Edition #TWENTY-FOUR
A BIG Update
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If you’re like me, this is not the first newsletter from an automotive startup that you’ve subscribed to. You may have noticed that news doesn’t flow as regularly as it would from perhaps a more established company. Sometimes it stops altogether, and you’re left to wonder: what the hell happened to that cool car idea? Did they get acquired? Did they run out of money? Or were they simply trying to build up a following for a merch drop all along?
I can’t answer for your other favorite automotive startups, but it’s finally time to share some big updates about Shoreline. What a year it’s been so far! Pretty much everything has changed: our financial situation, our team, and even the car itself.
You don’t know how excited I am to be typing these words: after a 16-month fundraising effort, we closed an investment round at the beginning of this year that will see us through the development and build of the first completed LM Coupe: Shoreline Prototype Two.
This was one of the toughest periods of my life. I’m not sure if you’ve ever tempted fate by running your car to “E” on the fuel gauge, but imagine doing that for 16 months while driving in the dark without headlights - the only illumination coming from your iPhone flashlight as you hold it out the side window. And while your fuel tank is slowly draining, you pass a few dimly lit gas stations, but they feel like the kind of place where the gas might have come from someone else’s tank, so you keep going, hoping for a better solution. The further you go, you see fewer and fewer gas stations altogether.
Add to that the amount of effort and determination required to keep pushing for something that you feel so deeply sure of even though the timeline feels so uncertain, and the people you trust the most begin to ask if you’ve got a deadline or cutoff point for your dream chasing. Keeping the belief that it’s a when, not an if. And then finally - it feels almost like a dream - that gorgeous illuminated Chevron with premium unleaded comes into focus as you round the last corner on fumes.
Closing the first external investment round without compromising on my vision or the high character bar that I hold for our investors was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever experienced. I am grateful to have made it this far, and also extremely thankful to you for being invested enough in the story of Shoreline to have stuck around.
Somewhere along that roller coaster ride of an investment raise came a stomach-dropping turn: my childhood friend and Shoreline Co-Founder, Kyle, made the very difficult decision to step down from his position within the company. For four years, he sacrificed everything in pursuit of this dream: his job security, life savings, all of his time, and even his personal space. Up to late last year, we had been living and working together out of our shared apartment. The picture above was actually taken in front of Kyle’s old 1BR apartment, even earlier. I slept on his couch for the first few months of Shoreline, and we turned his one-car garage into our atelier.
Our friendship and weekly coffee meetups remain unchanged, but replacing his engineering talent and manufacturing expertise was always going to be a big ask.
Fortunately, there was one person that Kyle and I had been wanting to onboard since 2023, and the timing couldn’t have been better. I met a brilliant engineer back when I was studying at Oxford Brookes University. He was completing a masters degree in Motorsport Engineering while I was doing my bachelors in the same subject. Andreu’s resumé is exactly what I would write if you asked me to imagine the perfect person to help usher in the next era of Shoreline. He will be tasked with helping bring our second prototype to life, incorporating hundreds of design revisions in the process.
That brings me to the last major update: over the course of this year, every facet of the LM Coupe will be substantially upgraded as part of our ongoing development program. These changes include revised suspension, a lighter, stiffer chassis, a faster steering rack, more headroom and legroom, a new engine and gearbox, and countless nitpicks by yours truly made to every inch of the bodywork. Let’s start with that… now presenting the revised (and hopefully even more timeless) Shoreline LM Coupe:
With each development, the LM Coupe continues to edge closer to the vision in my head. All of these changes are designed to distill the car’s character, maximize product-market fit, and lay the groundwork for Shoreline to grow into a durable, profitable niche automaker in the collector-grade segment. I am confident that we are on the right track, and I can’t wait to share more with you as the story continues.
Over the next few months, I’ll be expanding on the LM Coupe’s exciting upgrades that are taking place right now. In the meantime, you can visit our website to learn more about our vision for Shoreline and the LM Coupe. By subscribing to this newsletter, you’re the first to know about vehicle updates, future reveals, and more… stay tuned!
Sincerely,
Spencer Beckman
Co-founder & CEO, Shoreline Bespoke Vehicles