And company officials blame the decline on Hicks, for stealing and selling more than $1 million of the company’s parts and equipment in 2006 and 2007 to benefit a competing company Hicks and others were setting up.(JOHNSON USA????)

Spoke with Joe Lewis, Product Manager at Johnson Lifters in Taylor, Mi. He was very eager to answer any of my questions. Wish I had some better tech questions but basically I told him of the problems so many were having with "other, offshore" lifters bleeding down and being noisy after they sit idle as so many classic cars do. He explained why their product solves this problem but I can't really explain here as it was a bit over my head. icon_smile_wink

I mentioned the confusion with the Topline Hylift Johnson lifters and this is what I was told.
When the original Johnson went bankrupt back in 2003 or 2004 they (Parent company Specialty Engine Components LLC) bought the rights to the Johnson lifter. Many of the employees came to work for them and the original plant on the west side of Michigan (Zeeland I believe) sat idle for a couple of years. He said nothing negative about the other company. If I remember right from the article about the other company's problems they were bought by Topline, the plant was moved to Muskegon and they resumed production. The only thing I can figure out is there must be enough of a difference in the name (Johnson lifters vs. Topline Hylift Johnson Lifters) to pass muster.