Some scrath notes on the back story behind the site.

We want to position ourselves as a small niche player sitting outside the shadow of MDJUAN.COM.PH. We are not trying to grow as big as them. Only to show that Ding is a craftsman who has dedicated his life to one particular flavor of cars.

The Philippines As A Jeep Culture

• American Influence - MacArthur / WW2 is strongly in the culture
• The long influence of Clarke and Subic military base and it's important role as a strategic point in the Cold War against Russia.
• Korean Air plane shot down by Russia in the 80s on it's way to the Philippines
• Jeeps handle poor roads and transports a large number of people for a small car
• The need to transports large numbers of people outweighs all of the safety features of a modern vehicle
• Simply engineered so that a large number of mechanics and support the repair work and people working with metal can patch the bodies

Ding Gloria

• His father was was a Jeep mechanic
• In the 40s, it was extraordinary to have a car. It was even more extraordinary to have the same car the U.S. soldiers drove.
• Ding was alway passionate about mechanical engineering and tried to go to school for that.
• With two daughters, Ding turned to a series of helpers to transfer his knowledge but never maintained more than 1 or two.
• A craftsman who knows every part of the WW2 Jeep inside and out and prides himself on make 'original' replicas of several jeep models.
• Has a number of clients who keep coming back to him. His parts and resstorations have been used throughout the Philippines and have been shipped as far as Japan and the United States.
• Show photos of Ding in action with the blow torch.

Mentorship

• Ding has mentored Pete and Eric
• Pete is teaching his own kids the business
• Let's make opportunities for Pete and Erc to do more work under Ding's leadership where Ding gets a fair share based on the knowledge and support he has given Pete and Eric over the years.
• Let's see if we can attract other workers to Plaridel through the efforts of the site - A Master - Apprentice relationship which will take some extra steady work to support it.

Family

• Engineering is still in the blood of the Gloria clan. However, it's mostly around computer science engineering.
• The next generation of Gloria's are scrambling to capture the legacy of Ding Gloria in web from and to think about how to keep the business going now that Ding has reached retirement age.

Customization

• Show photos of Ding vising with Daryl Bensinger. Tell a story about how they came up with a design for the seat. They wrote it on a napkin and Ding replicated it when he went back home. It let  larger Americans fit into a Jeep Willy for driving around.
• See if we can get Daryl to give a testimonial to Ding for the design.

Customer Testimonials

• See if we can get pictures from customers who own Jeeps Ding has made.
• See if they can provide some small statement about what Ding's work has meant to them.
  • Professional Philippine Tennis Player
  • Bank Owner

Tbe Long Tail

• Let's see if my friend Brian Niskala can figure out shipping.
• Can we connect to all the other folks who we would supply who also have sites.
• Can we get to know them through email correspondence when they find our site? We should have a pool of family members responding to emails we get from the site since Ding and Mauricia aren't really email people.
• We should post the answers to any questions we get as frequently asked questions. I am sure many would want to take the opportunity to ask a man who has been doing this for 50 years.
• We'll keep building this up slowly and see how far we get.
• The long tail talks about niche products that only a few people would want. When you aggregate all those people in the whole world, their actually enough of a market for someone to make a living. The challenge is getting to them and letting them know you're out there and can provide them with help that is not too complicated. It's got to be easy for them to use you.