Hmm Iām off to LA next summer
Not sure the mrs would approve a visit though
Definitely do it! As you will see in the following photos the place is really quite small so it doesn't take up too much time!
Here is a little story, in 2004 I was 17, living near Ormskirk in Lancashire, had just passed my test and had a Polo Coupe.
I had also just got a bank card from Barclays with which is was possible to pay for stuff online. We all know that in USA they have the coolest things! I did a trial run and bought a copy of NOFX - The Decline on CD (to this day my favourite song) from Fat Wreck Chords in California and low and behold around 4 weeks later it arrived!
Full of confidence from the success of my first international business transaction I decided to go one bigger and buy a set of Moon Discs from Mooneyes for my Polo. I paid, got excited and waited. Sadly this didn't work out, around 4 weeks later the cash was back in my bank account and an email from Mooneyes was in my inbox informing me that they won't ship to Europe!
Fast forward 20 years and me and my wife were planning our California trip (based around the final concert of NOFX) when she said "Hey Rob, Moon Equipment is in LA why don't we visit?" My good lady is into space and aliens and that so I thought she was on about some kind of space company so I replied "yeah cool, what do they do?"
She gave me a look of disbelief, opened the homepage and showed me the iconic logo..... "aaahhh! You mean Mooneyes!"
So that is how we ended up going to visit Mooneyes on the 2nd day of our holiday and also how my wife now thinks she taught me what Mooneyes is!
So less chat more photos!
The above photo is me telling the Mooneyes guy the above story about my unsuccessful Moon disc purchase.
The next photos I took on a film camera.
Now a little bit of text about the visit. We visited on a Saturday so the machine shop was closed. We checked out the merchandise in the shop and bought some bits and bobs, when paying my wife asked the very friendly man behind the counter if it would be OK to have a look in the workshop. He told us to wait 5 minutes so he could close up the shop and he would show us.
The workshop is really quite small and rammed with machinery used for hand making all of their parts. Valve covers, intakes etc. Plus of course the Moon Discs! The guy who was showing us around has worked there since the 70s and does the shop, works in the workshop, drives the land speed cars. The guy does everything, so he had some amazing stories to tell!
It was an amazing experience and I would definitely recommend a visit to anybody who is in the area.
And in case you are wondering, I didn't leave with a set of Moon Discs. It was the 2nd day of a 3 week holiday and I was watching my cash!
