Sept - Oct 05: Tales from the road

Tales from the road

When you visit more than 60 bodyshops as our judges did for this year's awards, you come across a whole lot of interesting sidelights. These are some of them.

Most valuable asset
Brian Cowan bought Coleman's Quality Smash Repairs run-down business in Sydney's Taren Point two years ago. He's steadily refurbishing it with the latest equipment ? which he knows intimately from having spent eight years with Autorobot and nine years selling Auto Quote.
When we asked him what was his most valuable asset he quickly assembled his staff of 13.

"I'd like you to take a ALG doesn't mix
ALG Smash Repairs, a small, neat and efficient shop in Mortdale, NSW, is enthusiastic about Concept's No Mix base coat. This business, run by the De Sousa family for 16 years, reports that Concept's No Mix lays well, has good coverage, and is 'friendly' to other refinish brands.
One of this shop's great advantages is rooftop parking which avoids the curse of cars on the street.

Seeing eye to eye
Canberra repairer, Tony Furragia, has a special emergency eye wash station for the times when his technicians get chemicals or particles caught in their eyes. Although seldom used, it stands as an expression of caring for Farrugia's staff. Just around the corner from the station is more emergency equipment. The package for heart attacks hasn't been used yet, but Tony Farrugia says there is enough stress in this industry to keep the equipment at the ready.

Waiting for the assessor
Sydney repairer L&M says this is the skeleton of a former estimator who was waiting for an assessor in the bad old days when assessors forgot appointments. It doesn't happen now of course. On the other hand it might be an owner waiting for a car to be finished ? a proposition that managing director Garry Maher hotly denies, pointing to his quick turnaround record.

Two's company
Fuda Brothers in Sydney's Toongabbie has a shop with only five employees, yet it runs two paint systems: Lesonal and Protec. The brands sit staring at each other across the paint room.

Vintage water
Alto BMW's repair shop in Sydney's Pennant Hills puts most of repair jobs through an automatic car wash. The shop is doing its bit for Sydney's perilous water supply by recycling the water from the car wash.
How to win an award
Last year Ron Goodman at Exclusive Body Werks offered the award judges Krispy Kreme doughnuts when they visited and won the best small shop for NSW and then for Australia. This year, the Shafer brothers offered the judges a plate of Krispy Kreme doughnuts and they won the best new shop for NSW. Food for thought in 2006.

AAMI used to be Amy
This is the first sign used by AAMI. It is part of the huge collection of memorabilia at Pomroy Panels in Niddrie, a Melbourne suburb. The company has two other early AAMI signs as well.

Father and son
Aljohn panels, a two man operation run by John Crowley and his son Mark, is caught in a time warp. It has no alignment bench (only a floor pulling frame), no paint system (the Paint Is in cans in a cupboard), a home made booth, a trammel manual measuring system . . . the 'no' list goes on. Yet take a small job to this shop and you'll get a low cost repair equal in quality to the best. John Crowley has been at the same unpretentious address for 39 years. He doesn't want to move or expand. He and his son like it just the way it is. You wouldn't meet two nicer blokes.

The best smiles
It's unofficial at this stage, but we're considering a special award for the repair receptionist with the most welcoming smile. First prize is dinner with the editor. Second prize is two dinners with the editor. Can anyone beat Natalie from Mr Gloss in Melbourne, or Melinda from Lombardi's in Perth or Roslyn from Wadleys in Perth? Send us a
A new shop?
We knew we were at the right address but we got a shock when we looked at what had been entered in the best new bodyshop award category. Somebody had been playing games with us, surely. It turned out that this was the old shop in which George Kallifidas had been working for 12 years. Inside the decor it was ancient too ? although the work was modern.
George took us from here to his new shop which couldn't have been more different. But old one still says 'grandpa had his Austin fixed here in 1932'.

Misleading images
If you simply looked at the first image of this series you would estimate that the job called for either a new or a repaired bar cover. Your opinion would be reinforced by the fact that the Camry rear doors gaps were okay and the door still closed nicely. But look in the boot and there is a different story. A distorted chassis rail, boot floor and probably bumper reo all need attention. What might have been a cheap, quick repair, has slipped into something much bigger.
If this was quoted online, just using external images, a repairer would tear his hair out when the job arrived in his shop.

Fancy a cold petrol?
The late Bill Magher of L & M Smash Repairs in Sydney used to collect petrol bowsers. At the time of his passing he'd collect 70 of them. One, a Golden Fleece bowser, has become the inspiration for this son Garry to make a novel fridge ? ideal for a smash repair lunch rooms. If you want Garry to make you one call him on (02) 9624 8290.

Setting them straight
Apart from helping friends and old customers, Chassis Tech does not work for insurers or the public. Who does that leave, you may ask? It leaves alignment pulling work and alignment measuring work for other repairers. The shop was started by George Germanis in 1957 and is now run by his son Peter. With only three in the shop it is always busy. It runs the biggest drive-on Car-o-liner, floor pulling and wheel alignment. Pride of place is given to a very old English machine which used to pull the heaviest chassised cars and trucks. It still can, and is especially useful with four wheel drives.
Because Chassis Tech is essentially a sublet operation, it seldom gets the credit for the high quality work it does.

Online tactics
An Adelaide repairer has advised against quoting too low on jobs being offered online. He says repairers must quote prices that will make them a reasonable profit. In Adelaide, where IAG's online system has been operating for three years, and there is not an oversupply of repair capacity, conditions have swung in the repairers' favour. The former rule that a job had to be started in 10 days has been dropped and most of the bigger jobs are being sent straight to preferred repairers by allocation ? as they used to before WRM. He says that online tender jobs are mostly those less than $2000.

In a hole
Commercial Crash Repairs in Adelaide recently bought the five metre model Car-o-liner and set aside a dedicated alignment area in the shop. Managing director, David Cavuoto, then decided to make drive on even easier by setting the bench into the concrete floor. "The main problem is in cutting the hole accurately," Cavuoto says. "You've only got millimetres to play with."

Quotable
Summarising the smash repair industry, Peter Doolan, the managing director of Doolans Crash Repairs in Townsville says: "Insurance companies sell a promise and repairers deliver it."

That old booth
Don't dismantle your old booth and throw it away if you want a new lunch room ? or an extra lunchroom. Miami Smash repairs on Queensland's Gold Coast has done just that with a booth from the original shop.

High five
From its firewall forward, The BMW five series is all aluminium. This is quite a challenge to repair, even for seasoned and factory approved shops because so few of them have come in for heavy-hit front end repair. We found one at Miami Smash in Queensland. The engine had been removed and a chassis rail repaired according to the maker's instructions to glue and rivet the joins. The trouble is, the factory supplied rivets that are very different in appearance from the OE rivets. Original rivets have flat heads whereas replacement rivets have pronounced round heads. This means that a repair, no matter how well done, will always be detectable. Is this intentional or accidental on the part of BMW?

Reception idea

Showing the works
Having a Ferrari is so much more fun if you can show off its engine without having to lift the cover; hence the glass. Pity the back window isn't as clear.

Brittle mags
When this Falcon crashed the front seat passenger was not wearing a seat belt. The front screen was shattered with his head ? but he survived. What is more interesting is what happened to the two front mag wheels. The spokes broke away from the rim ? on both sides. The question is, did their breakage cause the crash? These were not factory approved wheels. It also rasies the question of wheel repairs. Many smash shops believe that wheels should not be repaired unless they are cleared by x-ray of hairline cracks.

The handle on handles
There are now quite a few Porsche Cayennes appearing on our streets and a few of them are arriving in panel shop for repair. They are not for the inexperienced or the faint hearted, according to Mirage in WA. It you want to take off a couple of door handles, the whole door trim has to come off first. The trick is not to damage it ? and that requires experience. But how do you get that experience without making a mess the first time around? The answer is becoming a Porsche approved repairer and being trained ? plus being supplied with instruction manuals.

2005 winner
Last year we photographed the messiest and most wasteful paint room and this year we've done the same. If it's yours, don't send us an abusive letter, clean it up!

Sky welder
Lombardi Brothers in Perth has overcome the inconvenience of wheeling welders around the shop and railing power lines behind them. This is a welder on an neat overhead arm.

Kitty litter
What's kitty litter doing in the shop at Ken Shafer Smash Repairs? Catching drips of paint or thinners from the gun wash. The Shafers find kitty litter keeps the tray dry by soaking up any spills or spatters. Warning: don't try re-using the litter for pussy. Cats hate thinners.