By the early 1980s, John Loftus was getting the attention of shop owners—especially in Texas and Missouri—with the idea of a nationally united collision repair industry strong enough to take action on their own priorities. Truth be told, these concepts almost never had a chance to get off the ground, the SCRS reported.
    

“My wife, Rosie, and I are native Californians,” Loftus said. “A lot of the professional growth I experienced was the result of being a shop owner, member and President and Executive Director of the California Autobody Association (CAA) where we successfully initiated breakthroughs like an insured motorists rights brochure, increased emphasis on training and professionalism—even such things as media relations. This led to my becoming more active with the national organization that exists today as the Automotive Service Association (ASA). I was approached to head up their collision repair division based, in part, on what we accomplished in California.”
    

“That meant moving to Texas where the organization was headquartered, so in 1979, Rosie and I pulled up roots and made that commitment. It was gratifying to see collision repairers, large and small, from all parts of the country, respond to our efforts to address their needs. People had a great desire to be professional; they felt they were being pushed around by a number of factors, and they wanted it to stop.”

A move was pending
    

But as the years rolled on, the transition began to wear on John and Rosie. By 1982, the couple was convinced they should return to California. “A number of things contributed to that feeling,” Loftus says, “but the bottom line is that we missed our family.”
    

If the Loftus’ had left then, SCRS as we know it today, wouldn’t have existed, the society reported. However, a handful of shop owners—including Jeff Cowan, Bill and Rochelle Wicklund, Bill Eveland, Bob Jones and Don Caldwell (who later became the first SCRS Chairman)—were energized by Loftus’ fiery gospel of industry improvement. They decided to take the kind of grass roots action that continues to characterize SCRS to this day: direct, to the point, and ultimately, effective.
    

“They started bringing me to informal meetings— the first one being at Jeff Cowan’s, with another eventually at Gene Park’s—and we began to brainstorm what a national association could be,” Loftus recalled. “People began to talk to other people and momentum grew. Rosie and I put off the move to California. My house in Texas became a hub for communication and information distribution. In a matter of days, we were talking to collision repairers in twenty-five states. The Wicklund’s were as determined as I was. Their home became the communication center for Missouri. To make sure that we got the message to other states, Bill Wicklund flew me wherever we were needed.”
   

Strength from the beginning
    

SCRS Past Chairman Bob Jones was there from the start, and can attest to the power of the movement’s formative stages. “I was like a lot of guys in those days, in that my business had begun to get the best of me,” he said. “I had just borrowed a lot of money for a shop renovation, and found myself in a rut; existing month to month just to pay my bills. I began to think there had to be more to the business than this.”

Jones started to become active in the organization that would become ASA, and it was through this involvement that he first gained exposure to Loftus and those that would go on to found SCRS. The experience made a lasting impression.

Watch for upcoming stories on the birth of SCRS in anticipation of the SCRS 25th Anniversary Celebration at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia on April 10, 2007. Additional information including a registration form can be found at www.scrs.com. Advance registration is required to attend this event. The deadline to register is April 5, 2007.