From a young age, Toby Chess always had an interest in cars. In the late 1960s, he and his father purchased a stripped-down Porsche speedster shell in California, where they lived. His father was an engineer and they worked together to repair the body.
“We knew nothing,” Chess said. “We would put the body filler on, wait until it got super hard and then sand with 600-grit sandpaper.”
A friend’s father owned a body shop and came to see how the project was coming along.
“He looked at us and started to laugh,” recalled Chess. “He said, ‘You don't do it that way. What you have to do is put some Bondo on and you take a cheese grater and grate it down, and then you sand it until it's smooth.’”
Eventually, they finished the project, and Chess sold the Porsche in 1969. He bought a 1964 Porsche coupe, which he still owns today.
The same year he sold the Porsche, Chess graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in business administration. After working at an accounting firm for about a year, he found that he hated it and left. In the early 1970s, his father bought a wrecking yard with a body shop where Chess spent his time.
One of his neighbors was an insurance adjuster at Farmer’s and often came to the wrecking yard for parts. He and his friend from State Farm taught Chess how to write estimates.
The business was sold in 1994 and Chess helped build a body shop for Long Beach Honda. Later, he worked for Rosecrans Autobody and Caliber, and eventually joined Holmes Body Shop, owned by Tom Holmes. He and Steve Morris, the COO, became close friends and ran the day-to-day operations for nine stores. Chess was in charge of training and running half the stores and Morris ran the remainder.
“He was my mentor,” recalled Chess. “I used to say, ‘He was the brains. I was the brawn.’ He had a mind beyond everybody else.”
Chess said he has driven about half a million miles to conduct training, and there were several times he drove through bad weather to reach his destination.
While attending a monthly meeting at the Pasadena store in February 2005, Chess noticed one of the technicians’ plug welds was incorrect. That prompted him to coordinate training for the 26 technicians at the company with Audi Sweden at I-CAR. Holmes Auto Body borrowed a truck from Enterprise and set up four new welders and some crude stands to perform the welds.
“When I was finished, I told Steve, ‘This is more fun than working in a body shop,’” he said.
Chess asked I-CAR to go on the road and, ultimately, he invested his own money to purchase a Toyota Tacoma and equipment. He painted the trailer blue and the shop’s painter added flames. Chess also bought some welders, loaded up the Tacoma and the necessary equipment and went on the road on June 1, 2005.
When he first started, Chess would walk into a body shop and let them know he was onsite to teach welding. In the first month, he trained 88 technicians, completing the third-highest number in the country. Over the first year, Chess conducted over 830 welding tests.
“Once they saw that I could do that with that little truck and trailer, they decided to buy six box trucks,” explained Chess.
However, there were challenges. Due to their weight, they needed to stop at every weigh station. They were also carrying hazardous waste because of the gasoline inside the truck.
“The thing was just a boondoggle,” he remembered. “It all fell apart.”
However, Chess continued teaching and eventually began educating the industry in-house.
“More and more, that's what you see today,” he said.
Over the years, he estimates that he has taught more than 7,000 hands-on I-CAR welding classes plus 15,000 live classes in multiple states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington. There were several times he drove through bad weather to reach his destination.
“The worst was when I had to go to Bend, OR, and I had to be in Klamath Falls, and I had to leave after we welded,” he shared. “It was a whiteout. That was scary.”
While he drove to his next destination, it snowed again and he found himself in another whiteout. Eventually, it passed, and the sun came out.
He estimates he has driven about half a million miles to conduct training.
“It has been a blast,” he said. “I’ve been able to go to places I would have never seen in my lifetime.”
Today, he often encounters students who attended one of his classes.
Chess has many fond memories of teaching and continues to do so today because of his enjoyment of sharing knowledge with newcomers to the industry.
His advice to shop owners and managers is to “spend the money to get your people trained.”
Chess also stresses the importance of always teaching “the why.”
“If you teach them the ‘why,’ then they have the ability to understand why you do these things and it makes sense,” he explained.
He encourages educators to share the theory behind their approach, as well as provide hands-on training.
“When I get started, I will do that because I don't want these guys to fail,” he said. “It's not fair to put a guy out there who has never had any formal training and expect them not to have any flaws in their welds.”
Memories from Friends and Colleagues
Brian Wasson, I-CAR senior manager of core and specialty training, said Chess has been a valued I-CAR instructor since 2005, and part of a seasoned team of experts, many of whom have been teaching I-CAR courses for over a decade.
“We are deeply grateful for the passion and perseverance of our instructors,” said Wasson. “There is no greater contribution than sharing knowledge and skills that empower and strengthen the next generation—it’s why I-CAR was founded.”
Wasson said Chess is part of a legacy of dedicated educators whose commitment to complete, safe and quality repairs continues to benefit consumers across the industry.
“Toby, alongside his fellow instructors, has embraced new technologies to enhance in-shop training—making his sessions even more effective for the dynamic ways today’s technicians learn and adapt to emerging repair needs,” said Wasson.
Jay Flores, owner of Tony’s Body Shop in Oxnard, CA, has used Chess as a hands-on I-CAR instructor for many years.
Toby Chess is pictured with Autobody News writer Stacey Phillips Ronak during the SEMA Show.
“He is a rare gem in that he actually teaches the technicians to learn,” said Flores. “He sits there with them. He encourages them. He’s a very pleasant person.”
From his experience working with Chess, Flores has found his approach enables students to learn. With hands-on classes often being costly for shops, Flores noted the importance of having instructors explain all the steps to accomplish a task rather than just going through the motions.
He often uses the example of getting dressed before coming to work. “I put on my shoes and I put on my pants. If I don't pay attention, I'll come to work with two different shoes—a tennis shoe and a work shoe—because I’m not paying attention,” he joked. “But if I'm paying attention, I come with the right shoes. They match well.”
He has found a similar experience working with Chess.
“Toby pays attention and wants to teach these kids versus going through the motions,” said Flores. “They learn, they implement, and they look forward to the next time he comes out.”
Flores said as a business owner, he doesn’t want to just go through the motions.
“I'm trying to get ahead, and you get ahead with well-trained people,” he said.
As a result, Flores makes it a priority to pick the best trainers who genuinely care and want to teach.
“Chess still gets excited about helping people,” noted Flores. “That's why if I have a choice of instructors, I ask for him, or I wait for him because it's worth it to me.”
Sam Zamir, general manager of Collision Consultants Auto Body and Paint in Los Angeles, CA, met Chess in 2005 when he was assisting Zamir’s I-CAR instructor.
Although Zamir said his first impression of Chess was that he was tough and abrasive, he has come to know him as sweet and kind—the opposite of his initial impression.
Over the years, Zamir said Chess has consistently stepped up for his technicians and others who needed assistance. He recalled how Chess overcame language barriers with students and helped them learn something meaningful during their I-CAR classes.
“He volunteered time for our first responder events, gave new techs their first tools, assisted techs pass their welding certifications, and even connected me with the right vendors for my equipment needs,” Zamir shared. “He is a blessing to our industry and there are many who owe their careers to Toby Chess.”
“I have rarely meant someone as caring and compassionate as Toby,” said Tom Williamson, owner of Marina Auto Body in Marina del Rey, Huntington Beach and Inglewood, CA.
Williamson said Chess is “a bull in a china store, but you have got to love his passion for teaching and the collision industry.”
When Chess visits or provides training at one of Marina Auto Body’s facilities, Williamson has found he naturally commands the employees’ undivided attention.
Williamson said Chess has earned that attention due to the team respecting his incredible knowledge of repair techniques that make sense.
“His welding training is no-nonsense, very thorough and the techs always complete the training with a greater understanding,” said Williamson. “We as an industry are better today because of Toby.”
During the 2021 Collision Industry Red Carpet Awards event, Toby Chess received the March Taylor Kina’ole Award, given out in memory of March Taylor, who owned a collision repair facility in Kona, HI, and was known for living his life according to the Hawaiian word “Kina’ole.”
Barry Dorn, vice president of Dorn’s Body & Paint in Mechanicsville, VA, met Chess through March Taylor many years ago at the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) and Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) meetings.
“March was a mentor to many of us, and Toby certainly has been a mentor to me and our team here,” said Dorn. “Toby trained me and many others when we had OEM certification welding tests that we would not have passed otherwise.”
Dorn said his teachings, mentorship and advice have been invaluable over the years and still are today.
“Plus, factoring in true friendship, I’m not sure that we would be in the same positions we are now,” noted Dorn. “His relentless pursuit to prepare everyone to do things correctly and properly with the correct tooling, training, equipment and outlook has been what has elevated us to where we are now.”
He said Chess embodies the Hawaiian word “Kina’ole”—doing the right thing in the right way, at the right time, in the right place, to the right person, for the right reason, with the right feeling.
Dorn can’t recall an initiative or organization that Chess hasn’t been a part of in some way and continues to provide education for the California Autobody Association (CAA), CIC, I-CAR, SCRS and many other organizations to this day.
“His legacy will forever be ingrained in me and what I do going forward,” shared Dorn. “My team, the collision industry and my family owe a tremendous amount to Toby and his pursuit to educate and always do what is right by the consumer.”
Patrick O’Neill, president of OBER Collision Services in Tucson, AZ, said that Chess is selfless.
“He was and always has been about helping the industry and the technicians who work on vehicles,” noted O’Neill. “He made you think, he taught you to understand why we did it this way and the importance of doing it right.”
O’Neill said that Chess has always introduced new equipment to make people’s jobs easier and helped fix cars better.
“He was always there when there was a good cause, donating his time and money to give back to the industry,” recalled O’Neill. “He fought for us and supported us in our negotiations with insurers.”
“Toby is a man I can call any time for advice or help on projects my companies have worked on in the past,” said O’Neil. “Toby is a true friend!”
Ole Vandborg, owner of Scandinavian Coachcraft, said Chess has been a saint in the collision business for over 20 years.
“His dedication to the industry is beyond words,” said Vandborg. “He has helped so many shops get on the right track, get technicians trained properly and helped newcomers in the industry with tools, guidance and support. I wish we could clone him in a younger version.”
