The average number of engines rebuilt by custom engine rebuilders/machine shops rose slightly in production year 1998 compared to production of engines in 1997. Machine shops rebuilt an average of 19.4 engines monthly in 1998 compared to 18.29 in 1997.
An extensive survey of machine shops located primarily in the U.S. was conducted by Automotive Rebuilder magazine earlier this year. Four different questionnaires consisting of four pages each were developed to obtain the information for this two-part series profiling the machine shop market.
Each questionnaire was mailed to one-quarter of the machine shop membership of the Engine Rebuilders Association (AERA) on a random-start "nth" name basis. A total of 3,200 questionnaires were mailed on January 15th. A follow-up mailing to non-respondents was made on February 15th. A Total of 487 completed questionnaires were returned for an effective return rate of 15%.
The purpose of our survey and market profile is to gain a better understanding of the nature of today