Armadillo Designs Aluminum Hardtop

[SierraBronco]

So I want to start this by saying I have no skin in the game here. I don’t own an Armadillo top but I do plan to purchase one in the future.



I do also have a good friend and fellow veteran that is with Armadillo as an ambassador. I can say with complete certainty and honesty that he paid for his top and he pays out of his own pocket for all his travel to and from events. This includes fuel, lodging, food etc. The time he puts into his own social media promotion (I don’t know how many followers is considered an influencer but most of us are well below 1,000 I wouldn’t consider that influencer #s) He also works for them as well in a remote role designing and testing modular components to use with the top to bring to us as end users.



Armadillo is currently a very small staffed company. The entire Armadillo staff is less than 10 people counting Fabian. That small team is working on tops daily as well as marketing their tops through events and social media. With sole intent to increase in size, hire more employees, buy more equipment and be able to get the tops out in a quicker manner.



Part of this years SEMA attendance was promoting the 4 door square and slant back top as well as the 2 door top and their modularity to potential new customers and vendors to get into a bigger facility, hire more employees and have the financial backing to do so to decrease production time and getting the end users their top in a more timely manner. Which from what I have heard was a very successful event for them.



I can understand folks frustration with a timely delivery especially following the ADV and Archetype fiascos. Meeting and personally knowing some folks from Armadillo I can say that there is absolutely no way that this is their intent.



We are in the digital age so I personally don’t see or have any issues with the Company doing their promotion and marketing through IG or Facebook because that’s what reaches the most people and they’re trying to build a company from the ground up.



I’m an old retired fart now so I’m not the go out partying type. But I don’t think we should hold a late 20 year old man or the folks he was with from Armadillo in distrust for enjoying his or their time in Vegas while there.



We also don’t know for certain that he is misusing any funds to his company from his customers. I for one am not a person that will judge a man’s integrity or character before knowing the whole truth. Maybe the Kount’s Kustom’s folks provided him/them with an experience while there for supporting the build they did that was featured in their booth. I can’t confirm that either but if we can assume one thing we can assume another.



I truly hope everyone gets their tops soon as I have seen them up close and personal and my subjective opinion is they are the best on the market for aftermarket tops.



I also hope we as a Bronco community can fully support young entrepreneurs trying to bring quality parts to the community. We do a lot of bashing these companies and hell I am guilty of that myself as I can be as impatient as anyone but I do have full trust in the folks at Armadillo based on personal interactions and a personal friendship that everyone will receive their top and this will not be another ADV scandal.

Not sure why you felt compelled to mention your prior job with the government. That means nothing as to your or anyone else's credibility. You say you won't question someone's integrity before knowing the whole truth but you start off your response expecting to have your opinion validated by stating you had employment at X. That is a contradiction.

There's no use responding any further as anything you are trying to refute (with exception of justifying all the trips due to his age. Give me a break. He took on the responsibilities. Time to put the big boy pants on) has already been addressed earlier in the thread. Words are just that-words. We have a guy in the thread that allegedly paid for his top a year ago and yet he still has no top. Show us that the product is real by getting the final product to the customers.

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[ScLeCo]

Not sure why you felt compelled to mention your prior job with the government. That means nothing as to your or anyone else's credibility. You say you won't question someone's integrity before knowing the whole truth but you start off your response expecting to have your opinion validated by stating you had employment at X. That is a contradiction.

Man don't you know veteran = magical honesty. Shit I thought everyone knew that..

 

[CarGuy]

Now i can’t get the phrase “I’m from the govt. and I’m here to help” out of my head

 

[mcinfantry]

One more time for the people in the back
I have been a cop, and am a veteran

the mystique of either oF those professions is one of the most frustrating things I see. While often quoted as some type of validation, or higher moral code and value to the opinion, work ethic or contribution to society it’s simply not automatic

what does a veteran influencer bring that a non veteran lacks?

why mention it?

I know absolute pieces of shit in both (many as a matter of fact) professions

I also know absolute phenomenal people in both professions that can do the job but are still not model people, but good at THAT job.

A highly decorated combat veteran doesn’t have to be the best husband or wife. (Also note they may not have been BEFORE COMBAT EITHER) They have to be the best person in combat. I know that’s odd for many people to follow

also you do not have to be a great engineer to come up with a new idea

you don’t have to be a good business man to be a good salesman


i only buy products from actors, actresses and sports figures. Because they too are model people. I would have mentioned politicians but we all know they are good too.

wasnt some guy that made bespoke parts a veteran? Or does that count?

 

[mack092]

One more time for the people in the back
I have been a cop, and am a veteran

the mystique of either oF those professions is one of the most frustrating things I see. While often quoted as some type of validation, or higher moral code and value to the opinion, work ethic or contribution to society it’s simply not automatic

what does a veteran influencer bring that a non veteran lacks?

why mention it?

I know absolute pieces of shit in both (many as a matter of fact) professions

I also know absolute phenomenal people in both professions that can do the job but are still not model people, but good at THAT job.

A highly decorated combat veteran doesn’t have to be the best husband or wife. (Also note they may not have been BEFORE COMBAT EITHER) They have to be the best person in combat. I know that’s odd for many people to follow

also you do not have to be a great engineer to come up with a new idea

you don’t have to be a good business man to be a good salesman


i only buy products from actors, actresses and sports figures. Because they too are model people. I would have mentioned politicians but we all know they are good too.

wasnt some guy that made bespoke parts a veteran? Or does that count?

I think the thread began with someone describing how they left their Raptor with these guys at deployment.

 

[Ninjak]

I think the thread began with someone describing how they left their Raptor with these guys at deployment.

Correct. Raptor Roach left his Raptor with them so that they could do development for the Braptor tops at the time. Part of the reason they now have the top that can fit either on a Raptor or Non Raptor Bronco.

 

[Splint3r]

Thanks to all who have had input here on both sides. Counterpoint discussion can help provide clarity as long as we focus on facts.

All appearances are that Armadillo has:

• done very well designing a desirable product. I sure want one.
• did well to get the support of a partner in Texas Fabricating Company who, according to their web site, have expertise in scaling products from concept to fulfilment.
• appear to have developed a marketing/web presence
• produced prototypes and collected orders
• proved the concept and are allegedly producing tops.

Not bad. According to the Armadillo web site, Texas Fabricating Company(Jon and Dan Parella along with COO Mike Cammack) are partners with the two young faces of the company (Sam Hunt and Fabian Araujo) and perhaps share responsibility.

Assuming they do share responsibility, what Armadillo/Texas Fabricating Company have not done well, in my opinion, is:

• their terms and conditions are shameful, even ridiculous
• as several users have posted they are just plain failing to fulfill orders in a reasonable time
• their promises keep changing
• using pre-order funds to run the business vs fulfilment of orders
• been very opaque about lead times and actual processing time
• are therefore failing business 101.

The supporters who have weighed in seem to have focused on emotional appeals. It would be nice to see some evidence that Armadillo/ Texas Fabricating Company are actually doing "the right thing". If there are others with opinions, great, happy to listen: but please back it up. If you are involved with the company, even peripherally and just lobing in opinions – then full disclosure please. If it would appease @Ninjak and @mack092 perhaps we could get a mod to help move the discussion to it's own thread. Otherwise, @Ninjak, do you have your top yet or at least tracking information? It was pictured looking pretty complete on 11/18/24 here. When you get it could you possibly measure panel thicknesses - sides, top, hatches? Baselines would be great to have and useful to the commmunity.

Full disclosure: I have no financial interest in Armadillo, Texas Fabricating Company, or any of their competitors or subsidiaries, etc... I just wanted one of their tops until I I read their terms and started to dig around and saw the erie reflections of other companies that have provided poor customer experiences.

Reasonable humans surely agree that it is of no consequence to this discussion if the owners of Armadillo/TXFabCo are veterans (thanks for your perspective @mcinfantry) or friends of veterans or friends of (insert celebrity, dignitary or religious leader here). Unless it's Bono, then you are probably ok, right? The point is that they appear to have received people's money for their startup. Why? I suspect it is all about risk, they have less, buyers have more. Simple. No banks, less of their own cash equals way less risk. I believe that they have effectively transferred their risk to their investor-customers, through pre-orders. Cool trick which is by definition not self funding or “bootstrapping” as they call it on their "About Us" page. Language is important.

Last thought for today: At this point it looks like this may take one of two paths. As I think many here hope, they will/may still scale up and deliver/continue to sell. Though that is looming less likely. Alternatively they may fail and the last orders in the queue will probably not see delivery or their money since it will most likely have been used to finance the earlier orders' production, expenses, salaries, etc. A business structure for which there is another term relating to Egyptian monuments.

 

[EasternSierra]

Excellent analysis that crystallized a lot of my not-yet-solid thoughts. Lack of communication creates an impression of something to hide, like a poor financial outlook. They need to step up credibly or more people will lose confidence in them.

 

[userdude]

This ain't like ADV until people start switching to Turn Off Road tops...

 

[Snacktime]

@Splint3r so if Texas Fabricating Company owns the equipment and the shell company Armadillo goes bankrupt what do we have?

 

[ScLeCo]

so if Texas Fabricating Company owns the equipment and the shell company Armadillo goes bankrupt what do we have?

 

[mcinfantry]

@Splint3r so if Texas Fabricating Company owns the equipment and the shell company Armadillo goes bankrupt what do we have?

Some well meaning guys that delivered some bespoke tops to some influencers and a veteran

or was it not my turn to answer

 

[Splint3r]

@mcinfantry and @ScLeCo you guys made me laugh. @Snacktime you are the OG skeptic on this thread - yeah, I read the whole thing - nice job sounding the alarm early.

Look, I like this product. I want this top and I have to stop looking at their web site and media. That Fabian seems like a nice guy and the footage has me hovering over the buy it now button. However, Broncbuster has moved away and @TheLawnDart must have either been redeployed or gracefully sauntered away from the impending lightning bolt - BTW they both have tops. Leaving poor @SierraBronco and a couple (hundred?) others on this forum a few of whom have come forward and have been riding this merry-go-round for a long time.

Still, I want to have what @Ninjak is having. That human has more positivity and faith than most. Which is to say, they have my admiration provided their positivity is not financially motivated - not questioning integrity, just qualifying my statement. I can't imagine being put off like that, so many times on the edge of "it will be there next month". I want you on my team when SHTF.

 

[Splint3r]

So to answer @Snacktime's question- don't forget, you asked:

I am not a lawyer but think there may be some recourse. On the front end, a shot at the alphabet soup like BBB and FTC might be warranted for failure to deliver. Getting more serious - if there is an actual partnership, DBA's are a little harder, but you can look at your credit card statement and talk to that bank to find out who received the payment.

I do not know about Texas law, but the company who collected the funds should be filed with the state department and they should have a tax ID (someone is collecting money so there has to be one somewhere). With the new mandatory disclosure laws on beneficial interest, anyone should be able to discover who the partners (interested parties) are and where they can be found should they wish to attempt to recover their funds. Talk to a lawyer for legal advice.

In the mean time, anyone wishing to extract themselves may want to call their bank. There are requirements and hoops through which you will need to jump but do not take the first "no" and you may be able to recover some portion or the whole amount depending on a number of factors. Some of which I have enumerated as reasons I have not yet invested. How much time/money/effort are you willing to spend? YMMV

 

[Splint3r]

But hey, who am I to say:

There is some chance they might still perform - there are pictures of tops, but those could be different shots of the same five to seven tops in that hangar on Nelius Rd. The biggest problem: young business people suffer pretty heavily from magical thinking. If you want to shake them out of that, repost this thread to your own social media accounts to spread the word and maybe they will come forward with a truthful and useful disclosure. The fact that they have not come forward and do not have a presence /have not created one on this forum is telling.

If they were to ask me, I would probably pull them aside and have a hard talk about delivering a real live disclosure of production capability with actual forecasts and plans. They need to get off the trail, stop having play time and get to work. There is no way I would have the energy to go trail riding and rock crawling with anyone if I were doing the things they should be doing to make this business happen, not now for sure. But, I am not in my 20's anymore either and did some pretty amazing things on little to no sleep for years at a time back then.

It is not too late to turn it around, but I question the intestinal fortitude (read: commitment to find/borrow the cash necessary to get this off the ground) based on the whole pre-order @ full price part of the equation that I mentioned previously.

In my opinion, the best thing they could do is either sell the designs to, or partner with, some operation like that boat company @Snacktime posted, Weldcraft Marine, or similar who has the experience, skills and equipment to do this, clearly. Maybe they could rescue Armadillo's chestnuts. Then there could be tops for everyone! ...if, you can get them made.

Forewarned is forearmed. My $0.02

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