427 Auto Collision~CSN’s secret to staying on top of paint technology.

427 Auto Collision~CSN has completed 93,000 repairs. And that’s just since they started using their current computer system. All told, that number is probably closer to 250,000.

The majority of the paint jobs have two distinct fingerprints (metaphorically speaking, of course—427 is known Canada-wide for its quality painting): that of Sam Voci and Tony Da Costa.

When Tony started painting at 427 18 years ago, Sam had already been there for years. Since then, Sam has taken over as paint and prep department manager.

“Sam and Tony are very easy to deal with—they’re extremely knowledgeable,” said Peter Kusey, who’s been their AkzoNobel paint rep for six years. “And when there’s problems, they understand that not everything’s perfect all the time, so they don’t really get upset. They call and say ‘hey I’ve got a problem can you help me out?’”

Akzo actually uses 427 to test products. “Tony picks up little nuances of the paint that can really help us out quite a bit,” Kusey said.

When waterborne paints were first surfacing, Tony called to see about converting one of their booths to waterborne so he could familiarize himself with the new paints. Not long after, they converted the rest of the facility, making 427 one of the first fully waterborne facilities in Canada.

“We didn’t want to wait until the deadline,” Sam said. “We didn’t want to be behind. That’s why we started a couple years ago.”

One of the biggest challenges they encountered with the switch was keeping dirt out of the process. They didn’t have the same leeway to buff it out after. They brought in equipment and introduced procedures to help, but a lot of the trick was simply hard work.

“It was a lot of practice,” Tony said. “A lot of practice. But we started very early. So now that by law we have to use it, we’re okay.” Which, according to Kusey, is putting it mildly.

“The work that comes out of the booth sometimes is absolutely amazing,” said Kusey, who spent 21 years as a painter himself. “Tony is a one-of-a-kind painter, there’s no question....So [the transition to waterborne] was extremely smooth,” he continued.

“Tony and Sam—the entire shop for that matter—have very high expectations. They’re very quality oriented....I’ve never seen a production shop out there with that kind of quality."