THE AUTOEXTREMIST INTERVIEW: AL CANTARA - THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE ANOMOLY.

By Peter M. DeLorenzo

Editor’s Note: Peter has been trying to get this interview for years, and with the forced downtime due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the window of opportunity to get this “get” with the reclusive Mr. Cantara finally presented itself. This interview was conducted in secrecy from an undisclosed location using Zoom, with all current social distancing protocols observed. -WG

Detroit. As anyone in the automobile industry knows, “Alcantara” is the brand name given to a commonly used synthetic textile material that’s known for its soft, suede-like microfiber pile. Famous for its durability, Alcantara is often used in automotive applications – especially in high-performance luxury automobiles – as a substitute for leather and vinyl, but it also has applications in the design, fashion, consumer electronics and marine and aviation industries.

Some versions are even designated as flame retardant in order to meet certain fire standards for both furnishings and automotive applications, including seats made for F1 racing cars.

As the “official” story goes, Alcantara was developed in the early 70s by Miyoshi Okamoto, a scientist working for the Japanese chemical company Toray Industries. It was based on the same technology as another product from the same company named Ultrasuede. Shortly after, a joint venture between Italian chemical company ENI and Toray formed Alcantara SpA in order to manufacture and distribute the material. That company is now owned by Toray and Mitsui. 

According to Wikipedia, Alcantara is “produced by combining an advanced spinning process (producing very low denier bicomponent ‘islands-in-the-sea fiber’) and chemical and textile production processes (needle punching, buffing, impregnation, extraction, finishing, dyeing, etc.), which interact with each other.”

Again, this is the “official,” well-documented description of how Alcantara came to be, but I often suspected that there was more to this story. Much more. And as it turns out, I was right.

I stumbled upon the “Alcantara” story through my dealings with Mr. James “Jimmy” Fu, (now 72), and Mr. S.L. “Sonny” King, (now 70). As longtime AE readers may recall, the two figures had operated in the shadows of the burgeoning Chinese industrial machine for years. Mr. Fu started manufacturing model cars in the late 70s, and it has now been confirmed that he controls every toy making concern in China through a labyrinthian network of mom-and-pop factories and several other large conglomerates that he lords over. Mr. King became partners with Mr. Fu after initially supplying the elaborate wheels and carefully detailed tires on Mr. Fu's model cars. The two have been partners for going on more than four decades now.

I first got to know Mr. Fu and Mr. King after they approached me at the Los Angeles Auto Show one year. Apparently, they had stumbled upon Autoextremist.com after they first became familiar with the Internet, and they regaled me with the fact that they both learned English by having my ‘Rants’ columns translated for them. When I first met them, it turned into an uproarious encounter as they blurted out some of my patented phrases that they had learned phonetically, like 'notgonnahappen.com' 'halle-frickin'-luja,' and 'the Answer to the Question that Absolutely No One is Asking.' 

Mr. Fu and Mr. King have remained in close contact with me ever since. In fact, I am still working with them on their latest projects at Fu-King Motors, which include a six-wheeled, all-electric, giant SUV (Jimmy has code-named the project ‘Godzilla’), a high-performance, hydrogen fuel cell-powered supercar (Sonny says that it will be ‘better than McLaren for 1/3 the price!’) and an all-electric semitruck that looks eerily like the Bison advanced long-haul trucking concept that GM Styling created for the 1964 World’s Fair.

As I’ve gotten to know Jimmy and Sonny, their frenetic pace and boundless energy never cease to amaze me. The calls I receive at 3:00 p.m. my time are usually booze-filled stream-of-consciousness skype rants by Jimmy with Sonny yelling things over his shoulder, accompanied by stylish model types dancing to disco music in the background at their secretive Shanghai lair. And their appetites are even more boundless. In fact, Jimmy is still fond of aspiring female pop stars, while Jimmy is a very generous sponsor of a female gymnastic academy. Fast American muscle cars are overflowing in their underground garage, which is an enthusiasts’ cornucopia of greatest hits, including three Purple Dodge Demons (each modified to deliver 1000HP), two original “narrow-hipped” 427 street Cobras, matching L88 Corvettes (with two new C8s on order) and a couple of specially-built Gasser replicas from the 60s, reserved for terrorizing the neighbors in the middle of the night). Knob Creek Kentucky Straight Bourbon is still their drink of choice, and they absolutely love their twin Gulfstream G650s (Jimmy’s is Jet Black; Sonny’s is Chaparral White).

Despite all of this flamboyance, Mr. Fu and Mr. King nonetheless pride themselves on avoiding the limelight. And over the years I’ve seen an introspective side to them too. In fact, it was one of those introspective nights - albeit after two bottles of Knob Creek were consumed between the three of us - that the real story of Al Cantara was revealed. 

It turns out that one day back in 1971, a young salesman by the name of Al Cantara was granted an appointment with Jimmy and Sonny in their 30’ x 30’ office (they sit on opposite sides of a giant, Pentagon-shaped desk and yell over the phone and at each other all day long). The man got the invite by promising Sonny that he had a “breakthrough” fabric design that would be perfect to line the specially-built cases for their most expensive models. When the man arrived, it was clear that he was very young. In fact, he was a fresh, high school graduate from Sherman Oaks, California. Jimmy told me that night that “after fifteen minutes of this kid showing us his stuff, Sonny and I looked at each other and yelled ‘Deal!’ at the same time."

The problem, Jimmy, said, slurring his words, is that the kid didn’t have a clue as to how to ramp up to make a quantity of the stuff, so, “We helped him!” Sonny and Jimmy said in unison, which they often do. “We loved his mouse fur!” From then on, Al - with Jimmy and Sonny’s support and tutelage - became known as the father of an invented fabric that achieved recognition far and wide literally overnight. It was then that Jimmy and Sonny made Al a deal that would make him a very rich man. The problem was that when Al signed the deal, even though he got 20 percent of everything in perpetuity, he also signed over all rights to the fabric, which would be named, in tribute to him “Alcantara.”

You know where this is going, of course. Al became disenchanted with the constant grind of partying and the yelling – always the yelling – and went back to the U.S., never to be seen again. Jimmy and Sonny say that they continued to make deal after deal for the fabric, and that Al gets electronic direct deposits in the multi-millions every year, which are sent to a bank in the Cayman Islands.

But I digress. I have been enchanted and intrigued with this story ever since, and part of my deal with Fu-King Motors is that Jimmy and Sonny would help me track down “Al Cantara.” 

And so, here we are.

After a series of unanswered emails, cryptic texts, and four years of delaying, denying, endless obfuscation, and much pleading – I suspect Jimmy and Sonny sent him a special “gift” – Al Cantara finally agreed to sit down to a Zoom interview from an undisclosed location. 

When the video first came up, I could see that Al wasn’t going to fully reveal himself to me, so though I had to peer through the darkness and occasional revealing shards of light, I got a picture of a burly guy with a full beard and longish hair, sort of like Francis Ford Coppola, circa 1980. 

I can’t say that he was all that cordial, but he seemed to warm up a little as time wore on.

Autoextremist: Thank you for doing this Mr. Cantara; I know you were very reluctant to talk to me…

Al Cantara: Yeah, whatever; I decided it was time to clear the air a little bit.

AE: Your story has fascinated me for a long time now. And when Jimmy and Sonny told me how it all came about, I was even more intrigued. Did you really develop your fabric in your parent’s garage?

AC: I did. I was a real nerd in high school, but I was really interested in chemistry and physics. My girlfriend was a real nerd, too, and she was lamenting the fact that she had to get some sort of dress to wear to our senior prom. I, for some reason, had been trying to invent a sweat band for the tennis team, which I was on. And after months of experimentation, I came up with this fabric that was unlike anything I had ever seen anywhere else. But I also thought I was just a kid with warped dreams, and I didn’t really think much of it beyond that. But my girlfriend loved it enough, and we found a seamstress who turned it into a pretty attractive dress.

AE: Where is that girlfriend now, do you know?

AC: Last I heard she was a bigwig at Microsoft, but we lost touch with each other a long time ago.

AE: What possessed you to go to China and cold-call Jimmy and Sonny?

AC: I was a pretty accomplished model car builder in high school, and I developed a pretty good business selling my completed models. People were paying serious dollars for my work, and by the time I went to Stanford I had $50,000 in the bank. I had researched all of the manufacturers of model kits, but the one frustration for me is that I had to build special crates for my models so they could be shipped and delivered. That’s when I started experimenting with finding a fabric that I could line my model crates with. It was during this time that I discovered Fu-King Industries, and I just felt compelled to go meet those guys.

AE: What was it like when you first met them? 

AC: Man, it was frickin’ wild. I mean I was barely eighteen and these guys were like aliens from a different planet. I remember that they had a very young – and hot – translator there and she could barely keep up with their yelling, but we established a rapport pretty quickly. I guess they appreciated the balls it took for me to get myself to China and track them down.

AE: It must have been a heady time.

AC: It was flat-out crazy town. Those guys have hearts of gold, but the frenetic pace was stupefying. But I learned so much from them. It was the best time of my life.

AE: Yet, you had a falling out? 

AC: Not initially. I mean the deal I signed was for $2 million – in cash – plus 20 percent of everything after that. I thought they were crazy to pay me that much, because how many model boxes could they sell? But what they did after that with “Alcantara” is just amazing. If anything, I was just mad at myself for not having the vision that they did. I’ve mellowed quite a bit, which is why I decided to do this interview. I mean Jimmy and Sonny have made me a very rich man, and in retrospect, it’s hard to be mad at them. In fact, because of your persistence, we’ve resumed communicating, and I must say the late-night drinking – and yelling sessions – are something I now very much look forward to. 

AE: So, I have to ask, do you have anything with “Alcantara” in it, by any chance?

AC: As a matter of fact, I do. I have a 2019 Porsche 911 RS in Purple - in honor of the boys - and every time I grip that “Alcantara” steering wheel I get a big smile on my face.

AE: Well, on that note, I am glad things have come full circle for you, and I am glad you’ve gotten reacquainted with Jimmy and Sonny. They’re worth staying in touch with. And thank you again for agreeing to do this interview. I’m sure our readers will appreciate the rest of the story.

AC: Thank you for being persistent. I am in a much better place now and you’re responsible for that. So, stay safe up there and be well in these difficult times.

And that’s the High-Octane Truth for this first day of April.