Bill Taylor Enterprises
October/30/2008 10:54
Bill Taylor checks out the latest industry news in his Mt. Pleasant MS shop. Bill is one of this year's Reunion honorees, and was kind enough to provide a tour of BTE/Memphis Performance to Muscle Car Reunion & Nostalgia Drags organizers John Troxel & Chris Schneider last week. Naturally, I invited myself along for a closer look.
Those of you that are aware of Bill's achievements will recognize that BTE is the culmination of decades of racing transmission development and drag racing expertise. Since Bill is an honoree at the upcoming Rodder's Reunion, along with his brother in-law and one-time partner Larry Coleman, it only seemed fitting to get an insiders view of how a famous Taylor prepped Powerglide and 8" race convertor are created. So when Bill provided a proper tour of his manufacturing facility and high performance warehouse to John Troxel and Chris Schneider, I just had to hitch a ride with Larry Reyes who escorted the race promoters on their visit, and was also the driver of Bill's funny cars for many years.
BTE is an interesting amalgam of technologies that provides drag racers with race winning automatic transmissions. From the remanufacturing of OEM torque converters into race ready components to the assembly of complete drag racing transmissions, The entire plant is focused on the production of high performance hardware. BTE ships products internationally, as well as serving as a provider of specialized components to BTE's own competitors within the after market industry at large. The state of the art CNC machine above is evidence of the task specific parts that are required for a durable high performance racing transmission. Just to make sure that Bill's drag racing customers are well served, the Memphis Performance arm of BTE can also provide a complete range of specialized race oriented hardware to it's customers from a variety of manufacturers.
Here, Bill explains the details of an in house tested racing Powerglide to John Troxel. This particular transmission utilizes a Dedenbear case, but BTE will soon have it's own aluminum Powerglide case available complete with an integral blow-proof scattershield.
So let this posting serve as a teaser for the upcoming reunion. Coleman & Taylor are the featured honorees for 2008 due to their long history with drag racing, and their commitment to Memphis area motorsports. However, make no mistake, neither Larry or Bill are living in the past. Both men are still very active in the automotive industry, and their enthusiasm for what they do is contagious. I don't want to reveal too much ahead of the big night, but while developing the Coleman Taylor oriented audio visual presentation for the reunion it became very obvious that these guys have done it all and the stories they can tell are endless. We should be well entertained. So make your reservations now, the reunion is only three weeks away!
LK