An American Pavement Specialist truck dumps asphalt into the new Raised on Blacktop 9-ton hopper of the 8520B paver.
(CEG photo)
Recently, LeeBoy personnel and local dealer W.I. Clark joined American Pavement Specialist on a job site in Danbury, Conn., to celebrate the new LeeBoy 8520B special edition Raised on Blacktop heavy-commercial asphalt paver.
LeeBoy, along with design help from the Stanley family of American Pavement Specialists based in Danbury, Conn., created this new user-friendly special edition that makes long days on a hard job site a little easier for its operator and team.
"I think this has been a big success because the Stanleys helped design it with the operator in mind," said Kristi Harris, of LeeBoy. "They came down to our facility and said, ‘we spend more time on the back of this paver than we do in our own beds.' They worked with our engineers and helped build this package. I think people are buying it equally for the appearance and convenience package but also because of what Raised on Blacktop stands for. A multi-generational contractor, family-owned business."
Bill Stanley of American Pavement Specialists said, "We have been with LeeBoy for about 30 years, we have had pretty much every model they have ever made, which is quite a few. They keep getting better, but this 8500 series machine revolutionized our industry. LeeBoy was the first one to come out with a machine in this compact size that could do everything that a highway machine could do. Speed, agility and quality. The 8520B paver is the Raised on Blacktop Special Edition. This machine can do everything."
This special LeeBoy 8520B paver was given new bells and whistles for the Raised on Blacktop edition. The paver features a stylish gray paint scheme, red operators' seat embroidered with the Raised on Blacktop logo, Raised on Blacktop decal, carbon-fiber embellished wing decal, a larger American flag decal, weather-proof ticket/phone box, various shovel/rake carrier options, engraved serialized badge and an optional custom lighting package.
This special edition is a tribute to the movement of Raised on Blacktop, created by Matt Stanley. Born into a family of pavers, Matt grew in the industry and wanted to connect with this community. His father, Bill, and the Stanley family started American Pavement Specialists in 1992.
"My dad didn't start with much, but he always had a big vision for what you see today," said Matt, the youngest of Bill's four sons. "Growing up all of the brothers were working with dad. That made work fun. That's a big part of how Raised on Blacktop started. We always had shiny red trucks super clean with good branding and a nice logo.
"Even before social media and today's age of branding, this was always important to dad. The kids at school always wanted t-shirts and sweatshirts from our company. We were well known locally. My brother started a Facebook page to share our work and our shiny trucks. Then we got on to Instagram and built a good following; around 55 thousand now. We are internationally known for our quality, hard work and clean equipment.
"Once Instagram got a lot of traction, I wanted to create a brand around our business, not only to market ourselves to other companies, but to the kids that want to support us and show us love but don't have a parking lot for us to pave. So how do I get them involved in what we are doing? By creating Raised on Blacktop. I started creating merchandise to sell online and then that took fire throughout the industry."
Raised on Blacktop not only has this new commemorative paver from LeeBoy, but it also offers a wide variety of merchandise such as hats, shirts and even baby onesies.
"The paving industry is competitive among contractors, so I wanted to create a brand that could represent everyone, not only me and my brothers. There are a lot of other kids in the country just like me and didn't realize that until I got on Instagram and Facebook. I'd say most of these paving businesses are family owned and run businesses. You have a crew of family and friends; that's how paving crews are built. That's how Raised on Blacktop became to be," said Matt.
"We want to thank LeeBoy for doing this. We were about two years into Raised on Blacktop when they reached out to us. Jim Harkin, our LeeBoy representative, said they wanted a special edition project to represent the hardworking families of our industry, and what better way to do that than a Raised on Blacktop Special Edition. CEG
Today's top stories
