Paul Rooprai of Traverse City, Mich., was on a business trip in Germany in 2019 with some time to kill before heading home. So the lifelong car guy did what any enthusiast would do: He headed to the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart. Having never been there, Rooprai started snapping photos of rare race cars and the placards that accompanied them.

“There's some rare stuff there, so I wasn't going to remember all that,” Rooprai said. “I thought, ‘Well, I'll get back on the plane and I'll put it all back together — and that was a colossal mess.’ ”

Not able to logically organize what he had shot, Rooprai considered his quandary.

“I literally took out my notebook and I sketched out this idea for a tag that could be applied to the car or to a placard and with the smartphone in my pocket, I could just scan it and pick up the car’s story.”

Like his father, Paul is a bit of a tinkerer, always coming up with new ideas. Arriving home, he told his wife, Katie, of his concept. To Paul, Katie’s opinion mattered, and more than simply because they were married. The couple first met on an elevator while working at Yum Brands. It was love at first sight. She worked in marketing for Kentucky Fried Chicken. He worked in mergers and acquisitions.

Now that they were married, she was used to hearing about his new ideas. “There have been others that have come along,” Katie said, “and I was like, no, not really.”

But this one was different; she gave it the thumbs up. Once the pandemic hit, Paul finally had the time to pursue his vision.

Dubbed Autobiotags.com, or AutoBio for short, it’s a virtual brag book for car owners. For a one-time fee of $49, car owners receive a unique QR code for their collector car, as well as access to build a webpage about their car with stats, stories and room for approximately 40 files. Videos can’t be stored on the site, although video links can. Each page also allows comments, and a “make an offer” button may be added in the future as a premium add-on.

The car’s QR code links the collector car to the owner’s webpage and is replicated on a removable cling sheet that attaches to their car’s window for use at car shows. Curious onlookers scan the QR code with their smartphone, and the car’s webpage appears. Viewers can register with the site at no charge and “store” their favorite cars in a digital “garage” free of charge. There’s no app to download or subscription cost. Nor is there advertising.

“We built it that way on purpose so that when an enthusiast is standing at a car, no matter where it is in the world, they don't have that point of frustration where they've got to download something before they can enjoy it,” Paul said.

The site has been active since May, when the Rooprais received a patent for their idea. Currently, the couple say it’s being considered for use at some of the nation’s largest collector car shows. But that’s just the beginning, as the platform can be used by those who own boats or planes as well as cars. The platform could be used by automakers at new car shows, or even by auction companies, for whom the story of the item is of vital importance.

“It eliminates a lot of the paperwork literally that they have to produce,” Paul said. “That's a huge value add for the shopper. They don't have to carry around a big book anymore.”

Even restoration shops and museums are showing interest. Shops can show how a car was built, while museums can do a deep dive into an item’s history.

The couple know they have a winning piece of technology, and so do the organizers of SEMA, the Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association, a trade association serving the automotive aftermarket. The organization holds an annual SEMA Launch Pad competition for new automotive entrepreneurs, now in its ninth year. The Rooprais are among the 15 semifinalists competing to win the event, which is being filmed for a TV series for the Discovery Network.

“It's Shark Tank meets American Idol minus the singing,” Katie said.

If they make the cut, the couple will compete in the finals in November before a live studio audience. In the meantime, they have marketed their service at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance in May, and the Concours d’Elegance of America in St. John’s, Mich., in July, with more events to come.

“The reception we've gotten, it's honestly been overwhelming,” she said. “We get more calls now to show up places that we just physically can't get to yet. And you know, we're serious entrepreneurs; we want to hustle and we want to be there at all these shows.”

Yet even if they can’t make them all, one senses that their AutoBio’s QR tags will.