Our History
Our company was founded in 1958 in Michigan by Lynn Steele. Originally producing gas-powered go-carts, we were known as
Spinster. Mr. Steele then combined his skills and love for cars, concentrating on manufacturing quality automotive rubber
parts. renaming the company,Tool Craft Die & Engineering and expanding the business to tool and die manufacturing.
In 1975, he moved the company to Denver, North Carolina. In the 1980's, we officially changed our name to Steele Rubber
Products, honoring the man that started it all.
The idea of manufacturing quality rubber parts did not happen overnight. As a car enthusiast, Lynn Steele was in the
midst of restoring his own 1931 twelve-cylinder Cadillac Town Sedan when he realized that he could not find the right
rubber parts for his project. Utilizing his own tool and die experience, Mr. Steele used the original weatherstrip from
his Cadillac to create detailed reproductions for his car. Once word spread about the man that created detailed rubber
reproduction parts, a business was born. Mr. Steele, his wife, and extended family hit the car swap meet circuit, selling
parts out of the back of a station wagon.
Our Philosophy
From a small business to the international company that Steele Rubber Products is today, we have not forgotten our roots.
Today, we still use Lynn Steele's proven method of manufacturing parts by hand, and developing new parts by using only
originals and detailed research. In addition, we haven't forgotten that our company was founded because we love cars.
Therefore, you will still find Steele at swap meets, car shows, and local events around the country. However, we no
longer have the station wagon. We now travel the country in a 40 ft. hauler, selling parts directly from our rolling
warehouse and meeting our customers face-to-face.
Since those first rubber parts, Steele’s technicians have designed thousands of replacement rubber parts from customers’
original seals. Every detail is scrutinized to make sure each part is an exact replica to the original and fits perfectly.
Our goal is simple: to produce the world’s largest inventory of dependable and quality rubber parts for classic cars, trucks,
muscle cars, and street rods. Steele believes it is less costly for our customers to “do it right the first time”
than to buy inferior products that won’t stand up over time or meet their high expectations.
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