In the Village of Oxford, only feet from the traffic light at the main intersection, a line of freshly polished cars for sale face passerby’s traveling the Route 12 corridor outside Oxford Motors. The auto salesman, Don Golden, has been working with cars his entire life and although actually selling cars and offering mechanical repairs are still relatively new aspects of his longstanding career, auto body work has been part of his business for decades.
Golden, once the owner of Green Street Auto Body Repair on Green Street in Oxford, has been working from his current location on Canal Street for only a few years, offering everything auto-related from sales, to mechanical work, to body repair. Golden himself is the son of auto body man, he said, and after more than 40 years in the trade, he plans to one day pass his business along to his son, Darren Golden, who currently tracks the business end of the repair and sales shop.
“I’ve been in Oxford the whole time I’ve been in business,” said Golden, noting that his venture relies heavily on reputation and word of mouth from local patrons, most of whom are repeat customers. “I have customers now who are fourth generation. I’m pretty proud of that.”
Golden efficiently runs his business with the help of nine employees, doing everything from oil changes to repairing dents and dings, and everything in-between. “Right now,” he said, “we have the best crew you can ask for.” But good help is getting harder and harder to come by, he added. “Our body shop is always busy and right now, it’s difficult to find someone who wants to work in it. It takes a lot of talent. It’s pretty intense, the way some of these vehicles are being built.”
Most employees who work for Golden have done so for years and none of them have restricted themselves to the traditional 9-to-5 schedule. “When they have to come in early or stay late, they do,” Golden said. “It’s a great group and there’s a lot of teamwork there.”
Auto body repair technician Dave Cummings is one of the employees who has worked with Golden for more than just a few years. Cummings has worked for Golden off and on for decades. In many instances, he has been the go-to guy in the body shop, training a host of new employees who have come and gone over the years.
“There’s always something to work on in here,” he told me as he walked me through the process of repairing a deep scratch on the back end of a Toyota Highlander, which he planned to have finished by the end of the day. “We usually need to paint two or three cars a day - anywhere from six to twelve cars every week.”
But like Golden, Cummings said auto body repair professionals are getting harder to come by. “Most people don’t have the patience for it and the people who do don’t have the skill.”
In a conjoining space, another one of Golden’s employees washed an SUV fresh from the auto body repair shop while on the opposite side of a cinder block partition, TJ Smith, an Oxford Motors employee for only a few months now, conducted a New York State inspection of a Ford pickup, which he did a rear brake inspection for as well (something not required of the state inspection unless there is “metal on metal,” he said). Like the body shop, the mechanical shop sees several cars roll through each day, keeping employees on their toes and the reputation of Oxford Automotive alive in the community.
Said Golden, “I know we’re pretty lucky here because we’re always busy. I love this village and this village has been good to me too.”