What's new
Version 7The Project Car Update 🏎️
- Build by target, one click. Pick a power stage (Stage 1 / 2 / 3 — each showing the wheel-hp it makes) or a budget, and Project Car drops the whole package in. The mods change with the goal: a drag build spends on power and launch, a track build on grip.
- Supporting parts come along. Add a turbo, supercharger or nitrous and it automatically adds the tune, fuelling and clutch it needs to run safely — no more half-finished builds.
- Horsepower and torque, honestly. Each stage shows one "Stage total" that always climbs (Stage 2 beats Stage 1), and the cockpit now reads live horsepower and torque as you build — torque estimated from the power gains, so put it on a dyno for exact numbers.
- Sharper all around. Stock horsepower auto-fills from the platform, engine-by-year data is more accurate, you can reach customers by email as well as phone, and the parts markup % is now type-able. The performance & tuner tools moved into the Tuning tab, and the guided tour covers it all.
v6.10.4Project Car, leveled up 🏎️
- Real staging, finally. Stage 1 / 2 / 3 now means what tuners mean, and only for power: Stage 1 runs on stock hardware (tune, intake, cat-back), Stage 2 is supporting hardware that needs a tune (headers, downpipe, intercooler, cam, fueling), Stage 3 is forced induction. Brakes, suspension and tires aren't "stages" — they're grouped grip-before-power, the way a shop actually builds a car.
- A proper build cockpit. A cover banner with the car's photo, a projected horsepower read (stock → built), a live budget tracker with cost-per-horsepower, and an install-progress ring — plus goal chips, a 💭 Dream-build mode that shows the whole roadmap with the budget off, and a printable build sheet the customer keeps.
- Add your own mods. Anything the database or the offline AI doesn't cover, just type it in — name, area, price, expected gain — and it slots into the plan, counts toward the horsepower total, and drops onto the estimate like the rest.
v6.10.2Inspection Log — every inspection, kept
- Never lose an inspection. Every digital vehicle inspection you finish is now saved to an Inspection Log — customer, vehicle, date and the green / yellow / red tally at a glance. Reopen one to edit it, or reprint the report for the customer, in a single tap.
v6.10.1Ten looks, all readable — and the whole site wears them
- Every theme, easy on the eyes. Fixed the spots where the light themes (Light, High-Vis Day, Sepia) showed dark text on dark panels — starting with the Good / Better / Best estimate options editor. All ten looks are now clean in daylight or a dark bay.
- Try any look right here. The theme picker up top now dresses this whole website in your chosen theme and remembers it on every page — click a look and see it for real.
v6.10.0Project Car — the budget build planner 🏎️
- Plan a build by budget and what you're modding. Pick the car, punch in the engine code and a budget, and Project Car recommends the upgrades — a whole staged build (street / track / drag / show) or ranked picks for just the area you're working on: engine, suspension, brakes, drivetrain, wheels or aero.
- Knows 19 platforms by engine model code. LS & Coyote, Hemi, 2JZ, RB26, SR20, K- and B-series, EJ, 13B, VQ, B58, N54, EA888 and more — each with real aftermarket prices, honest power gains, and the known weak points to watch before you spend. Anything it doesn't know, the built-in offline AI plans for you.
- Turn a build into an estimate in one click — every part drops onto a customer estimate ready to price.
v6.9.5Free AI, built right in
- No API key, no cloud, no monthly cost. Shop Manager Lite now runs entirely on free local AI — Smart Estimates and every AI helper work on your own PC, fully private and free forever. The AI edition ships the model inside, so it all works the moment you install it, even offline.
v6.9.4Bulletproof sync & whole-shop backups
- Nothing gets wiped anymore. USB sync now merges everything between computers — jobs, inventory, your specs library, paid status and your shop logo all travel safely, and a sync from an empty or older machine can never erase data it hasn't seen.
- Back up your whole shop, not just jobs. Export/import now carries everything — jobs, inventory, templates and settings — in one file.
- Now fully trilingual. Every newer feature is translated into French and Spanish.
v6.9.0Money management, leveled up
- A real payment ledger. Record deposits, partial payments, refunds and write-offs on a job — not just "paid" or "unpaid." Balances always add up.
- Know where the money is. AR aging shows who owes what and how overdue, a cash reconciliation squares the day's takings, and a money audit trail logs every change.
- Mark-as-paid, rebuilt. Rock-solid now, with older paid jobs healed automatically so nothing reads $0 by mistake.
v6.8.0Built for a two-person shop
- Mechanic & front-desk modes. Flip a bay tablet to Mechanic mode — fewer, bigger, simpler screens for gloved hands — while the front desk keeps the full view. Jobs hand off cleanly through their status.
- Easier for everyone. A first-run guided tour for new shops, hi-vis lettering for the shop floor, and tasteful motion polish across the whole app.
v6.4.1USB sync fix — no more lost jobs between computers
- Safer USB sync. Moving your data between computers used to let an older copy overwrite newer work. Sync now merges instead: where the same job exists on both machines, the most recently edited version is kept, and no job is ever silently lost. Deletes sync too — a job you delete on one PC stays deleted everywhere.
v6.4.0The Tuning Update — dyno numbers for every shop
- Record a pull from the laptop. Plug a $15–40 OBD-II adapter into the PC and the new Tuning hub streams live RPM, speed and temps, records the pull, and computes the wheel-HP/torque curve itself — no phone, no file shuffle. A Demo Drive mode shows the whole flow with no car connected.
- Stock HP & torque, built in. Pick the car (or decode a VIN) and factory figures auto-fill from a hand-checked table of 140 popular engines plus the NHTSA record — with a variant picker for Si / Type R / SS-style trims.
- Engine health vs stock. A measured pull is compared against the expected wheel-HP band for that drivetrain: Healthy, Down on power, or Needs diagnosis — with a checklist of usual suspects. Prints on the branded dyno sheet. "It should make 230 and it's making 180" is a work order, not a guess.
- Street numbers. Dragy/RaceBox GPS figures (0–60, 60–130, ⅛ & ¼-mile, trap speed) live on the job and the printed sheet; trap speed + weight gives an instant HP estimate.
- The Tuning hub. Dyno Lab grew into one Tuning section with a "No dyno? Start here" walkthrough and a Free / Budget / Shop gear-up list — the path in costs $0 to start and about $30 to get real curves. Read the full guide →
Release 1Shop Manager Lite — first release
- New name: the app is now Shop Manager Lite — same tool, ready to share with other shops.
- One-click Windows installer with its own window, Start-menu and desktop shortcuts.
- Bundled offline AI: a free local model ships inside, so AI estimates work with no API key and no internet.
- Backup at a glance: a sidebar chip shows when your data was last backed up — click it to back up on the spot.
- Set-up checklist for new shops: name, rates, logo, first backup — the app shows you exactly what to do first.
- Recent-customer quick pick and a "Text total" button that copies a customer-ready message with the job total.
- Fix: in-progress Smart Estimates now autosave for crash recovery, like the inspection map.
v6.1.0Free Local AI (Ollama)
- New AI Provider toggle in Settings — keep the Anthropic cloud API, or switch to a free, fully offline model running on your own PC via Ollama. No API key, no cost.
- Every AI button works unmodified with either provider.
v6.0.0Smart Estimates — the Customer Experience release
- "In plain terms": jargon-free job explanations customers actually understand — hand-written or AI-drafted.
- Good / Better / Best options with prices and what's-included bullets, on a branded printable options sheet with a Recommended ribbon.
- Honest profit everywhere: manual jobs now count real parts cost, so P&L, margins, ledger and targets all agree.
- New Recent Transactions panel — money in green, money out red.
v5.3.0Estimate & Invoice Designer
- Make estimates and invoices yours: upload your logo, pick an accent color, and choose a look — Classic, Modern, or Bold — with a live preview.
- Custom thank-you message, warranty statement, terms & conditions, and GST/TPS + QST/TVQ registration numbers on every sheet.
- Show/hide the Taxable column, inspection findings, mileage, notes, signature line, and payment status.
v5.2.0Dyno Lab
- Import a pull CSV (Virtual Dyno, Dynojet, Mustang Dyno…) and see the real HP & torque curve with peaks marked.
- Before/after bars from the baseline & final figures you already enter, plus a shop-wide gains-over-time chart.
- Financial engine hardening: true loss visibility, prorated tax on discounted mixed invoices, local-time day rollover, inventory floor.
v5.1.xMobile PWA + touge intro
- Install on your phone: full PWA with iOS support, phone-sized UI, and download links.
- Touge drift intro with your shop name over the mountain pass.
v5.0.0The Shop Co-Pilot
- Auto-backups, Ctrl+K command palette, and a guided job flow.
- Tire Hotel, digital inspection checklist, on-screen signatures, job timeline.
- Money Brain: real P&L, GST/QST report, End-of-Day close, overdue chase-texts, team efficiency, comeback reminders.
- Offline DTC lookup, self-building specs library, branded dyno sheets, and Shop Wrapped. 🎁
v4.7.0Google Calendar + website
- Send any appointment to Google Calendar in one click, or export the whole schedule as .ics.
- This preview website.
v4.6.xAutomatic, year-accurate vehicle photos
- Pick a make/model/year and a photo of that generation loads itself — cached for instant reuse.
- Your own drag/paste photo always wins. What's-new screen added (click the version number).
v4.5.xPhotos, themes, density
- Vehicle photos saved with jobs; Claude Night & High-Vis Day themes; Compact Mode; tablet-friendly layout; stale-update fix.
v4.4.0Engines, transmission, tuner
- Year-accurate engine database with hundreds more vehicles (JDM classics to daily drivers); Transmission field; Tuner Mode; target-hit confetti.
v4.3.0Live & interactive
- Save confirmations, animated analytics, hover/press feedback, inventory parts wall.