Kijana Noel, owner and operations manager of G&B Collision Center in Brooklyn, NY, is carrying on a long family tradition in the automotive repair industry.
Noel’s grandfather opened a shop in Grenada more than 60 years ago. All five of his children grew up to work in the industry, either on the mechanical or auto body side.
One of his sons---Noel’s uncle---and a friend started working on friends’ and family’s cars in Brooklyn, NY, out of a two-car garage behind a house in the early ‘90s, on evenings and weekends. Buzz grew by word of mouth, and eventually his uncle felt he had enough steady work to move the operation into a 5,000-square-foot facility in 1998.
G&B Collision Center
Brooklyn, NY
718-230-9793
gbcollisioncenter.com
Facebook: @GandBCollisionCenter
Twitter: @GB_Collision
Instagram: @gb.collision
Company At A Glance...
Type: Collision Repair
Facility Employees: 12
In Business Since: 1998
Number of Locations: One
Production Space: 8,000 square feet
“The climb was slow, but we got rolling,” Noel said.
Meanwhile, after high school, Noel attended the diesel mechanic program at Ohio Technical College, then came back to New York to work for his uncle, joining the team in 1999. He is now a co-owner of the shop and oversees operations.
“It’s kind of a family trade,” Noel said.
Today, G&B Collision Center has grown into an 8,000-square-foot space. The I-CAR Gold Class facility repairs about 90 vehicles per month, offering heavy collision repair, minor dent repair, paintless dent removal, wheel repair and car lease return pre-inspection services.
Noel said the family-run business has always kept an eye out for cutting-edge technology. “We love tools,” he said. “That’s another thing that’s ingrained in our DNA---we love new fascinating tools that make our job easier and cleaner.”
That’s why they purchased their first induction heating tools from Induction Innovations not long after the company started offering them. Founder and President Tom Gough developed the first Inductor Series model in 2000, inspired by his 28 years in collision repair, seeing the many time-consuming processes.
G&B Collision Center has been using a full-size Inductor Series model and a Mini-Ductor Venom for about two decades, Noel said, and the technicians all prefer them to open-flame torches when they need to remove any adhesive from metal, including sealers, under coatings, glass or tape, or heat up corroded or seized bolts.
“It would be hard to get them to go back to an oxy-acetylene torch,” Noel said, as the induction heating tools are safer, cleaner and more versatile.
Noel said he prefers the induction heat used by Induction Innovations because “anything can happen” when using an open flame.
Noel recalled seeing a car’s interior catch fire while a technician used a torch to heat up seam sealer underneath the car. Before anyone realized what was happening, the fire spread, burning 60% of the interior before it could be extinguished.
Abby Andrews