When thinking about L&G Enterprises Auto Body and Paint Shop, two things come to mind—family and truck accessories. Marketing specialists have suggested that adding new profit centers to one’s autobody shop can keep the repair business alive. LGE has embraced this philosophy—first selling accessories in the shop and then, when a tenant left an adjacent building empty, a full-fledged custom truck accessory shop.

LGE was started in 1982 by Louie and Gerry Morosan—otherwise known as Dad and Mom. Louie, now LGE president, lost his job when the Ford dealership he was working for went out of business, so the couple repaired cars in their garage. The first shop was acquired shortly thereafter. Wife Gerry worked side-by-side with her husband, contributing to the success of the business. She has always encouraged Louie to do what he loves. Gerry handles the accounting at the Custom Truck Shop. 

    Filling out the Truck Shop management is daughter Sara Morosan in charge of sales. Sara loved going to mini truck runs during high school. When she started working at the truck shop, her friends came to her to buy items to customize their trucks. This is really the root of the truck shop. 

    Selling car and truck accessories has always been a part of LGE’s business. In 2001, LGE capitalized on the success of the accessory business in the shop by opening the Custom Truck Shop in an adjacent building. Louie and Gerry went over to run the new shop, along with daughter Sara, turning the day-to-day operations of the body shop over to daughter and son-in-law Theresa and Jason Contreras.
    Theresa has a diverse background that is serving her well. As treasurer, she is in charge of the accounting—and she is a custom painter. She started working as a machinist right out of high school to put herself through college. Eight years later, she took over the accounting functions at LGE.

    Jason is the operations manager at LGE. Right out of high school, without informing then girlfriend Theresa, Jason sought a job at LGE. He worked his way up from a detailer to running the shop today.
    So why do they work together all day, after seeing each other at home? They have passion. Said Theresa, “We understand that each of us brings a different talent to the table and we each push each other to prefect it. We are our best and worst critics.
    “We also spend a lot of family time together outside of work. We enjoy each other’s company outside of work and that helps us bond. One thing that helps in getting along is talking a lot and having meetings about current happenings. Although we may not always see eye-to-eye on how to get there, we share the same goals.”
    As a family-owned business, LGE understands how important it is to give back to our community. Once a year, speakers from the shop address local schools to inspire kids to consider the auto body business as a future career. They also provide monetary and personal support to the local boys home, food bank, local car shows, community parades and the Chamber of Commerce. “Since family is everything to us, we want to make sure others that unfortunately do not have that, get the love and attention they need.,” said Theresa.
    As far as the industry goes, they are active participants in two chapters of CAA and in CRA as well. They are also active and monetary supporters of Kelly McCarty’s quest to be elected to the Assembly.