
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