RALLY-winning cars from the US to Africa have worn Drummond shock absorbers, but the Wodonga product's end has come.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Manufacture of the parts stopped on Friday at Drummond Motor Sport's Reid Street factory after 32 years.
Owner Jamie Drummond began the business in 1985 after having been a suspension engineer for Nissan motorsport and helping top rallying and touring cars driver George Fury.
Initially he was fitting out cars before deciding to make shockers after being disappointed with the standard of absorbers he was using.
"I've designed three world-class shock absorbers - the Drummond liquid cool shock absorber, the Drummond 60 millimetre and the Drummond 50 millimetre," Mr Drummond said.
"We've won Asia-Pacific championships with Ross Dunkerton and Mitsubishi, won Australian championships with George, Michael Guest, Murray Coote, Cody Crocker and Ed Ordynski, won seven Canadian championships, two North American championships and I think we've won three Irish championships.
"We've won championships in Japan, Spain and some African countries like Kenya."
But Mr Drummond, whose wife Yvonne has worked alongside him in the office and whose son Trevor began as an apprentice in 1996, said it was time to retire.
"I've had enough, I've been doing it for 44 years," he said.
"Yvonne and I have got to live our lives a bit."
Mr Drummond said he looked to sell the business, but potential purchasers had wanted him to have some involvement for up to five years "so why retire".
Milling equipment has been sold to Wangaratta plane restoration firm Precision Aerospace and Trevor Drummond will work there en route to his goal of being a professional firefighter.
At its height Drummond Motor Sport employed 12 and exported to 30 countries.
Jamie Drummond said the advent of internet sales "saved our backsides a couple of times".
He said the global financial crisis caused 12 satellite dealers in North America to go broke and cut sales in half but the web allowed new markets to be found.
Trevor Drummond said that his father's success was tied to his management approach.
"Having a great team of people, who he could trust, meant he could pretty much do anything," he said.
"He could go away and we could run the factory for him and he was willing to teach everyone."
The intellectual property for the Drummond shock absorbers is likely to be bought by a US manufacturer.
Jamie Drummond will still do some servicing from Reid Street and plans to use his retirement to build hot rods and FJ Holdens for shows as well as travel with Yvonne.
