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Coffman's

Exhaust business: a Jet Ski pipe classified under the name Coffman's ran in Cycle News in 1982 and 1983; the magazine named Gary Coffman owner of Coffman's Exhaust Systems in 1992 (read as one business).

• a year printed above a fact on this page
• a year printed above no fact

Printed above the facts, 1982, 1983, 1990, 1992 and 2021. Printed above none, 1984 to 1989, 1991 and 1993 to 2020. 1 fact has no year printed above it and marks no box.

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What it made and sold

1982 and 1983 · Likely

A classified advertisement placed under the name Coffman's offered new dual Jet Ski pipes, water jacketed to meet racing rules, in 88 of the 95 issues of Cycle News from 13 January 1982 to 19 October 1983 that the archive read, from an address in Huntington Beach, California. The issue of 9 June 1982 also carries two other Coffman's advertisements, for a Suzuki RM250Z motorcycle pipe and an ATC 250R pipe. What the pipes did is the advertiser's word. Joining that advertiser to the business of the 1992 line is the archive's inference, from the name and the goods.

Sources: Cycle News Coffman's Jet Ski ads; Cycle News 9 June 1982

Likely

A Factory Pipe Products flyer, dated by the Internet Archive to 1990, names Coffman among the makers of aftermarket short-body watercraft pipes that its silencer is said to fit. Reading that Coffman as this business rests on the name and the goods and is the archive's inference.

Sources: Factory Pipe flyer 1990

Patents and trademarks

2021 · Likely

An application for the mark COFFMAN'S EXHAUST, filed on 22 November 2021 for exhaust mufflers, silencers, pipes, systems and tips and naming no watercraft, gives its owner as Coffman, Gary E, typed as a California corporation. It was abandoned in 2023 and never registered. The applicant claims first use on 1 January 1980. The archive infers that the application and the 1992 line concern one business, from the full name and the goods.

Sources: USPTO record serial 97137167; Cycle News 25 November 1992

The business on record

1990 · Likely

A news item in Cycle News of 4 April 1990 reports that Coffman's Custom Exhaust Systems moved to a new facility in Ukiah, California. The item names no person. Reading it as the same business as the Coffman's of the 1982 advertisements, or as the Coffman's Exhaust Systems of 1992, is the archive's inference from the name and the goods.

Sources: Cycle News 4 April 1990

1992 · Likely

Cycle News of 25 November 1992 calls Gary Coffman the owner of Coffman's Exhaust Systems, in a line of its people-news column.

Sources: Cycle News 25 November 1992

Names as printed

Coffman (Factory Pipe flyer 1990); Coffman's Custom Exhaust Systems (Cycle News 4 April 1990); Coffman's Exhaust Systems (Cycle News 25 November 1992)

Elsewhere in the archive

• History chapter: The aftermarket: exhaust pipes and engine parts
• Era: The early years, in print
• Era: The makers and their machines

What the archive has not read (4)

• No independent document says who founded Coffman's or when; the company's own history page of 2001, which the archive does not hold, gives an account with a first claim that is not printed here (searched the archive's mirror and research cache, 2026-10-16).
• No held document joins the Huntington Beach advertiser of 1982 and 1983 to the business that moved to Ukiah in 1990 except the name and the goods. A 1981 classified, which the archive does not hold, names a person beside the Huntington Beach number; it is not used here (searched the archive's mirror and research cache, 2026-10-16).
• After the issue of 19 October 1983 the archive's reading of Cycle News found no Coffman's advertisement that names a Jet Ski; those of 1983 to 1986 are for ATV, ATC and motorcycle pipes (Cycle News texts of 1982 to 1992, searched 2026-10-07).
• Neither the 1996 nor the 1998 edition of Bombardier's Sea-Doo Racing Handbook lists Coffman's among its aftermarket manufacturers (both texts searched 2026-10-16).

Documents cited on this page

• Cycle News 25 November 1992 (archive.org): Cycle News, 25 November 1992 (archive.org OCR, excerpt: people-news line naming Gary Coffman as owner of Coffman's Exhaust Systems), Cycle News, issue held by the Internet Archive, 1992-11-25; enthusiast media, medium. A short line in the magazine's people-news column that calls Gary Coffman the owner of Coffman's Exhaust Systems. Only the owner phrase is kept; the rest of the line is removed from the held copy and nothing from it is used. Medium as a period magazine for the owner phrase.
• Cycle News Coffman's Jet Ski ads (archive.org): Cycle News, 13 January 1982 to 19 October 1983: Coffman's classified advertisement for Jet Ski pipes (archive.org OCR excerpts, 88 issues), Cycle News, issues held by the Internet Archive, 1982-01-13; enthusiast media, medium. One line per issue for 88 of the 95 held issues in the span, each the OCR text of a classified advertisement placed under Coffman's name that offers new dual Jet Ski pipes. The OCR prints the heading Jet Skis above it in the first 30 lines only (13 January to 4 August 1982). Medium as period advertisements for what they show the advertiser sold and under what name; the horsepower and racing-rule claims are the advertiser's and are not used. The advertisements name no person. Addresses, phone numbers and OCR address fragments are replaced in the held copy, and the header lists the seven held issues in the span that print no match.
• Cycle News 9 June 1982 (archive.org): Cycle News, 9 June 1982 (archive.org OCR excerpt: Coffman's classified advertisements), Cycle News, issue held by the Internet Archive, 1982-06-09; enthusiast media, medium. Two classified advertisements from the issue of 9 June 1982 placed by Coffman's of Huntington Beach, California, for pipes for a Suzuki motorcycle and an ATC. Medium as period advertisements for what they show the advertiser sold in that issue; neither names a watercraft. The private classifieds between the two were dropped, and the street address and phone numbers are replaced in the held copy.
• Factory Pipe flyer 1990 (archive.org): Factory Pipe Products, Pipe Dream (promotional flyer, 1990; archive.org OCR), Factory Pipe Products, held by the Internet Archive, 1990; manufacturer primary, medium. A promotional flyer, undated in its text but quoting magazine tests of July and August 1990, for a Kawasaki 550 pipe and a silencer. Its fitment line names aftermarket pipe makers by brand. Medium for what the advertisement prints, including the brand names; its performance claims and testimonials are the company's and are not used. The OCR is partly broken and the phone numbers are replaced in the held copy.
• USPTO record serial 97137167 (tsdr.uspto.gov): Trademark Status and Document Retrieval record, serial 97137167 (COFFMAN'S EXHAUST, application abandoned), United States Patent and Trademark Office, 2021-11-22; government, high. COFFMAN'S EXHAUST in standard characters, filed 22 November 2021 for exhaust mufflers, silencers, exhaust pipe, exhaust systems and exhaust tips (the goods do not name watercraft), abandoned on 2 March 2023 for failure to respond to an Office action; it never registered. The owner is printed as Coffman, Gary E, with the entity typed as a corporation organised in California. The application claims first use and use in commerce on 1 January 1980, which is the applicant's own claim. The published date is the filing date. High for what the register records.
• Cycle News 4 April 1990 (archive.org): Cycle News, 4 April 1990 (archive.org OCR, excerpt: Coffman's Custom Exhaust Systems moved), Cycle News, issue held by the Internet Archive, 1990-04-04; enthusiast media, medium. A MOVED item in the news column reporting that Coffman's Custom Exhaust Systems moved to a new facility in Ukiah, California. Medium as a period magazine for the item; the item names no person. The street address, zip code, telephone and fax numbers are replaced in the held copy, and the OCR's two parts of the item are given in order.

Changes to this page

• 2026-10-18: Wording on the Coffman's page that described how the archive read or kept its sources now says what the archive holds.

Cite this page

“Coffman's”, BaddJet archive, https://baddjetarchive.com/key-figures/companies/coffmans/

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