Painless Performance Products
51-100 Employees Category

If you think Painless Performance Products sounds like a product line for dentists, youÂ’re cruisinÂ’ down the wrong road.

Painless Performance Products is an award-winning manufacturer of automotive electrical systems and components serving the classic car, off-road and racing markets.

Just 15 years old, the company has received nine new product awards for “outstanding and innovative design achievement” by the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) and was recognized as Manufacturer of the Year in 2002 by the Performance Warehouse Association.

ThatÂ’s pretty tall cotton for an idea that started out as a simplified way to wire a street rod and has now evolved into a multi-faceted company with 66 employees and a modern 43,000-square-foot facility. Today, Painless Performance Products manufactures over 500 products.

Company president Adrian Murray admits the name Painless can be confusing, but he enjoys explaining its origin.

“Up until the company, officially named Perfect Performance Products, was launched, builders of street rods and classic cars were forced to wire their cars by buying spools of wire and following a wiring diagram – if one could be found,” said Murray. “The prospect of wiring a car was very intimidating to the average enthusiast.”

But, Murray explained, one of the company’s founders, Dennis Overholser, created a better way to wire them – complete, preassembled, color-coded wiring harnesses that would wire the entire car from headlight to taillight.

Overholser took his new product to automotive swap meets and had success selling a few. That was the beginning of what was, in 2004, a $7 million business.

The wiring harness kits were so popular that a national auto enthusiast magazine reviewed the product and installation process and proclaimed, “This is really painless wiring.”

And the name stuck.

“The next step for Painless is to be the leader in electronic fuel injection engine management,” said Murray.

But, he stressed, it is customer service that keeps Painless on top.

“We don’t sell the cheapest products out there, so we have to back up our products with excellent customer service.”