Brad's Smash Repairs

What’s new for 2009

Visiting our website might leave you thinking that Brads is a restoration/hotrod business, however that is far from the real truth, the project cars simply make for more interesting viewing while contributing less than 5% of our production last year.

Brads is in fact the most modern and qualified “full service” insurance repair business in our area. I am constantly updating our plant, and staff knowledge in order to deliver not only the best possible repair service but also customer service. I personally am in the workshop every day and enjoy working on vehicles alongside my crew.

We are a relatively small business enjoying phenominal growth and this year we are looking forward to building on our existing structural repair centre success further.

With a fleet of courtesy cars and free pick up and delivery we are able to get you back on the road right away while we work with your insurer to get your vehicle repaired and back to you.

The quickest way to get your car back on the road is to contact Marney, Steve or myself right away and let us streamline the repair process for your vehicle.

All the best for 2009!

VH SS Commodore.

The newest project in is a VH SS Commodore. This car came in late last year for a fresh coat of paint in the engine bay while the engine is out and being freshened up.

The owner again is an old friend and an extremely passionate Holden fan.  Its now been decided that the VH will get completely stripped back to bare metal, some minor rust repaired and resprayed to factory spec colour, inside and out.

Pictures of the car will be added shortly and this one has a special interest for me, so most of the work will be attended to as I can schedule the time myself.

Starsky and Hutch finished

The Gran Torino was finished last week and is undergoing final panel fitment and aligning before being delivered back to the owners for final assembly.

The white stripe and black pinstripe border are all painted on and cleared over along with the final coats of red colour and it looks terrific.

Thanks to Shane for his efforts and commitment on this project. We took this job on only a month before Xmas with still quite a bit of body work needed. Given that we closed for 3x full weeks over the Holiday season, this vehicle has progressed quickly and it is great to have such a great group of genuinely talented guys to help undertake these types of projects.

1974 Corvette Stingray

This vehicle was towed in last October having collided with a Mack truck. These vehicles are manufactured in fibreglass and this one was suffering from osmosis which compounded the stress and secondary damage from the impact. A full set of replacement front panels was ordered up and replaced from the windscreen forward. Some structural damage around the bonnet latch/bulkhead area had resulted from the accident so a light weight carbon fibre cloth was used to repair and reinforce it securely.

We managed to get good s/hand parts quickly for it and the whole job was completed and the owner picked the vehicle up in time for the Xmas holiday’s

Starsky and Hutch Gran Torino

Recently we met a great couple as clients for some insurance work and as seems to happen with us, they have become good friends and supporters of our company.

Goeff and Sam came to us in November with their Ford Gran Torino, which had spent a couple of years since they first bought it, getting rust repairs and body work done at another company locally.

They were pretty specific about their requirements, finish the body work and final detailing and paint it red and white to the TV show, “Starsky and Hutch”, car colour scheme and they came armed with pictures and measurements, colour swatches and paint codes.

Again we have been fortunate enough right about the same week to engage another quality spray painter with an impressive resume of restoration work locally. The Big Gran Torino was taken on at the start of December as was Shane and he was comitted to the job full time. I have done final body repairs around the car and it was sprayed with 3 coats of Polyester Spray Filler, hand blocked, 2 pak primed, re-rubbed and finally sprayed with 2x coats of 2k white tinter. This 2k “intercoat” allows us to see any imperfections we may have missed more clearly and ensures a beautiful ”clean” and even topcoat.

The paint was baked at 70c and the car is sitting now until new Year and will get final paint and completed by end of January.

Looking forward to seeing the end result of this project so quickly.

Steve’s Skyline Project

The GTR Skyline wide body conversion has been completed since late October however with all the pressure to get customers projects and day to day insurance repairs completed for the Xmas holiday period, reassembly and final detailing has had to wait.

Steve has repainted it in a special high clarity black tinter which looks terrific and so much harder looking.

The massive 18″x13″ rear and 18″x11″ front 3x piece rims look awesome and really fill out each of the 90mm wider guards.

Steve had a couple of long weekends and late nights in the last few weeks before Xmas and he is now driving the GTR and getting a lot of interest from people of all age groups, keen to know what is so different about this vehicle.

Great work Steve! The car looks awesome!

Welding test

Recently I have sat and passed a trade welding test with a 100 % pass. This test has now been mandated as a compulsory requirement by the Collision Repair Association for those panel shops wanting to remain as Structural Repair Centre’s in future, however I understand that I am the only panel shop owner to have achieved this in Nelson and is an example of my personal commitment within our business.

Further to the welding test will be the requirement to have an inverter spot welder by June of 2009. We have allready bought this machine and are using it regularly in order to ensure that vehicles are repaired to exacting factory specification.

This has become increasingly important now with airbags, crumple zones and the prolific use of high strength steel in all modern motor vehicles and in order to retain their design function and safety system perfomance following accident repair.

You can be sure that when you nominate Brads to your insurance company for vehicle repairs, you will be getting the best quality service available.

New member of staff

We have recently employed another excellent spraypainter as a member of our staff.

Roy Stead is a very qualified automotive spraypainter who has also previously owned and operated his own company.  We have been lucky enough to be able to employ Roy, his ability and commitment has been invaluable during this first 3 months with us and Marney and I are truly fortunate to be able to attract another terrific member to join our team.

55 Chevrolet Belair

Chris and Kaye’s 55 Chevrolet Belair is painted and reassembled and ready for delivery. It has been a big panel and paint project involving a full strip to bare metal, which exposed a very poor previous restoration attempt.

Dash and interior have been stripped and resprayed in the customers own shade of yellow and every body panel removed and paint stripped. The engine bay, door edges and outer panels were all epoxy primed and sealed before some minor rust and general damage and old repairs rectified. The body was then fully sprayed with Polyester spray filler and hand blocked, 2 pak primed and sprayed in white 2k to “base up” for the yellow final colour. This first colour coat also makes it easier to see any imperfections which can then be addressed again before the final top coat is applied.

The final Yellow/White 2 tone colour combination looks great and very original and clean.

Thanks to Roy and Steve, (2 of my very qualified painters) for their tireless efforts and helping to deliver such a great result and high standard.

Thanks for trusting us with your project Chris and Kaye and happy motoring.