Bill Park will debut a parts tray organizer for collision centers, an invention bringing to fruition plans he made with son Traye Park to develop and sell the item. Traye was killed in a motorcycle accident in October 2023.
“We were going to build a business,” Bill told Autobody News. The product is nearly ready, named for Traye.
Bill has owned or co-owned shops in the U.S. and UK, and stakes in companies doing paintless dent repair in the latter. He’s now a financial consultant to shops under Crunchit Financial Services.
He said his son growing up wasn’t drawn to academics but later got his GED, a welding certificate and work with Caterpillar Inc. in Georgia, and in the oil and gas industry in Colorado.
“He was doing great,” Bill said.
Birth of an Idea, Beginning Overseas
Bill got the idea after buying into the UK’s TDN Group, a PDR fleet services and tools and training provider, in 2018. This led to co-owning two shops there, and percolation of the coming product.
Bill Park.
TDN worked globally — “It’s a big world, but a small industry” — and generally “wanted to have everything proprietary.” Bill saw how such products could work.
“There’s nothing designed specifically for collision, with the intelligent layout, the right size and depth” for a technician, he said. He sought something specific at a solid price.
The “Traye” is agnostic, perhaps better to say universal, as to other elements: “It doesn’t need a cart, and wasn’t designed for one” in particular, Bill said. He expects it to sell for $40 to $60.
As notioning grew, he “began teasing Traye, that we’re going to sell ‘him’ when we came back to the States.”
The return came with COVID in 2020.
Molecular Biologist in a Motor Pool
Bill and Debbie Park owned four body shops in Colorado under Axiom Collision Repair. Two closed during the pandemic; they sold two others to Puget Collision this past November. He’s also exited his UK interests.
They met as students at the University of Arizona, circa 1990s.
While she earned a degree in biochemistry, he pursued molecular biology, planning a profession in orthopedic surgery. An M.D. mentored him some, and he watched some surgeries too. The regulatory side put him off, as did “the enormous debt” of medical school, coupled with incautiously getting a job in the University of Arizona motor pool.
Graduated, he tried for a job at a dealer collision center, heard nothing, “decided to take their business.”
Big Sky Auto Body grew to four locations, selling to Gerber in 2010. Bill earned a master’s in finance; Debbie went for toxicology grad work, and an MBA. The family, with Traye, includes six kids.
Experience in the Industry, and Others Beyond
“I took a couple years off” then, Bill said, “and did some project work outside the industry.” His experiences in automotive include time with a North Carolina company that sells vintage cars worldwide. He helped them cut the amount of time it took to get vehicles ready for transport, from two to three months down to that number of weeks.
Prototype of the Traye.
He’s also worked for Abra as a market vice president and in integrating acquisitions.
“Over the last 30 years I’ve owned 13 shops at four different times,” Bill said. “I love the business, obviously.”
Bill worked on street rods early on, has built software and developed mobile apps for PDR and ADAS work, and in 2023 started Crunchit, to counsel shops on tax, legal and financial concerns. He’s speaking at the SEMA Show.
The Parks moved to Texas last year. They’d planned to, and losing Traye in Colorado made it a more visceral choice.
“We got here,” Bill said, “and revived this tray project. We came up with a way to honor the agreement” he and Traye made. Along with the unique impetus, the work has involved the usual drawings, CAD work, molds and tooling, “then you actually have to make some.”
Bill’s developing marketing materials and plans to sell online, directly to users.
“We’re going to incorporate philanthropy with the project,” he said, such as scholarships through I-CAR and SkillsUSA.
