Welcome
A little about ourselves
I have been painting and customizing autos since before 1985 and have had Passion Works Body Shop since January 1994. Before that I painted cars out of my parents garage. The business then was know as" Cameron’s Broke and Needs Some Money to Run Around On Paint Emporium". " Before that, I built guitar bodies for local music shops out of my parents garage. Since bare wood doesn't sell very well, I learned to varnish and stain. That summer I crashed my VW bug on some bad Oklahoma roads and I didn't have full coverage. Thus was born my passion for working on autos. I found out that no one had a clue or simply didn't want to give any advice on fixing the bug. I even had a local body shop tell me that they would have to order the paint from Germany! I took my limited knowledge on varnishing guitar bodies and set out to repaint the bug. Honestly, it was a disaster! I found some old tractor paint (I lived on a farm in the middle of nowhere) that was almost hardened up and mixed it down with the only thing I knew.....gasoline! Of course, I had to spray it in a closed garage with an air compressor in the corner. Luck follows the children and fools... nothing blew up. Over the next two summers I absorbed everything I could about painting, prep and buffing. I had a relative that was a god at painting take me under his wing and by the end of summer I have a very nice, cherry red 67 Ford Pickup.
I was hooked. Through college, I would take friends cars and paint them for spending money. After getting my degree in Business Administration, I worked several places in Oklahoma City and came to realize it just wasn't for me. Weekends I would be outside working on getting that "look" I wanted in my car. What really sold me is that everyone I worked with said they hated there jobs and would kill to have there own business.
Were does the name Passion Works come? I had worked a really long week at work and then I would spend my nights and weekends working on tricking out my truck. A guy said "Wow Cameron, you really have a lot of passion for this kind of stuff" Then I said, "ya, but it's a lot of work too" Change work to Works and there you go....
As fate would have it, the place I was working at got it’s phones turned off and about half the staff including yours truly, was shown the door... oh ya, did I mention this was the same week I closed on my house? So I took my last check and paid all my bills and started looking for another job. My phone rang the next day and it was a guy that wanted me to paint his Mustang and I could use his garage. I would make my mortgage that month! Well, the jobs kept coming and before I knew it I was making more money than the job I got laid off from.
I started using a one bay garage in Paden at night to paint the owners nephew’s truck. It turned out very well and before I knew it I was renting the small, unheated, unlockable, poorly lit shop next door! It was a dump deluxe but my name brought people in and I kept my eye on the prize of my own shop. I saved money, ate old baloney and to many romian noodles to count..
But after two years I had my house paid off and enough money saved up build a shop. But as with most things, it didn't work out the way it was planned.
Prague only had one body shop and the powers that be were going to make sure it stayed that way. I did not get my zoning after dropping a bunch of money for some lots I had had enough with living in town. I bought 10 acres outside of Prague and moved out. I started renting the old house and stared fresh new in a open field.
To save money, I dug the foundation by hand... lol. folly of youth I guess. Anyway, by Fall of 97 I was up and going again. With space to grow, I got a frame machine, spray booth, lifts and mixing bank for colors. After we had the core business built up, by 99 we started specializing in custom work. This is a highly abbreviated history, as all histories are. During all this time, I made stupid mistakes and had some moments of brilliance. Such is life. I thank all my customers for making me the luckiest guy in the world because I get to do what I love (and get paid for it!)
I was hooked. Through college, I would take friends cars and paint them for spending money. After getting my degree in Business Administration, I worked several places in Oklahoma City and came to realize it just wasn't for me. Weekends I would be outside working on getting that "look" I wanted in my car. What really sold me is that everyone I worked with said they hated there jobs and would kill to have there own business.
Were does the name Passion Works come? I had worked a really long week at work and then I would spend my nights and weekends working on tricking out my truck. A guy said "Wow Cameron, you really have a lot of passion for this kind of stuff" Then I said, "ya, but it's a lot of work too" Change work to Works and there you go....
As fate would have it, the place I was working at got it’s phones turned off and about half the staff including yours truly, was shown the door... oh ya, did I mention this was the same week I closed on my house? So I took my last check and paid all my bills and started looking for another job. My phone rang the next day and it was a guy that wanted me to paint his Mustang and I could use his garage. I would make my mortgage that month! Well, the jobs kept coming and before I knew it I was making more money than the job I got laid off from.
I started using a one bay garage in Paden at night to paint the owners nephew’s truck. It turned out very well and before I knew it I was renting the small, unheated, unlockable, poorly lit shop next door! It was a dump deluxe but my name brought people in and I kept my eye on the prize of my own shop. I saved money, ate old baloney and to many romian noodles to count..
But after two years I had my house paid off and enough money saved up build a shop. But as with most things, it didn't work out the way it was planned.
Prague only had one body shop and the powers that be were going to make sure it stayed that way. I did not get my zoning after dropping a bunch of money for some lots I had had enough with living in town. I bought 10 acres outside of Prague and moved out. I started renting the old house and stared fresh new in a open field.
To save money, I dug the foundation by hand... lol. folly of youth I guess. Anyway, by Fall of 97 I was up and going again. With space to grow, I got a frame machine, spray booth, lifts and mixing bank for colors. After we had the core business built up, by 99 we started specializing in custom work. This is a highly abbreviated history, as all histories are. During all this time, I made stupid mistakes and had some moments of brilliance. Such is life. I thank all my customers for making me the luckiest guy in the world because I get to do what I love (and get paid for it!)