Episode 070: AJ Hartman details how he transitioned from working at a body shop to manufacturing composite aero parts

Episode 070: AJ Hartman details how he transitioned from working at a body shop to manufacturing composite aero parts

 

AJ didn’t really come from an automotive enthusiast family. But when his older brother purchased a white Fox Body Mustang, AJ immediately fell in love. During high school, he began working at a collision business and began working on cars. He worked there for 6 years and picked up body work pretty quickly. After that, he got an associate’s degree in automotive technology and got a total of 8 ASE certifications. He began working at Pep Boys but quickly moved back to a collision shop. AJ purchased a house and began doing side jobs out of his garage. These side jobs kept getting bigger and bigger until he finally made the leap to make a real business out of it! His first composite part was a headlight duct for his Mustang.

One thing led to another and AJ ended up purchasing another composites business which really got the ball rolling on AJ Hartman Aero. He leveraged his experience repairing cars to begin making composite parts. His current shop is 5200 square feet with several rooms dedicated to each process of making composite parts.

Game Changing Product: Snap Cure resins that has a long pot life but cures very quickly when it reaches temperature

Software: Quickbooks

Favorite App: Facebook mostly for business purposes. Converter tool. Trig calculator

Favorite Shop Tool: 8’ x 10’ x 3’ oven

Daily driver: 2014 F150 with an Ecoboost

Future of automotive performance: Efficiency – Getting more from less. Whether it be fuel efficiency or power.

Contact Information:
Website – AJHartmanRacing.com


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