I have had a loyal companion for the last three and one half years as I traveled the Midwest.
Named after the City at the center of the California wine industry, Napa, my companion, road in the back of my van – actually two different vehicles over the years and over a hundred thousand miles. Napa never complained about the heat or cold just sat there being beautiful.
Napa was a 3018 stainless steel undermount sink. Over the years it acquired a number of scuffs and scratches on the underside white coating.
It was abused.
I was meeting with a prospect and showed him Napa. I told him Eclipse sinks were made with better steel. Steel so good that if the sinks were scratched they could be repaired. Without hesitation he took his keys from his pocket and put several deep scratches in Napa. Deep enough that it took me several minutes to use our repair kit to completely remove the scratches.
Napa continued to travel with me for over another year. It even co-stared in several videos on the Eclipse YouTube Channel, www.youtube.com/eclipsestainless. Everyone who met Napa heard the story of the prospect who scratched it. No one was ever able to locate the scratches in Napa.
I took Napa with me with pride. But last week we parted. A fabricator had a problem. He forgot to order a 3018 sink and we were out of stock in Illinois so his sink would take a few extra days. His customer needed the sink now. I told this fabricator all I had was my three year old sample. I told him it had been with me for a long time but while the outside, that no one would see, was not like new the inside was.
We cleaned up the sink and indeed after removing some finger prints and a few minor scratches it was like new. Napa is now retired from the road to do what it was designed and built to do. It is serving a family in a granite top and years from now it will still be bright and shiny. If it could talk it might talk about its days on the road and how it appeared on video.
