Dennis Wilson

My one and only encounter with Devek was pre-Rennlist when they advertised in Panorama. Their ad for the WSM indicated $350. When I called Susan to place the order I was bluntly told it was $425 irregardless of what the ad said. BTW the ad ran for another 6 months listing $350. After that I discovered 928 Intl. who sets the standard for business integrity. Too bad Devek didn't practice it.

Dennis

Ketchmi

I like Marc and Susan but Marc is one of the reasons I am in this business. I asked Marc once upon a time why he thought his 3" exhaust was better than a dual 2.5" and got the response "It's just better, buy it." Did he actually think that I couldn't understand the flow dynamics involved or was it that my "old" 86.5' was no show car and that I couldn't afford it anyway? Either way, the attitude bothered me. That was when I started doing improvements personally rather than relying on other's technology.

I do wish them the best in whatever they do, they did forge the way for a lot of current 928 improvements and Devek Days was a great gathering. They have moved on to the next phase of their lives, no need to slam the door behind them.

hacker-pschorr

You really need to include Bob DeVore, Lucky Ekman, and Red McClintock in with that statement, the founders of DEVEK.

http://www.928s4vr.com/devore.htm

Mark Anderson

I think everyone in the 928 business started as a consumer and thought there was a need not being met. Having sold 928 parts for 20 years now I feel like I've had a front row seat to all that has come and gone. Does anyone here remember AF and A sales? They later became Gardner and Humphries then DH Industries. None of us have invented the wheel but we all proud of our version and I think the 928 owners in general have benefited greatly.

hacker-pschorr

Thanks Mark I don't think enough people appreciate what you and other 928 specific vendors do for us.


/kiss *** off

Ketchmi

Hacker, this thread is about Marc and Susan's Devek...I am sure you could trace a line all the way back to the first engineer that during a drunken Octoberfest got the idea for a front engined, V8 powered ***-shakin' machine if you want to. Marc does know his stuff, no doubt about that is there? Devek did develop many good things after Bob, Lucky and Red were gone.

hacker-pschorr

Fair enough

Not trying to discredit anyone, I'm just sure a lot of people in the 928 world have no idea the history of how DEVEK came to be and some of the "monster" 928's were from the early days.

dprantl

Spend some more effort searching and you should find that kit for $500.

Dan
'91 928GT S/C

dr bob

If my memory of third-party-related Devek history is correct, Marc can be credited with most if not all of the 32V product development done under the Devek banner. Bob, Lucky and Red were focused on the 16V engine and car performance stuff. The growth of the car into 32v models coincided with Marc's involvement.

Marc's resume includes product and production work with Ford. I suspect that it's a bit of a distance between what he was doing vs. what he wanted to do there, so it made some sense for him to go independent. I can personally attest to the fact that operating within a large, well-organized and disciplined company like Ford is a great way to get experience you could otherwise not receive. At the same time, there are areas of the whole-company operations that you might not get exposed to at all. It took me a while (several years) to realize that the big companies like that are marketing machines, sales companies that engineer and manufacture what they sell. They are not engineering companies who manufacture and sell what they design. The marketing guys are forced to deal with manufacturing, who are dependent on the engineering group, all to get things to hang on the wagon and sell. To keep that perspective, the primary focus has to be on customers and service so they will hand you money for a new car every few years, or for whatever product you happen to be selling that day. It took me a while to come to that point of view, and it changed my whole attitude about my business. Once I figured out that I just need to deliver what the customer wants, things got a lot easier. Found out that my fitzall doesn't, and things got even better. I love the creative side of the engineering business, but the real difference between success and failure is in marketing and customer care. I think Mark Anderson is a shining example of this in our 928 world, and the other success stories are folks who follow that same business model.

My too sense.

Gretch

I never did any business with them, but I was a late comer to the big three experience........ Marc seemed a bit testy in his posts, but I always thought Susan was a perfect lady.

Grumpy personalities or not, 928 owners are uniquely blessed by the number and quality of vendors dedicated to our cars........ There are few other makes or models so well represented, as best I can tell.

Gotta admit though, some of the ones that have passed through were real characters!!!!!!!!!! Folks here still remember andy keel???????!!!!!!!!!! and who can ever forget Munct (did I spell it right?) and Turbo John. Some very entertaining shyte went down with them boys.......... least wise entertaining for those of us who didn't buy anything from them!!!!!!!!!! HA!

soltino

Your three scroller. (-%

tino

dr bob

Andy Keel was hardly a problem personality. What's now the DR supercharger development project started out as Andy's 'let's see if this works' project that got too big for him to manage comfortably alongside the rest of his life. Turbo John had his moments, but it was his responses to folks who potshotted him that led to his departure. His ideas and abilities are not in question. Eric Munck managed to get to some folks when his ambitions overtook his abilities. Last I heard (third party info at best) he was no longer married, off the plantation, etc., no idea where he ended up.


There are plenty of folks who have come up with pretty significant improvements as well as simple effective solutions to problems. Undertrays, aluminum replacement radiators, upper control arms, rebuilt torque tubes, AC compressor update kits, brakes, timing belt tension gauges, tensioners that eliminate the need for timing belt tension gauges. Sharktuners and LH brain fixes, Hammer clones for diagnostics. The list goes on and on. Many we take for granted, but they really are the result of someone's ability to identify a solution and make it available for all of us to enjoy.

Ed Scherer

Bumper Plugs, let's not forget Bumper Plugs.

Seriously, what you say is true. Given the market size for 928 stuff, I'm kind of amazed that there's as much stuff being developed as there is. And it's no great surprise that there are many "business-side failures" along the way; prototyping and developing stuff is one thing; actually bringing them to market, making money, and wanting to/being able to stick with it is something entirely different.

ROG100

The 4 guage was that one of the ones designed to be fired laying on your back in a boat to take down very high flying flocks ?

The 4 was made for taking out flighting geese at 100yds +. You lead the bird about 20 yards as they fly very fast. Very satisfying experiance. Gun weighs 38 Lb and you pick it up to use it.
The punt guns were 1 gauge or bigger.
A gunsmith in the UK makes a double 1 gauge. IIRC the weight is over 50 lbs and again you pick it up to use it. Probably shoots a 1 Lb of lead in each barrel.

john gill

Does anyone know what happened to the founders of Devek ???

Can their development ideas be found on the site ??