1979-1982
Martin Beckenbach began operating a small shop producing cut and sewn automotive products and custom climbing and flying harnesses. Began operations of a small automotive trim shop in Pennsylvania and began producing interior products for Mustangs, Chevelles and Camaros. Acquired numerous General Motors patterns and all Ford Mustang patterns.
1982-1983
Relocated to Macedon, New York. Began directing efforts full time to automotive interior soft trim manufacturing.
1984
The concept of Legendary Auto Interiors was started. Due to the need and demand for high quality soft trim products for Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth, efforts were changed and focused from Mustang and Chevelle interiors to supply this ever increasing demand for Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth soft trim products to the market place.
1985
Legendary Auto Interiors Ltd. is incorporated. Continue to grow Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth lines and expanded business in the next coming years. Company has 6 full time team members.
1986-1989
Legendary continues to grow and introduces many new Chryler, Dodge and Plymouth patterns weekly. Company is now employing 20 full time team members.
1990-1994
Constructed a New 12,000 square foot facility and moved to Newark, New York. Continue to supply the ever increasing demand and growth of the Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth soft trim market. Legendary introduces some Buick Skylark and GS soft trim products in early 1991 and continues into mid 90’s. Company is now employing 25 full time team members.
1995
Legendary is hired to provide interiors in (4) 1971 Plymouth ‘Cuda convertible film cars for the upcoming 2006 police drama television show “Nash Bridges”. Expanded operations with the acquisition of additional 14,000 square feet of manufacturing and storage space. Operation square footage now totaling 26,000 sq feet. Legendary concentrates on completing the Buick Skylark and GS soft trim product line and further expands Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth lines. Staff increased to 32 full time team members.
1996-1997
Develops full line of “Custom Vintage” floormats and continues to expand further into the floormat line. Developed and Patented its exclusive “Sure-Grip Anti-Skid Backing” for the “Custom Vintage” floormat line. An industry first! Legendary is hired to provide interiors in (5) 1970 Dodge Challenger R/Ts for the 1997 television remake of the 1971 cult film “Vanishing Point”.
1998
Legendary brings 1968-74 AMC Javelin and AMX soft trim products to the marketplace. National judges endorse the Legendary product line. Products become the industry standard for AMC interior restoration. The company supports 45 full time team members.
1999-2001
Legendary continues to fill out all of its Chrysler and AMC product lines and begins to heavily expand into General Motors product lines. Legendary becomes the industry leader for its Chrysler, AMC and Buick Skylark/GS interior soft trim products. Legendary is hired to provide interiors for the 2001 movie “The Fast and The Furious”.
2002
Legendary brings 1964-72 Oldsmobile F-85, Cutlass, Cutlass S, Cutlass Supreme and 442 soft trim products to the marketplace. National judges endorse the Legendary product line. Products become industry standard for Oldsmobile interior restoration. Legendary is hired to provide interiors for the upcoming 2003 movie “2 Fast 2 Furious”. Automated CNC cutting is introduced to company manufacturing. The company supports 54 full time team members.
2004
Legendary brings 1964-72 Pontiac GTO, Lemans and Tempest soft trim products to the marketplace. National Judges endorse the Legendary product line. Products become the industry standard for Pontiac interior restoration. Legendary is hired to supply interiors for all (26) Dodge Charger stunt cars used in the making of the 2005 hit movie “The Dukes of Hazzard”. Small 1,000 sq ft addition added to facility for a total of 27,000 square foot. The company is supported by 82 full time team members.
2006
Legendary brings 1964-72 Chevelle, Malibu, and El Camino soft trim products to the marketplace. National Judges endorse the Legendary product line. Products become the industry standard for Chevrolet, Chevelle, Malibu and El Camino interior restoration. Legendary hired to provide interior for the 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T to be used in the making of the 2007 movie “The Bucket List”. Begins systematic upgrades of all tooling in an effort to further increase quality of all product lines. Full time team members grow to 84.
2007
Legendary provides the industry with the FIRST and ONLY “Lifetime Warranty” for all Legendary Auto Interiors, Ltd. manufactured products. The release of “LegendImagery” is first introduced to the industry. This proprietary process provides the most flexibility, cost effective and unique custom interiors available to the RESTO MOD market. Legendary releases a basic “Custom Design Center” for its molded Custom Vintage floor mat line. Customers may create their own Custom Vintage floor mats online. Begins the development of metal upper rails for all 1968-72 General Motors A-body pre-assembled door panels and rear panels. Waterjet cutting technology is introduced to company manufacturing production processes.
2008
Increased efficiencies in manufacturing processes, equipment and procedures leads to significant reduction in lead times. Continued expansion in the development of OEM materials never before offered in the marketpalce for both Chrysler and General Motors. Using the only NOS material known in existance, Legendary develops the highly sought after “Gator” grain vinyl top material used on 1970 Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth models. 1968-72 General Motors A-body pre-assembled door panels are introduced with “as orignial” correct metal upper rails. 1970 Rebel “Machine” interiors are developed for the AMC market. Full time team members at 76.
2009
Legendary brings 1967-69 Camaro soft trim products to the marketplace including exact reproduction Houndstooth cloth. The highly anticipated 1968-70 Dodge Charger upper door pads project begins. Increased demand for General Motors soft trim products and the further expansion of Chrysler and AMC products requires and provides for an additional new 20,000 sq ft manufacturing facility and the renovation of other 13,000 sq ft areas. Legendary operations are now totaling in access of 44,000 sq ft. Further expansion into various CNC cutting processes, and material handling equipment and establishment of a full In house machine shop operation.
2010
Legendary brings Monte Carlo soft trim products to the marketplace. Awarded a “Best New Product” at the SEMA convention for its 1968-70 Dodge Charger upper door pads. Continuation of its Camaro line is expanded into 1970-1981 interiors. In addition, the development of 1967-81 Firebird and Trans Am soft trim products begins. Establishes TV relationship with the show “Chop, Cut, Rebuild”. First episode aired in December. Further episodes air throughout 2011.
2011
Legendary preparing for the release of its General Motors F- Body 1967-81 Firebird/Trans Am and 1970-81 Camaro soft trim products. Releases real Levant grain fitted vinyl tops for 1964-72 General Motors A-Body models. 1969 SC/Rambler interiors are developed for the AMC market. Opens the in-house trim shop where complete interior restoration services are available. Continuing relationship with “Chop, Cut, Rebuild”. Building relationships with the Discovery Channel and their television show “Desert Car Kings” by providing many original interiors.
2012
Legendary completes all 1967-81 Camaro and Firebird product lines and soft trim accessories. Products become the industry standard for General Motors F-Body interior restoration. Introduces many new styles of General Motors A-body and F-body door panel metal uppers for pre-assembled panels. Introduces 1963-65 Chrysler door panel metal uppers for pre-assembled door panels. The development of the 1966-72 General Motors and 1966-69 Chrysler Rallye sport seating systems is introduced to the industry. 1971-74 Gremlin, Hornet, Matador and Ambassador interiors are also added to the AMC product line.
2013
Legendary patents its General Motors and Chrysler Rallye sport seating systems. A first for the industry! A complete makeover of the website is completed and a full service Sample Request Center is made available, another first for the industry! Plans to release a Custom Design Center within the Second quarter. Legendary introduces metal upper rails for 1970-81 Camaro and Firebird/Trans Am pre-assembled door panels.
2014
Expansion and tooling upgrades for the Custom Vintage Floormat line begins. Legendary adds an additional 200+ licensed General Motors and Chrysler logos to its “Custom Vintage” floormat line making them the most diversified in the industry. Plans for a Chevrolet Nova line take place and some of the first Nova interiors are released later in the year. Building relationships with the Velocity Channel and their television show “Graveyard Cars” by providing many original interiors.
2015
Branded with the Legendary Auto Interiors, Ltd. name and components, the industry is given the most accurate flooring carpet ever offered. Expands into reproducing more cloth with the development of Hobnail and Lombardy for 1977-81 General Motors F-Body cloth interiors. Further expands on its Chevrolet Nova soft trim line. Services the Mercury hobbyists by manufacturing real Levant grain fitted vinyl tops for 1967-73 Cougar models. Continuing relationship with “Graveyard Cars”.
2016
>FlexTread LLC, an expansion company of Legendary Auto Interiors is founded with a mission to develop a floormat that could be used every day, in almost any vehicle, that could take the abuse they were designed for without sacrificing durability; mats that had style, uniqueness, and would appeal to consumers passions. Deep tread profiling to create scenery as well as developing true camouflage floormats for current Chevrolet, Ford, Ram trucks and Jeep. With the addition of Flextread, Legendary brings a sheet extrusion line in-house to begin restoration of the equipment.
2017
Legendary expands its line of molded bucket seat foam kits for the Mopar and AMC industry which includes 1970 Dodge Charger, 1971-74 Mopar B-Body, 1973-76 Mopar A-Body and 1970-72 AMC AMX/Javelin. For General Motors, Legendary develops original equipment metal stamped rails allowing us to offer pre-assembled hardtop rear panels to go hand in hand with our already offered pre-assembled front door panels for 1968-69 Firebird/Trans Am and Camaro models. Flextread and Legendary continue the restoration of its new sheet extrusion line.
2018-2019
Legendary continues to expand the molded bucket seat foam line by adding 1973-74 Mopar E-Body. Expansion of our Newly designed Custom Vintage Floormat lines (Next Generation) for 1962-65 Dodge/Plymouth B-body models and 1963-66 Dodge/Plymouth A-Body models featuring 40+ newly licensed Chrysler logos from that era. Original reproduction 1964-72 Pontiac "arrowhead" floormats are developed for all models and offered in 15 different colors! Flextread and Legendary starts producing its own floormat material in-house.
2020
The world shuts down. Countries seal borders, sports teams cancel seasons, schools close, and non-essential companies are shut down and forced to send employees home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Legendary Auto Interiors is considered non-essential and shut down for 11 weeks. Legendary reaches out to NYS and our country offering our cut/sew capabilities to manufacture masks but continues to be shut down by New York State. After almost 4 months Legendary is nearly back to full staff as states "reopen" in different phases, but supply chain issues across the nation begin to unfold.
2021-2022
Demand for Legendary quality surges during the global coronavirus pandemic years. On the supply side, disrupted supply chains falter creating shortages in a wide array of raw goods. Legendary expands by introducing (3) new pieces of equipment to help streamline production in its Newark, New York, manufacturing facility.
2023
Legendary branches outside of its well-known vinyl soft trim manufacturing to develop factory-correct reproduction seat spring assembly kits for most 1962-1976 Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth A, B, C and E-Body models and 1968-69 AMC AMX/Javelin.
ADDITIONAL IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Legendary supports an internal full time Connect & Development Department and Technical Support Department.
Legendary introduces annually 50-100 new products per year that are Made in the USA!!
Legendary Interiors have complimented many television shows such as: Chop Cut Rebuild, Desert Car Kings, Graveyard Cars, Hot Rod TV, Ride Makers, Home Delivery and Nash Bridges.
Interiors have been seen and used in many movies such as: The Fast and The Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Tommy Boy, The Dukes Of Hazzard and Vanishing Point
Professional Affiliations
- SEMA and ARMO
- New York State Business Council, Wayne County Business Council, New York State Chamber of Commerce, Newark Chamber of Commerce and supports other local educational organizations and charities.
- Legendary hosts its annual car and bike show where all proceeds benefit a local or national charity.