Tech Session at Automotive Collision Specialists

Saturday, February 27, 2016 – 10:00am to 3:00pm, Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina

Section members had a very fine Saturday to drive to Auto Collision Specialists in Fuquay-Varina, NC to tour the facilities there. Approximately 30 members drove 15 cars to attend the event. Organized by John Byrne of the Triangle Section, our group was hosted by the shop owner, Alan Woodard. As its name implies, this business started as a place to repair damage from vehicle accidents. Over time, however, the owner and technicians working there found themselves taking the kind of care in their work more characteristic of restoration shops and have been moving their business in that direction ever since. They have two spray booths and the equipment to custom mix colors in addition to shop floor space. They found color matching to be more accurate when done at their shop and in their lighting rather than running back-and-forth to a paint supplier. They can still spray single-layer paint for older cars but prefer to use BASF Glasurit for most work. That is the same paint used by Mercedes-Benz on their new cars since the base/clear coat system gives good long term protection form sun exposure.

The shop did the body and paint work for John Byrne’s restoration of his green 1970 280SL. It has done very well in judging at MBCA events and has been accepted for the 2016 Pinehurst Concours d’Elegance. The shop also recently repaired the rear quarter of Steve Redwine’s red 1985 280SL after an “unfortunate incident”. The shop not only matched the color properly but also gave the right amount of orange peel to simulate the factory paint. Steve’s blue 1970 280SL is currently undergoing a new coat of paint in the shop. After our tour there was lunch at Garibaldi’s restaurant in Fuquay-Varina and a driving tour to Adam’s Vineyards in Willow Spring.