There I was with my clipboard, dressed in jeans and my Bobby Labonte t-shirt - a former school teacher, freelance writer and self-confessed gearhead heading off to learn about the world of auto body repair.
Hitting land about five hours earlier than expected, hurricane Claudette caused massive damage when she slammed into the Texas Matagorda Peninsula on Tuesday, July 15 right about mid-day. Although 15 counties were affected, the hardest hit cities were Port O'Connor, Victoria, and Port Lavaca, along with the west coast of island city Galveston.
There is a school of thought that Yellow Page directories are all washed up. With Internet sites like 411.com, Switchboard.com and others, who wants to lug out a fat, heavy book and thumb through a thousand or more pages? Actually, your potential customers do. Internet sites (at least right now), just offer plain vanilla listings perhaps with a link to a map. How can a consumer make an informed choice with nothing but a name, address and phone number displayed?
My job as associate editor of Autobody News has given me a terrible disease - TMI - too much information. It's torture!
"Each year the collision repair industry as a whole comes across cars that are 'written off' by either the owner or the insurance company. Often these are older vehicles that just need some mechanical and body work to get them back on the road and perfectly safe to drive. Because we believed these cars were going to waste when there were people who really need them, we decided to do something about it," stated Sal Contreras, sales/marketing manager for Mike Rose's Auto Body, Inc. with shops located in Concord, Walnut Creek and Pleasanton, California.
Miniature big rigs and all kinds of toys were everywhere as the East Bay Chapter of the California Autobody Association (CAA) hosted its 6th Annual Toys for Tots Truck Competition at the Hilton in Concord, California, on November 18.
When Kelly McCarty Swenson is sworn in as president of the California Autobody Association (CAA) in February 2004, she will become the third woman to steer the organization - following in the footsteps of Maureen Holmes and Yumi Vaught.
So what does a body man do to recuperate from the day-to-day stress of operating a collision repair business? In the case of Rich Evans, owner of Huntington Beach Bodyworks, his idea of rest and relaxation is to hang out in a junkyard, pull down his welding mask, and build machines out of junk.
Three Texas body shops including Bates Custom & Collision of Baytown, ProCare Collision of San Antonio, and Ellis and Salazar of Austin, presented needy, deserving families in their community with rebuilt vehicles as part of the Akzo Nobel Benevolence Program.
Mike's Auto Body of Concord, California made Christmas merrier for the needy and deserving in their Bay Area community this year through the Akzo Nobel Benevolence Program. Keilah Johnson, Jose Luna Jr. and Youth Homes, Inc., each went home with a new "used" vehicle. Joined by 18 Bay Area collision industry vendors, Mike's Auto Body repaired three vehicles that had been "written off" and gave them to groups and individuals who will use them to improve their own lives and the lives of others.
I-CAR Los Angeles has been conducting food or toy drives for the last seven years during the holiday season. This year was the most successful yet, with over 2,000 new toys donated, and the success may be due in part to a new twist that was added to this year's event.
When you're in Las Vegas for NACE this coming November, look out your hotel window at the Mandalay Bay and across the freeway you'll see a big red sign: "Body Shop." That would be Falconi's, the most visible leg of the Vegas auto body triumvirate known as the Auto Body Group (ABG). Formed in 1991, ABG consists of Green Valley Collision Center, Speed-way Truck and Paint, and Falconi's.
From coastal cities Ventura and San Luis Obispo to as far east as Bakersfield, over 75 collision repair industry professionals traveled to the rolling hills of Santa Maria to participate in a High Impact Negotiation workshop presented by Mel Hunke.