b'Dear Partners, Whenever an anniversary is around the corner a look in ones rearAnd this time, we did not look in our rear view mirror.SSF would go view mirror tends to bring to light revelations that could easily beontoaddBMW,Porsche,Audi,Volkswagen,SAAB,Volvo,MINI, overlooked in the pandemonium of our day-to-day activities.Its anJaguar, Land Rover and Sprinter to our line-up, each program devel-opportunity to set aside the many tasks on our daily, weekly, andoped with the same care and QE quality that we began with.evenyearlycalendar,andtakea30,000footglancebackonthe accomplishments earned over decades in business. And today, we are thrilled to celebrate SSFs 45th anniversary, and wed like to memorialize this eventwith this special edition of Auto-This year, SSF will celebrate its 45th anniversary in the automotiveFocus with a concentration on Mercedes-Benz;our \x1frst carline, and Aftermarket industry, opening our doors in 1976.Coincidently, that\x1fttingly, Sprinter, our latest carline. was the same year that Genentech, our prominent South San Francis-co neighbor, and Apple Computer, headquartered just a few minutesThe SSF Team is excited to continue our journey with you and this to our south, were founded.At their start these three companies hadbeacon of automotive ingenuity in the years to come. If it holds true only proximity to each other in common, however, a review of thethat history repeats, then the year 1976 may hold some interesting last 45 years operating in our respective industries reveals severalhints. After the stock market grew by 38.82% in 1976 and 17.86% in signi\x1fcant commonalities between us;a core principle of quality, the1976 the Dow Jones closed the year at a whopping 1,004 points. ability to seek and execute advancements, and a drive to diligentlySurely, the drop in the market in the two years following was consid-support a consumerbase that values its products and services - andered proof that the markets had no more room to grow and anyone earns their trust. fantasizing of the Dow being at 34,000 in some distant future consid-ered lunatic. A lesson to learn - never underestimate the potential of Atourstart,SSFsproductsandservicesweredirectedmainlyour future and our industry. towardsMercedes-Benzdealerships.Quicklygaininginmarket shareandhappyto\x1fndanykindofreliablepartssupply,theseWishing you a lively summer!dealers welcomed SSF as a critical piece of their supply chain.(The terms market share and supply chain would follow some yearsYours, later)Soon after, realizing that an ingenious automotive Aftermarket was in the making and sensing a coming American movement away fromThomas Beer, CEOdomestic brands, SSF shifted gears and began selling to independent repair shops specializing in European vehicles.'