michigan type private industry automotive aftermarket founded detroit michigan 1959 founder kurt ziebart headquarters troy michigan united states area served global key people thomas e. wolfe president and ceo services rustproofing and automobile detailing revenue 150 million 2015 world wide dealer sales 1 number of employees 90 2 website http www.ziebart.com ziebart international corporation is a privately owned corporation based in troy michigan and is the worldwide franchisor of the ziebart brand of automotive aftermarket stores . services offered by ziebart stores include rustproofing paint sealant paint protection film automobile detailing window tinting ; and the installation of various aftermarket accessories . 2 contents 1 founder 2 history 3 advertising 4 external links 5 references founder edit kurt ziebart was the inventor of the rustproofing process for automobiles . 3 he was born on july 27 1920 4 in west prussia germany before it became part of poland . he served in the german army during world war ii . 5 in 1953 kurt ziebart became an auto mechanic before coming to the united states . he landed in detroit where he worked at a packard factory outlet that housed several auto dealerships . it was while working in a detroit body shop that ziebart saw the effects of rust and began looking for a way to protect cars against it . that is when he developed the process to rust proof automobiles . the process is often called ziebart ing or ziebart ed the generic term for rustproofing . 6 7 in 1959 he started the ziebart process company and opened the first shop bearing the proprietary ziebart name at 16135 harper avenue in detroit . 2 8 in 1963 he sold his rustproofing company to an investor group . in 1988 kurt ziebart appeared in national television commercials coinciding with his former company s 25th anniversary . kurt ziebart died at his home williamsburg michigan on september 12 2011 . he was 91 . 3 9 history edit in 1959 ziebart opened its first outlet in detroit . in 1962 ziebart s first international location was opened in windsor ontario canada . 2 10 in 1963 kurt ziebart sold his rustproofing company to an investor group led by roger waindle . waindle also acquired the right to the name ziebart which he registered with the company s trademark a helmet and shield design . waindle also acquired the right to the exclusive tooling designed by ziebart which he then miniatured for easier processing . he also patented the process . with control of the technical approach waindle then developed the franchise package including technical and marketing manuals . the company was renamed ziebart auto truck rustproofing company . by 1969 ziebart then ziebart rustproofing company had about 150 franchises in the midwest of the us and in canada . as waindle was interested in selling the company he hired e.j. hartmann as chief operating officer . hartmann was an mba graduate from the university of michigan who was recruited from shatterproof glass corporation where he was the company s controller . in 1970 hartmann acquired the controlling stock of ziebart and started an aggressive marketing program both in the usa and internationally . in 1977 ziebart introduced zee glaze a protective polymer sealant that chemically bonded to cars paint . in 1979 ziebart then ziebart international corporation acquired arndt palmer laboratories a small chemical manufacturer for car care chemicals in melvindale mi . this company was then relocated to redford mi and became the base for ziebart s manufacturing of its own rustproofing sealant a wax based petroleum product . by 1980 ziebart had increased the number of franchised locations worldwide to over 650 while at the same time doubling the retail volume of u.s. franchisees . in 1980 ziebart began to diversify its business format and its service offerings by including sunroofs running boards window tinting and other automotive accessories . in 1980 all american motors cars received a new rust proofing process called ziebart factory rust protection . this included aluminized trim screws plastic inner fender liners galvanized steel in every exterior body panel and a deep dip bath in an epoxy based primer . amc backed up the rust protection program with a 5 year no rust thru component to its comprehensive buyer protection plan . 11 in 1988 ziebart acquired the north american franchise rights for its competitor tuff kote dinol . tuff kote franchisees were subsequently converted to the ziebart brand . in 1989 ziebart acquired the tidy car automotive detailing franchise operation . the brands were merged and over 250 locations became ziebart tidy car . in 1990 ziebart had more than 1 000 locations in 40 countries and more than 100 million in worldwide dealer sales . 11 in 1995 hartmann sold the ownership to ziebart international corporation to an employee stock ownership plan esop led by thomas wolfe the then cfo . hartman then retired . in 1998 ziebart entered into a co branding agreement with speedy auto glass and began offering auto glass replacement in many of its locations . ziebart has also partnered to co brand with rhino linings usa which offers polyurethane spray on liners for truck beds . as of 2009 update there were over 400 ziebart locations in 40 countries worldwide . 2 10 in 2014 ziebart introduced a proprietary paint protection film . advertising edit ziebart grew in large part due to its successful advertising campaigns . in 1970 corporate advertising started with ziebart ads appearing in life look time newsweek and other national magazines . on radio and television don rondo sang the famous ziebart jingle it s us or rust which was written by artie fields . 12 actor malachi throne was a national television spokesman for ziebart in several advertising campaigns in the early 1970s . in 1975 twilight zone s rod serling was ziebart s spokesman in a series of television commercials 8 in 1979 actor cameron mitchell became the national spokesman for ziebart in a series of television commercials that ran for several years . 13 in 1983 radio personality russ gibb was the voice over on ziebart rust protection tv spots . in 1985 ziebart s first clio award winning tv campaign friend of the family rust in peace began running with actor andrew duggan doing the voice over . 14 in 1988 company founder kurt ziebart appeared in television commercials coinciding with its 25th anniversary . in 1997 ziebart ran an advertising campaign featuring batman s adam west as its spokesman . 11 ziebart s advertising agencies of record through the years have included meltzer aaron & lemen san francisco ca 15 ross roy detroit mi 16 simons michelson zieve troy mi 17 and doyle dane bernbach new york ny . 18 ziebart s public relations agency from 1970 through 1993 was anthony m. franco inc detroit mi . 19 external links edit ziebart franchise opportunity information at entrepreneur.com ziebart web site ziebart store in puerto rico references edit http www.ziebart.com about corporate info a b c d e http www.fundinguniverse.com company histories ziebart international corporation history a b http www.crainsdetroit.com article 20110916 free 110919928 rustproofing pioneer kurt ziebart dies at age 91 http www.tributes.com obituary show kurt ziebart 92339192 https www.facebook.com notes ziebart indonesia passing of ziebart founder 10150498845956950 http www.mlive.com auto index.ssf 2011 09 auto rust proofing pioneer kur.html http detroithistorical.org learn encyclopedia of detroit ziebart kurt a b http www.ziebart.com about corporate info about us http www.cnsnews.com news article kurt ziebart auto rust proofing pioneer dies a b archived copy . archived from the original on september 1 2009 . retrieved july 20 2009 . a b http www.encyclopedia.com topic ziebart international corp.aspx https www.youtube.com watch v ubycd84eogy http www.fuzzymemories.tv index.php c 3406 https www.youtube.com watch v mxz9hruuiww http geezersgallery.com who where http adage.com article adage encyclopedia ross roy 98858 http www.smz.com our work clients https www.google.com webhp sourceid chrome instant & ion 1 & espv 2 & ie utf 8 q doyle % 20dane % 20bernbach https www.advancedbackgroundchecks.com anthony franco 1167949892 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title ziebart & oldid 738408173 categories automotive repair shopscompanies based in troy michiganhidden categories articles containing potentially dated statements from 2009all articles containing potentially dated statements navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this 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