The flexible funnel – which can be found in garages around the world -- was invented by Doug Confer in 1975 when the then 24 year-old was working on the family farm in Gasport.
Back then, fuel and oil funnels were made out of more-rigid metal that would either corrode or not clean very well. So, Doug thought, why not make them out of plastic at the family’s recently-founded plastics company? Plastic won’t corrode and leave pieces of metal in fuel tanks, and it would be much cheaper than the metal alternatives.
Doug received his patent in September of 1976 and Confer Plastics made hundreds of thousands of the funnels until the patent expired 14 years later. After that, Mexico and China could make them far cheaper than we ever could. We lost all market share. We stopped making funnels in 1990.
In 2023, as we pondered how to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Confer Plastics, we thought it would be a great idea to bring the funnel back to life since e-commerce provides costs savings that make our funnels more competitive with the foreign products.
The old mold, which hadn’t been in a machine for over 30 years, was wisely held in storage all those decades and remained in great shape. Product rollout was seamless and well received.
We’ll never be the cheapest but we have the best story (we made the thing!) and the best impact on the economy (it’s made in the USA!). And, this re-release is about the history, the fight, the promise of the American Dream.
Consumers: These funnels are available as two-packs, in either red or blue or both, at our Amazon storefront: HERE
Retailers: If you’d like to carry our funnels in your brick-and-mortar or online stores, please contact Jack Gawrys at jack@conferplastics.com. Please know too that, depending on order volume, we have the ability to change the logo and/or color to match your brand.
