About Our Business
Badass Fender Covers is my baby. The idea was born 15 years ago when my husband, Shaun, was in the midst of an affair with his Buick Grand National. When you drive a Grand National people notice - no, MEN and boys notice. Women (like me) just wonder why their man is ogling a Monte Carlo.
Grand Nationals just have a following. They are cool cars. My husband, firmly enmeshed in his love affair, eventually connected with 6 other local Grand National owners. It was not uncommon for some or all of them to spend a Saturday or Sunday at one of the houses, working on one of the GNs.
It was at one of those weekend GN sessions that the idea of Badass Fender Covers was initially conceived. I had the dining room strung with fabric, patterns, and sewing machines when the guys came in looking for snacks. Shaun’s best friend, Casey, stuck his head in and started talking about how I should make them all a wrap around fender cover to use while they were working.. He went off on how great it could be and that I could do it. They all wanted one and would pay money! Casey did spark the initial seed and he has never let me forget it either.
About that same time, we bought a used boat. It was a great boat, with a great price, but it needed the seats recovered. My mom used to sew many of our clothes. I took 2 years of sewing in Jr. High - yes, back in THOSE days. My kids all got “Mama” sewn fun wear and PJs as rites of passage in our house. Why would recovering boat seats be any different? Just because I had never recovered a boat seat didn’t mean I couldn’t. I was confident. My plan was to find and buy a compound industrial walking foot sewing machine for around a grand. I would recover the seats myself and save myself the 2k it would have cost. I would actually be making MONEY off this deal! I’d have new boat seats and a NICE sewing machine - PLUS I saved the money I didn’t spend paying someone else to recover them. (My husband still doesn’t understand new math like me!)
Well, I never finished the boat seats. We eventually sold the boat and sent the extra vinyl to the new owner…..sorry! BUT, out of the sorrow of the lost seats, Badass Fender Covers was born.
We started out with just one model - the original GN. In the beginning we only sold 10-20 a year. We both worked full-time and had a house full of youngins and dogs. We would cut out the covers in the garage and I sewed in the spare room/closet. Our orders were designated as our mad money. Spring Break sales allowed us a weekend trip to Disney and Christmas sales. helped us splurge on gifts for the kids.
Eventually, my husband's affair with the GN ended. However, his love of cars and wrenching did not. With his encouragement and a lot of work, I figured out the art of creating a Badass Fender Cover pattern. A labor of love, each one of our models has been custom designed and patterned by hand. We now have over 40 models and are always looking for new models to add.
CeCe