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Gary Ledoux
Gary Ledoux is a freelance writer with 48 years in the automotive industry.
He can be reached at mayorclum@yahoo.com
In Reverse: An Industry in Constant Flux - A 1970s Perspective
The collision industry went through many changes during the 1970s.
Truck Topics: Need Techs? HD Shops Have the Advantage
Most automotive and HD truck shops—mechanical and collision-repair shops—need more technicians.
In Reverse: The 1970s - Trade Associations Become a Driving Force
Auto body associations had been around since the 1940s.
Truck Topics: The HD Collision Market – Challenges and Opportunities
Most people in the auto collision industry agree that the collision industry was born around 1946.
In Reverse: The 1970s – Part 2 – The OE’s Become Their Own Worst Enemy
The American fleet had grown exponentially by the 1970s.
After a car collision occurs, one must figure out how to get their car repaired, arrange alternative transportation and so on.
Truck Topics: Truck ADAS Systems – the Good, the Bad & the Ugly
Written by Gary Ledoux
Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), a computer-aided means of keeping a vehicle in its lane and preventing or mitigating collisions, is a relatively new concept in the automotive world and even newer for the trucking world.
As I-CAR celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, we thought it only fitting to provide some insight into the organization’s natal beginnings.
People have been repairing collision-damaged trucks since August Fruehauf stuck a trailer behind a Ford Model T in 1914 to create the first semi-trailer rig.
Truck Topics: Truck Vs. Auto Collision Repair – An Overview
Written by Gary Ledoux
Truck Topics is a new series of articles seen periodically in Autobody News that is dedicated to the collision side of the heavy duty truck market.
We see them all the time---semi trucks, trailers, buses, RVs, dump trucks and other pieces of heavy equipment wrecked in what had to be a horrendous crash.
More...
In Reverse: The 1970s - Part 1 - The Collision Industry Starts to Mature
Written by Gary Ledoux
If the 1940s and 1950s marked the industry’s earliest “modern” beginnings and the 1960s signified the industry’s “grammar school” years, the 1970s could be seen as its teenage years.
In Reverse: Vehicle Safety Equipment Through the Years
Written by Gary Ledoux
By the mid-1950s, more than a million Americans had been in car accidents and died on the nation’s roads and highways.
In Reverse: The 1960s – The Collision Repair Industry Gets a Voice
Written by Gary Ledoux
Each month, collision industry trade magazines provide readers with a glimpse of the industry at that point in time.
In the 1960s, the concept of a direct repair program took several twists and turns before it got to the model we recognize today. Here are a few variations of that theme.