Cartunesshop.com was the first domain I ever registered.
It began in the fall of 1999, at a time when selling automotive accessories online felt like stepping into unfamiliar territory. eBay was new. Broadband was rare. Most online transactions were still completed by check in the mail. The phrase “information super highway” was not ironic.
The original plan was simple: build an online automotive accessories store to supplement a 12-volt installation business that had grown through dealer relationships across the tri-state area. Inventory was purchased. Equipment was ready. A launch was planned for the 2001 holiday season.
History had other plans.
September 11th changed consumer behavior overnight. Non-essential retail froze. The accessories market stalled. What began as a retail venture pivoted into something entirely different dealer advertising, digital listings, and eventually the creation of WebGraphicsRus.
Cartunesshop.com no longer sells car accessories.
It now serves a different purpose.
This site documents the journey:
- Raised in a household of engineers during the earliest days of computing.
- Learning fabrication and 12-volt electronics in the 1980s.
- Building dealer networks in the 1990s.
- Discovering eBay in October 1999.
- Surviving supply chain shifts and big box disruption.
- Transitioning into web development and digital marketing.
- Preserving early Flash, HTML, and e-commerce artifacts decades later.
The goal here is not nostalgia.
It is documentation.
One generation exchanged letters about teaching engineers how to think in base numbering systems for emerging computer languages. The next generation built businesses on those systems. Today, modern tools including AI help preserve and tell that story for the generation that follows.
The Up Bus still makes many stops on the information super highway.
This site is one of them.