Starting a new business is not easy, especially in the hyper-competitive world of performance parts. In general, many new ventures of any kind don’t make it past five years. Fewer still survive a decade, but only a quarter of those have their doors open 15 years after turning the lights on.
When Jared Rosen and Jonas Cooper joined forces in forming Lethal Performance, they had no idea it would be a long haul. As the company approaches 16 years of slinging parts, the gravity of its success began to sink in.
“I had no idea,” he said. “Honestly, it wasn’t even meant to be. We got into selling car parts to make money, to do something else, but it’s just kind of grown and grown. And it was really like the last couple of years where it's finally taken off,” Jared reflected. “I never would have imagined us being where we’re at with everything we do. The amount of business we're doing, the brand recognition that we have, the support that we get from the Mustang community, the vendors that we deal, and everyone who reps us, it’s a great feeling.”
“When I left, I was working 55-60 hours a week doing programming work,” Jonas added. “When came to Lethal full-time, it was probably one of the biggest risks I've ever taken in my life.” Clearly that risk paid off, and given the fact Team Lethal beat the odds, it was definitely an occasion worth marking with a group of the people who helped make it happen. That’s just what they set out to do on December 5, 2020 with the company’s first car show.
“We’ve never really thought about doing it before. It was our 15-year anniversary last year we wanted to do a show, but we got so busy coming into 2020 so there wasn’t enough time,” Jared added. “And here we are approaching at the end of this month, 16 years in business.” The initial event at the company’s Wellington, Florida, headquarters was a huge success. Team Lethal handed out swag bags, awarded raffle prizes, and even collected toys for needy children heading into the Christmas holiday. Most of all, the show brought together like-minded enthusiasts to enjoy cars at a time when most of us needed a distraction.
With any luck it won’t be another 15 years before the Mustang King and his team host another show, but in the meantime, we documented several of our favorite machines in the show.