When 7-foot-1, 325-pound Shaquille O'Neal couldn't fit into his new ground-hugging, $200,000 Lamborghini Gallardo, the former Laker center turned to an Orange County family to do a little magic.
The Gaffoglios of Fountain Valley meticulously extended the doors, roof and side windows so the towering O'Neal could drive in comfort in what is now one of the longest Lamborghinis in the world.
Bending and twisting cars into all kinds of shapes is nothing new to the Gaffoglio family. They are well known in the auto industry for rolling out eye-popping concept cars and futuristic prototypes. But now the family is looking to stretch its wings and grow in an entirely new way.
Gaffoglio Family Metalcrafters Inc., which started three decades ago as a small auto-body shop, is quietly venturing into aerospace, hoping one day its name will be as familiar to aircraft makers as it is to Detroit.
"What we do has a lot of great applications in aerospace," said George Gaffoglio, chief executive and son of the founder and family patriarch, John Gaffoglio.
The Gaffoglios are far from becoming an aerospace giant like Boeing Co. or Northrop Grumman Corp., but the family is convinced that their future lies in applying their know-how making concept cars to shaping advanced jet parts.
The family's move into aerospace illustrates how a small business can expand into unfamiliar territory without straying too far from its core competency.
The company recently secured an aerospace contract making glass windshields for Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner, the hottest-selling jet ever, at a time when the commercial aircraft industry is enjoying one of the biggest booms in decades.
Orders for large passenger airplanes -- with jets such as the Dreamliner costing about $150 million each -- are coming in at a breakneck pace.
There are about 6,000 California companies that supply parts and services to Boeing, and the majority are based in Southern California. Many firms are expecting annual growth of 20% or more over the next three to four years.
"Lots of people are short on capacity but demand is very strong. We haven't seen anything like this in 25 years," said Richard Aboulafia, aerospace analyst for Teal Group Corp.
Metalcrafters has a long history of seizing opportunities, often with uncanny timing.
Shortly after starting their automobile restoration shop in 1979 with $18,000 of family money, the Gaffoglios got a call from Chrysler.
