Larry Kosilla and Ammo NYC - Drive Clean Protect

Most have already seen many of Larry's videos - they have a been a great help to the DIYer and Newbie as well as the pros - we do forget some of the basics sometimes.

His explanation of detailing processes are concise and to the point. He's also a great friend of our shop. I figured I would post his videos and some articles about him here, feel free to add here.

I will also start posting thread like this for other popular faces in the car care industry. Hope you enjoy this one.

Quick bio and some articles from various blogs and publications.

Landing a job on Wallstreet is the epitome of any economics major fresh out of college, but not for Larry Kosilla. After graduating from the University of Virginia and on to the start of his successful career in New York working on Wall street, something was lacking in his day to day grind. It all stems back from when he was in Highschool where he spent a considerable amount of time detailing people’s cars. That plus the fact that Larry Kosilla had a slight case of OCD made him a perfect candidate to start his own detailing company.

In life, it’s all about connections ( well...alot of the time) and Larry had a great connection in partnering with Matt Farah, who many car enthusiasts know for his appearances on “The Smoking Tire” and “Drive” series on Youtube. They both partnered together and started a detailing company called AMMO NYC.

The philosophy behind AMMO NYC is simple. According to Larry and found on every label of detailing product that he manufactures is the motto, “Drive then protect” His cleaning products are meant for the enthusiast who actually drives there cars. It’s pretty common for Larry to reject a client who never really drives his car and is more apt to deny someone who decides to just stick it in a museum somewhere. Add to that the fact that Larry went out of his way to research just exactly what goes into modern day detailing products and with his findings, formulated his own formulas of gentle cleaners that add “layers of protection” to ones paint.

Larry’s tutorials online have also been a great success garnering Larry millions of views (and revenue) as he details step by step the secrets to his detailing (well not all his secrets I suppose). If I could describe Larry’s detailing videos in one word, it would be passion .It’s clearly evident in his videos that he cares about how people clean there cars and wants to provide the best products and service to his clients.

Larry Kosilla truly is a car detailing enthusiast in my book and his career formula is something many people can learn from in these trying economic times. Provide a quality product, be the master of your craft and show a genuine concern for your clients.
Check out AMMO NYC's official website here: Ammonyc.com


Article pulled from http://www.examiner.com/article/larry-kossila-and-the-man-behind-ammo-nyc

 

The Story Of Larry Kosilla And His Passion For Cars
in Categories, Interviews / by David Epstein / on January 7, 2013 at 11:00 am /
Larry Kosilla cleaned cars in high school like a lot of people… he did it for the extra gas money for his car. He did it with a friend, Matt Farah, who like Kosilla, had a passion for cars. Kosilla went to college at the University of Virginia and majored in economics. Afterwards, he began his career working in NYC, like most of his classmates. But there was something lacking in his Wall Street job…something that just couldn’t replace his love for cars and his fascination with caring for them.
So to the dismay of his co-workers, Kosilla left his job to launch his own car detailing business with the help of his friend, and then business partner, Matt Farah. After a successful run together, Farah and Kosilla went their separate ways. Farah left NYC and headed to Los Angeles to pursue his career as an on-air car personality. Kosilla stayed in New York to develop one of the most prestigious car detailing companies in the country: AMMO NYC. AMMO NYC caters to clients whose collections contain some of the rarest vehicles in automotive history. Some of these cars are so rare that Kosilla cannot, and will not name them. To do so, would jeopardize his clients’ privacy and trust.

Kosilla walked away from a solid Wall Street career to get on his hands and knees cleaning road grime from Borrani wire wheels. Why? Because he says, “Every car has a unique history… and some are even documented in books or magazines that we all have read about. Getting to work on them in real life is a dream come true. I literally get to restore, maintain, and even drive pieces of automotive history. How cool is that!” Kosilla is a car guy, and like a true car enthusiast, he did what he needed to do to get his hands on the cars he loves.
After years of detailing, Kosilla became obsessed with figuring out what his detailing products were made of and how and why they worked like they did. This led Larry to work as a car-detailing consultant for a automotive-detailing manufacturer. Following this consulting assignment, Kosilla’s curiosity and determination pushed him to create his own line of product formulations. He collaborated with a team of experienced chemists and product engineers. Together, they made several unique batches of detailing products day after day—testing and re-testing Kosilla’s formulations to achieve what he describes as, “layer-ability.”. As part of his product philosophy, Kosilla added high quality ingredients (even when it meant a more expensive product). More importantly, he removed harsh chemicals that are often shown to be too aggressive and damaging to his clients’ rare and vintage cars, but are cheaper to use when manufacturing on a large scale. “Higher cost of raw materials wasn’t something I was concerned about.” Kosilla says. “At the time, I was only making small batches of my special products for myself to be used on my fleet of client cars…I never initially thought about selling it. People just kept asking what I was using, and it slowly started from there.”

With his newfound knowledge for formulating premium automotive-detailing products, Kosilla in 2012 launched a paint-regimen line of AMMO NYC, which is specifically created with the driver in mind. The regimen is based upon the concept of gently cleaning and then adding layers of protection to the paint, which provides a better looking car and also makes future washes much simpler.
Being a professional detailer, Kosilla’s propensity for OCD perfection manifests itself in the products he manufactures. Each is wrapped in beautifully designed labels that include usage directions and also small vignettes written by one his closest friends, Tad Hyde. (Hyde happens to be the original writer and brand voice of the J.Peterman Catalogue among many other beloved short stories)
Each AMMO bottle is marked with the phrase “Drive and Protect.” Yes. That’s right. He wants you to actually drive your car. Kosilla is so adamant about this that he prefers not to engage with new detailing clients who simply want their cars cleaned and then stored away never (or rarely) to be driven. Kosilla’s philosophy behind AMMO NYC puts the celebration of car culture at the center of his brand. He advocates driving your car to the fullest; and then to clean and protect it to maximize the car’s original beauty. According to Kosilla, “Cleaning your car should be part of the joy of owning it. It can also be quite relaxing, too. Sometimes it’s nice to put on my headphones after a long day of work and spend the evening detailing my own car. My wife thinks I’m crazy but I find it genuinely satisfying and relaxing.”

In 2012, Kosilla was approached by network executives at DRIVE TV (a YouTube sponsored content channel) to create a YouTube based web series focused on celebrating car culture and educating others how to detail, care for, and protect their cars. Later in 2012, Kosilla launched his first DRIVE TV show and has received hundreds of thousands of views with an average “Like” ratio of 97%, which is almost unheard-of for YouTube. You can view past episodes at the DRIVE TV Channel: Drive Clean.
During his first season of DRIVE Clean, Kosilla’s walked viewers through a range of topics, from how to properly perform a basic “Sunday Wash,” to how to remove fine paint scratches from your car’s clear-coat. As part of his detailing approach, Kosilla says, “It is important to have a nice quality detailing product; but if you aren’t properly using the product you have, it doesn’t really matter what’s in it…you could have the most amazing detailing products in the world, but if you’re not using them properly, you could potentially damage your car.”
In addition to his Drive Clean episodes, Kosilla creates and publishes a series of simplified “Ride Along” videos that feature him solving common detailing mistakes and challenges using some of his clients’ super cars. At the end of each video, Kosilla encourages viewers to post questions in the YouTube comment section, which he can then reply to and add more detail if needed. He also encourages car enthusiasts to subscribe to his AMMO NYC page on Facebook for additional car-care tips and links to relevant car culture.
In 2013, AMMO will unveil a new set of product regimens designed specifically to clean wheels and interiors (which are often the most contaminated parts of the car). He’s most excited about the new “AMMO Plum Wheel Cleaner, which is formulated to loosen stubborn dirt on wheels and tires. It’s pH balanced, meaning it’s soft and safe to use on any type of wheel and can be used safely on rubber tires.( Larry insists on systematically testing all his products in the field prior to releasing them to the public). AMMO Brute Wheel Soap is specifically designed to be used on wheels and should be used with a designated wheel-cleaning bucket (its formulation is too strong for a typical paint wash).
A limited supply of high quality brushes will also be released by AMMO this coming spring. These are designed to help loosen dirt trapped in the hard-to-reach areas in the wheels. Like all of his detailing formulations, Larry himself tested the brush design for months on end, soaking it in dirty water, banging it around to see if the handle would split or if the bristles would fall out.
Kosilla knows it’s not just about keeping cars clean. “Automobiles are works of art that are far too good to be kept indoors, treated like they belong in museums. They belong outdoors. They’re designed to be driven—hard—on the road.”
This Drive + Protect philosophy makes AMMO NYC products unique in that the products are formulated by a detailer who actually spends his days detailing cars; he then invests his income into developing new products for his clients and then gives other car enthusiasts the opportunity to use them too.
Not only are new AMMO products arriving in 2013, but the highly anticipated Season 2 of Drive Clean debuts this spring. I’m also excited to say Larry will begin contributing to Cars Always with new videos and articles that will reflect his passion for cars, which is so readily seen in every AMMO product he develops.

 

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