Well-known throughout Maine as a shop that specializes in Porsche, Audi, Volkswagen, and Mazda, Morong Body Shop in Falmouth recently acquired their second Blowtherm paint booth to continue its legacy. Since 1953, Morong Body Shop has been performing collision repairs on these four brands with a tight crew and that focuses on quality.
Morong Falmouth Body Shop
Locations: Falmouth, ME
(207) 523-8740
www.morong.com
Company At A Glance...
Type: Collision Repair
Facility Employees: Five
In Business Since: 1953
Number of Locations: One
Production Space: 3,500 square feet
After carefully vetting most of the other paint booths on the market, Brandt Hatala Shop Manager, knew he would stick with Blowtherm. “We have moved several times over the years, and the paint booth in one of our former locations was a Blowtherm unit that was installed in the late 1980s,” he said. “You can’t beat that kind of life expectancy from a piece of equipment that was used on a daily basis for all those years. So, we knew about Blowtherm’s track record and it was impressive, so it made the decision a lot easier. When you purchase a booth, you expect it to last for a long time and perform at a high level, and that’s exactly what we get with our Blowtherm.”
Two of the most notable benefits that the Morong crew have experienced since acquiring their second Blowtherm booth include increased productivity and the fact that they were able save money by switching over to a natural gas burner system. “We are so much more efficient now because we are using less energy and getting a much better bake cycle,” says the Body Shop manager. “It’s a more even heat source and the finished product is always excellent.”
The paint jobs that Morong Body Shop is creating on a consistent basis tie in neatly with their mantra---“When we are done, it shouldn’t just look good; it should look like an accident never occurred at all.”
The booth’s installation process was seamless and drama-free with the help of their distributor Mike Hites at Autoquip out of Newmarket, NH. It also gave them the opportunity to become a greener business during the same time. “We purchased a pretty universal Blowtherm booth that allowed us to switch over to waterborne paint easily,” Hatala said. “The installation was planned out ahead of time and worked out very well with our schedule. The development process evolved around the importance of us being able to use the existing footprint that the existing paint booth was sitting on. It was critical for us to minimize any remodeling expenses in order to keep costs down and stay within our budget. Blowtherm had a model available that fit the space perfectly with minimal building modification, which was great. Even the existing blower unit venting stack was able to be used with some minor sheet metal modifications.”
Abby Andrews