Airdrie Autobody
story by Alex Frazer-Harrison, photo by Sergei Belski
Established 14 years ago, Airdrie Autobody specializes in collision repair, but there’s also time for the occasional bit of custom work too.
“Some guys want to throw a little chrome on their car, or put inserts in the fenders … they want their car to look different [from] the next guy’s,” says shop manager Empringham. “This time of year, we get a lot of motorcycles. We do a lot of custom fabrication – people coming in with bikes bought on consignment, saying, ‘I like that bike, but I want it to do something else for me; I want it to be jazzier.’”
Cars and trucks have a lot more surface area to cover than bikes, so it’s a substantial proposition when someone brings in a vehicle to have an airbrush design added. “We just finished one recently that’s a Dodge Dakota that was airbrushed with flames, all the front end and the side of the truck. It was an extensive deal,” says Empringham.
Some clients don’t want to go through the expense of airbrushing and so opt for the less expensive option of having a decal designed and applied. “We did another Dodge truck … with a decal and we cleared over top of it so it resembled paint, but it wasn’t really paint,” says Empringham.
Airdrie Autobody, owned by Rick and Theresa Whitty, is one of the sponsors of the annual Doing It On the Grass car show that takes over Nose Creek Park in late summer, and has also sponsored racers in Legends Cars of Alberta.
The 13-strong shop also supports youths entering the automotive industry and is currently working with a student in the province’s registered apprenticeship program. “We have an apprentice we’re looking at bringing on full time; we’ll sponsor him and help him get his ticket and his journeyman [certificate],” says Empringham.
Airdrie Autobody’s main work is helping restore vehicles that have been damaged, from street-corner fender-benders, to collisions with neighbours’ wind-blown trampolines, to “cows leaning up against vehicles and KO’ing the sides of trucks,” says Empringham.
“The best part about the job is taking something of somebody’s that’s been damaged, and they’re sad or mad about it, and turning it around and putting it back to new.”
Check back in August at www.airdrielife.com to read about our next man@work.
