YesterWreck – The Column #6: The Collision Repair Industry – 1940 - 1949
Editor's Note: This is the sixth in a FenderBender-exclusive series, excerpted from Ledoux’s book, YesterWreck: The History of the Collision Repair Industry in America, available here.
Find the rest of the series here.
At the end of WWI, most Americans took an isolationist stance; nobody wanted to participate in another war, the least of which a fight on foreign soil. The more Hitler persisted in his march of conquest, the more Americans dug in their heels. That is, until December 7, 1941, when Japan struck an American naval base in Hawaii that few people had ever heard of. Then, there was no question what America had to do. Several years of global war would bring about cultural, economic, political, and social change such that had never been seen in the U.S. and around the world, and not the least of which would be dramatic changes in the American automotive industry in general, and the collision repair industry in particular. In fact, many collision repair industry leaders and longstanding collision repair industry suppliers agree that the post-war period beginning in 1945 marked the birth of what we know today as the modern automotive collision repair industry.
Collision Suppliers Pitch In
Many companies now associated with the collision industry did their part for the war effort. DuPont, better known in automotive circles for its automotive refinish coatings, was primarily a gunpowder manufacturer and contributed 4.5 billion pounds of explosives for the war effort. This would have a sobering effect for DuPont later on. Sherwin-Williams was ready to help the cause with a newly constructed $37 million facility and a workforce of 6,000. The company made over 10 million ammunition shells, several million aerial bombs, and anti-tank mines. The U.S. was building ships – which needed paint - and Sherwin-Williams was ready. Over 400,000 pounds of Sherwin-Williams paint was applied to the USS Iowa. The war accelerated the development and production of special aviation and industrial coatings that would later fit peacetime applications. More than 2,700 Sherwin-Williams employees served in the US Armed Forces. Sadly, 25 never returned home.
The concept of camouflage gained recognition during the war. Artists designed special paint schemes for American ships that, when viewed through the periscope of a German U-boat, would appear that the ship was sailing in the opposite direction. Several of these same artists later worked for the car manufacturers introducing the two-tone and three-tone color schemes of 1950s cars.
Bicycles and Lawn Mowers
The war years were marked by shortages of just about everything. In January 1942, tire rationing was announced. Gasoline was rationed in March. In 1942, civilian car production was curtailed so that factories could turn out war materials. Auto travel — and just about everything associated with it — was brought to a standstill. Car dealers had to survive on service and parts sales. Auto parts jobbers were selling fewer parts and less paint and body supplies, so some turned to other items to generate a profit, including selling lawn mowers and bicycles.
Innovation Continues Despite War
Despite the dearth of new automobiles and a severe slump in vehicle miles traveled, automotive technology continued to plow forward. The decade of the ‘40s saw such automotive innovations as automatic transmissions, safety-rim wheels, two-speed electric windshield wipers, electro-hydraulic power windows and seats, disc brakes, and some unit-body construction. Car design was influenced by aviation and the air war over Europe and the Pacific theater. The once-boxy auto design was becoming sleeker, and more stylish – adding new challenges to their repair.
Refinish Technology Advances
The 1940s also saw improvements in automotive refinishing technology. Paint booth fires in the 1930s led to improved paint booths of the 1940s being made of cement blocks or metal – non-flammable materials. Lights were also placed in housings to keep them out of the path of atomized paint. Doors were put on the front of the booth to create a drive-in structure and keep overspray from permeating the shop, and every other car in the shop. The first modern spray booths were born. The 1940’s also saw the introduction of better overspray-capturing media filters made with treated paper. It also saw the natal beginnings of specialty auto body repair tools, metallic paints, improvements in custom paint mixing and production at the shop and jobber level, and early estimating guides that included parts.
Associations Emerge and Shops Grow
Perhaps most important to the coalescence of the collision repair industry was the early formation, during the 1940s, of the auto body and auto repair associations and the early newsletters they sent out to their members. Some of these led to the development of today’s trade magazines. In 1940, the Independent Garage Owners of California became one of the earliest associations dedicated to the independent garage owner. The organization catered to both mechanical and collision repair shops. However, at the time the line between these two very different businesses was quite blurred.
On October 3, 1945, civilian car production resumed with new designs and new technology. Car makers worked frantically to keep pace with new demand. Multi-car families soon became commonplace, adding to the aggregate miles travelled, and commensurate accidents. But body shops and auto repair businesses were sprouting up on every corner.
War Ends
WWII ended in Europe on May 8, 1945, and in the Pacific theater on August 14, 1945; the actual instrument of surrender was signed by Japan on September 2, 1945. American servicemen were coming home by the boatload and needed a way to make a living. Many had joined the service right out of high school and had no job to go back to. Many were able to use the skills they learned in the service doing vehicle mechanical repairs, while some gravitated to body work. To help newly discharged service members get started in their civilian life, the U.S. government produced small booklets with tips on how to start and run your own business. They produced books on everything from managing a bakery, a cobbler shop, a grocery store… or an automobile repair shop, better known as Education Manual EM980.
And there was plenty of work to go around. The “Victory Speed” of 35 MPH was no longer in force and people wanted to drive; and drive fast! It became a free-for-all on America’s highways, and nobody knew this better than State Farm founder and president, George Mecherle. In 1944, during the height of the war, State Farm processed 293,045 loss claims for auto insurance. In 1946, State Farm processed 648,609 claims! For a few months in 1946, State Farm was hemorrhaging money at the rate of $1M per month! Moving forward, the cost of claims had to be mitigated – but how? Soon a plan developed. State Farm would no longer insure a car more than eight years old. They would no longer insure anyone under 21 (unless the family already had a SF policy), nor would they insure anyone over 70 years of age. State Farm also took a different tack in their advertising. To educate consumers about the huge cost of claim losses, starting in 1946 State Farm’s message was to drive carefully, reduce speed, and avoid accidents. They said that State Farm auto insurance was one of the best bargains available, but it would only stay that way if the accident rate stopped rising. The company began cooperating with the National Safety Council and International Association of Police Chiefs in running safety campaigns.
The Earliest Body Shops Emerge
As automotive technology advanced, it became clear that there was an art and science to mechanical work, and a different art and science to doing body repairs. The new aerodynamic body designs of the ‘50s made the differences that much more distinct.
The earliest shops were small operations, and even into the 1970s, were one- and two-man shops. They were technicians by trade, not businessmen and not professional managers. Their stock-in-trade was their expertise and experience.
Competition was minimal and demands on the shops to be professionals was almost non-existent. Shops didn’t know they needed an office, in most cases, so there were no office staff. The shop owner had to take care of all his own paperwork. “Estimator” was a term the insurance companies used. The shop owner gave his own estimate (sometimes verbally) while he was working on another vehicle. There was virtually no technician training done and no place to go for training. There were no customer service representatives, and the body tech usually did a complete job on a car, from teardown to painting to final cleaning.
The shops typically were a mess with Bondo dust and lead filings everywhere, discarded masking tape and paper thrown about and parts strewn everywhere. There were no standards on how to repair a car, no standards on running the business, or how to properly care for a customer. Because there was no established business model, shops just bumbled along as best they could. Shop owners made up the rules as they went along. During the ‘40s, and even as late as the ‘80s for some shops, shop owners didn’t know if they were making any money or not!
The good news was the work was almost unlimited. Shops had no trouble getting work, and at the time, they weren’t relying on their DRP agreements to bring work in the door. In the days before the EPA and OSHA, shops didn’t need to worry about what happened to their waste products or to be concerned with wearing personal protective gear. And the overhead operating costs were fairly low.
Fortunately, the 1940s were also a time when collision industry leaders began to emerge. Between them, a few collision repair industry associations, and some industry periodicals which were quite localized at first, and then went regional and few went national, the industry finally began to have a voice and become the industry we know today.
Excerpted from Ledoux’s book, YesterWreck: The History of the Collision Repair Industry in America available here.
