Bill Carter’s CJ-3B

For quite some time I’ve heard rumors that eWillys was causing daily slowdowns at the ARB USA headquarters in Renton, Washington, which just happens to be down the hill from my parents’ house. Yesterday I finally got a chance to investigate the issue, thanks to an invite by Mitch Carter.

For those that don’t know, ARB was founded by Anthony Ronald Brown in Australia in the 1970s. Originally the company produced bumpers, but quickly grew through the development of other products. They also grew by purchasing additional manufacturers (air lockers, suspensions, and more) and expanded across models and years to provide a wide array of 4×4 products. They even have some portable cooler-like refrigerators made for off-road folks that will freeze food. Today ARB is the largest 4×4 distributor in Australia and the company exports products around the world.

Mitch gave me a tour of the ARB facility. Given all the equipment they handle, they need a big warehouse. This is just the front area:

Mitch showed me the ARB USA testing and repair center. He pointed out some of the finer details of their single and dual compressors.

Early in the tour Mitch introduced me to his boss Marc and his cousin Bill. All three guys conduct daily product and user research (aka they are avid readers of eWillys). Bill is so serious, he even drives his CJ-3B to work every day (well, that and his Subaru is apparently having some issues).

Bill’s 3B has an interesting story. It began as a nickel-want-ad jeep that had been hot-wired/stolen and accidentally driven over a cliff on Bainbridge Island near Seattle. As tough as jeeps can be, they were never meant to survive falls from cliffs. This 3B was no different, so Bill didn’t have much more to work with than a title. So, he combined a variety of parts into a great looking, well-built weekday driver and weekend trail jeep.

Thanks to Mitch and every at USA ARB for taking the time to visit with me and show me around!