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<span style="font-weight: bold">Turns out the most famous name on Canadian ice has roots in sunny Los Angeles, and is the only U.S. vehicle manufacturer gliding through the recession ... at 14 km/h</span>
<span style="font-style: italic">A newly built Zamboni is test-driven down a sunny street in a suburb of south Los Angeles, a block from the family-owned factory that still turns out the iconic ice-resurfacing machines.</span>
May 24, 2009
John Branch
NEW YORK TIMES
PARAMOUNT, Calif. – At least one well-known U.S. vehicle manufacturer is rolling out vehicles as usual. But before a Zamboni can take the ice, it hits the pavement.
The neighbours on Colorado Ave. are used to seeing one of the blocky ice-resurfacing machines rumble out of the Zamboni factory and trudge down the block – top speed: 14 km/h – past the corner KFC. It whirls back, is checked for leaks and fitted with studded tires.
Then the Zamboni is sent someplace like Dubai or Prague or Milwaukee. A handwritten tag on a string near the ignition tells where.
Zamboni may be the most famous name on ice, a pop-culture icon more recognized than Crosby or Ovechkin, probably even Gretzky or Lord Stanley, whose trophy goes to the NHL champion.
And, in this day, it may be comforting to know Frank J. Zamboni & Co., still family-owned and operated, is not asking for a government bailout.
"Not yet," Richard Zamboni, 76, company president and son of the founder, said with an easy smile.
In almost every way, Zamboni is a revered model of consistency. Its form, function and sales output – 200 to 250 of its all-in-one machines are produced each year – have barely changed in decades.
"It's kind of weird. Even people that don't know anything about the sport know the Zamboni," said Dave Schneider, a founding member of a hockey-themed band called the Zambonis.
When the company learned of the band years ago, the musicians pleaded, "Please don't make us change our name to the Ice-Resurfacing Machines," Schneider recalled. The name stayed, and a licencing agreement was struck.
After inventing his machine, Frank Zamboni, the son of Italian immigrants, wanted to name his company Paramount Engineering, to give it more credibility. But that name was taken.
Canadians, especially, are surprised to learn Frank J. Zamboni & Co. is not only American but based nowhere near naturally frozen water. The factory sits in the side-street sprawl of south Los Angeles.
When Zamboni engineers want to do some on-ice testing, a machine is driven several city blocks beneath a skyline of palm trees and fast-food signs, to the Iceland skating rink.
The original machine made by the company still sits in a far corner of the rink. "The one from 60 years ago would still make a halfway decent sheet of ice," Zamboni said. "Just not as good as the new ones."
Moving in slow ovals, the machine scrapes the rutted surface. It gathers the ice shavings and dumps them into an on-board bin using hidden augers. It spreads water with a squeegee to leave a smooth sheen on the ice.
Fans at hockey games – children and the childlike, mostly – often cheer the Zamboni when it takes the ice. They applaud precision and jeer missed spots.
On the TV sitcom Cheers, Carla's hockey-playing husband, Eddie LeBec, died when he was run over by a Zamboni. <span style="font-weight: bold">Sarah Palin said last year she always wanted to name a son Zamboni.</span>
Car and Driver recently test-drove one, finding "the vague steering is totally '70s Cadillac."
The machine came to be because the elder Zamboni, with his brother and a cousin, opened the Iceland rink in 1940. Frank Zamboni, who died in 1988, then spent much of the next decade building a contraption to eliminate the time it took crews to smooth the ice by hand.
The Model A made its debut in 1949. The rest of the fleet was numbered, in order. No. 9,056, almost built, is headed to a rink in Monterrey, Mexico.
"It's a small, family-owned business," Zamboni said. "It's got a name, but it sure has a small niche in a small industry when you get down to it."
Zambonis are custom-made, not built until the order arrives. The lead time is usually six months.
The factory has about 30 employees and produces about 100 machines a year. Each machine sells for at least $75,000 (U.S.), sometimes more.
A second factory, run by Richard Zamboni's son Frank in Brantford – Wayne Gretzky's hometown – has a similar output.
"Thirty years ago, my dad said: 'Gee, the market's saturated. We're going to run out of customers,' " Richard Zamboni said. "I don't know where that saturation point is that my dad was talking about. We're not there yet."
<span style="font-style: italic">A newly built Zamboni is test-driven down a sunny street in a suburb of south Los Angeles, a block from the family-owned factory that still turns out the iconic ice-resurfacing machines.</span>
May 24, 2009
John Branch
NEW YORK TIMES
PARAMOUNT, Calif. – At least one well-known U.S. vehicle manufacturer is rolling out vehicles as usual. But before a Zamboni can take the ice, it hits the pavement.
The neighbours on Colorado Ave. are used to seeing one of the blocky ice-resurfacing machines rumble out of the Zamboni factory and trudge down the block – top speed: 14 km/h – past the corner KFC. It whirls back, is checked for leaks and fitted with studded tires.
Then the Zamboni is sent someplace like Dubai or Prague or Milwaukee. A handwritten tag on a string near the ignition tells where.
Zamboni may be the most famous name on ice, a pop-culture icon more recognized than Crosby or Ovechkin, probably even Gretzky or Lord Stanley, whose trophy goes to the NHL champion.
And, in this day, it may be comforting to know Frank J. Zamboni & Co., still family-owned and operated, is not asking for a government bailout.
"Not yet," Richard Zamboni, 76, company president and son of the founder, said with an easy smile.
In almost every way, Zamboni is a revered model of consistency. Its form, function and sales output – 200 to 250 of its all-in-one machines are produced each year – have barely changed in decades.
"It's kind of weird. Even people that don't know anything about the sport know the Zamboni," said Dave Schneider, a founding member of a hockey-themed band called the Zambonis.
When the company learned of the band years ago, the musicians pleaded, "Please don't make us change our name to the Ice-Resurfacing Machines," Schneider recalled. The name stayed, and a licencing agreement was struck.
After inventing his machine, Frank Zamboni, the son of Italian immigrants, wanted to name his company Paramount Engineering, to give it more credibility. But that name was taken.
Canadians, especially, are surprised to learn Frank J. Zamboni & Co. is not only American but based nowhere near naturally frozen water. The factory sits in the side-street sprawl of south Los Angeles.
When Zamboni engineers want to do some on-ice testing, a machine is driven several city blocks beneath a skyline of palm trees and fast-food signs, to the Iceland skating rink.
The original machine made by the company still sits in a far corner of the rink. "The one from 60 years ago would still make a halfway decent sheet of ice," Zamboni said. "Just not as good as the new ones."
Moving in slow ovals, the machine scrapes the rutted surface. It gathers the ice shavings and dumps them into an on-board bin using hidden augers. It spreads water with a squeegee to leave a smooth sheen on the ice.
Fans at hockey games – children and the childlike, mostly – often cheer the Zamboni when it takes the ice. They applaud precision and jeer missed spots.
On the TV sitcom Cheers, Carla's hockey-playing husband, Eddie LeBec, died when he was run over by a Zamboni. <span style="font-weight: bold">Sarah Palin said last year she always wanted to name a son Zamboni.</span>
Car and Driver recently test-drove one, finding "the vague steering is totally '70s Cadillac."The machine came to be because the elder Zamboni, with his brother and a cousin, opened the Iceland rink in 1940. Frank Zamboni, who died in 1988, then spent much of the next decade building a contraption to eliminate the time it took crews to smooth the ice by hand.
The Model A made its debut in 1949. The rest of the fleet was numbered, in order. No. 9,056, almost built, is headed to a rink in Monterrey, Mexico.
"It's a small, family-owned business," Zamboni said. "It's got a name, but it sure has a small niche in a small industry when you get down to it."
Zambonis are custom-made, not built until the order arrives. The lead time is usually six months.
The factory has about 30 employees and produces about 100 machines a year. Each machine sells for at least $75,000 (U.S.), sometimes more.
A second factory, run by Richard Zamboni's son Frank in Brantford – Wayne Gretzky's hometown – has a similar output.
"Thirty years ago, my dad said: 'Gee, the market's saturated. We're going to run out of customers,' " Richard Zamboni said. "I don't know where that saturation point is that my dad was talking about. We're not there yet."
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