The details of the sixth-annual Motor Trend/CIAS International Design Contest have been announced by Motor Trend magazine and the California International Auto Show (CIAS). Open to amateur, student and professional designers from around the world, the theme of this year's competition is "Brand It Your Way," challenging contestants to conceptualize a vehicle design that embodies the characteristics and traits of a specific, non-automotive brand.
President and CEO of Mentors at Work Mark Claypool served as a featured panelist addressing the topic Human Empowerment: The Role of Mentoring during an international Internet conference in May. Mentors at Work partners with automotive and collision repair facilities to build and maintain effective, in-house apprenticeship programs. Joining Claypool was Mentors at Work's Personal Trainer Kathy Moore, a specialist in interpersonal relations.
Over the past several months, blend panels have been the center of controversy for collision repairers all across the country. This issue has been brought to the Society of Collision Repair Specialists' (SCRS) attention, not only by several of our members but also at a recent Collision Industry Conference (CIC) meeting.
Red lights started to flash, a buzzer started to intermittently go off and the countdown had really begun.....
Racing against the clock and against 49 other student teams from around the country, aspiring auto technicians Garrett Johnson and Jacob Tilley of Cy Fair High School in Cypress, Texas, needed only 39 minutes and 37 seconds to repair their vehicle - a 2005 Ford Escape - to win the 2004 FORD/AAA Student Auto Skills national finals at Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, the first time the event has been held in the city of Dearborn.
Too much traffic? Hard day at the body shop? Think industry meetings are repetitive and boring? If some excuse kept you from joining over 500 individuals and 84 vendors at the L.A. trade show and dinner fundraiser for the I-CAR Education Fund, you missed a worthwhile networking opportunity - and a free dinner.
As I pulled up to EZ Autobody CARSTAR in Gilbert, Arizona, it looked like a full-fledged disaster site. There were six fire trucks - three with booms extended - and about 100 firefighters and emergency technicians. But something looked different. Instead of their life-saving gear, they were dressed in shorts and blue department t-shirts, drinking coffee and eating donuts as they awaited the start of the First Response training seminar. "First responders" from Sedona to Phoenix were talking shop and admiring the highly-polished fire engines - all dressed up for this event.
Ex-FBI agent Richard "Dick" Ross, 62, of El Dorado Hills, was sworn in as the new chief of the California Bureau of Auto Repair (BAR). Prior to this appointment, he served the state of California as an assistant team leader at the California Performance Review and as deputy commissioner of the Criminal Investigation Branch at the California Department of Insur-ance (DOI). He retired from a 30-year career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1997.
"Project Graduation" - an alcohol and drug-free all-night graduation celebration for high school seniors - drew over 93% of the Ironwood Ridge High School senior class in its inaugural year. Mary Snider, Project Graduation chair, attributes the success to the overwhelming support of community and local business.
Director of Marketing and Special Events at Camp Mak-A-Dream Jennifer Benton rattled off a brief history of the camp and its relationship to the collision repair industry like she was talking about her extended family.
Assured Performance Network (APN), a fast growing co-op network for independent auto body repair centers across the nation, announced the preliminary results from the first four months of its Preferred Vendor Rebate Program. The program enables qualified collision repair businesses to gain rebates on products and services they use.
ASA's Celebration of Excellence, held at the Flamingo during NACE, began with an emotional graduation ceremony. The Automotive Management Institute handed out diplomas to autobody professionals who had earned the right to the designation AAM - Accredited Automotive Managers.
Christmas came early for many people this year. Fifty-seven auto body shops across the United States and Canada participated in Akzo Nobel Sikkens Acoat selected National Benevolence Program. More than 70 refurbished cars were given to families or organizations in need of reliable transportation. Throughout the month of December, cars from all across the nation found new homes for the sixth year in a row.
"I'm not sure why you have me here. I'm not in the collision repair business … I'm in the collision instigation business," began Kyle Petty, with a smile. Sponsored by BASF, NASCAR driver Kyle Petty spoke about the qualities that drive success.