Capricorn Member Profiles
Knight’s Bodyworks thrives in first year, despite Covid to be married. Both are spray painters, but Nathan is also a panel beater and is very handy at fabrication, too. “We’ve worked in panel shops for years and we thought as we have a bit of knowledge and we still have a passion for the trade, it was time to open our own shop,” Mary-Louise said. “It’s a bit of an advantage having both of us on the floor. It means we haven’t had to hire someone straightaway.”
When Queensland couple Nathan Knight and Mary-Louise Eagle-Frith made plans to open their own panel and paint business in early 2020, they had no idea coronavirus was on the way.
Mary-Louise said Knight’s Bodyworks will paint anything that can be painted and, in their first year, they’ve sprayed everything from coffee machines and glass splashbacks to motorbikes, cars and boats. “As long as it fits in our spray booth, which is pretty big, we’ll paint it,” she said. “We’ve had a horse float in there.” Mary-Louise said she used Facebook to promote the couple’s work, which has helped generate business, as has their large social network in the Cairns community.
Having worked in other people’s workshops for nine years and saved hard to make their dream become a reality, the pair opened the doors on Knight’s Bodyworks in Cairns despite the pandemic. “We’d already started before Covid hit and we’d invested so much, we didn’t really have a choice other than to keep going,” MaryLouise said.
“We’re a younger generation and the majority of people who want to do up cars are the younger generation, so we know a lot of people,” she said. “I think they like to come to us because we can relate to them.” After a solid start to their new business, the couple said they’re hoping to grow — potentially taking on a second panel beater in the coming months, so they can take on bigger jobs.
“It proved to be busier than we’d expected. Within our first week of being open, we were booked a month in advance.” It was a great start for the couple, who are both 27 and are engaged
Mary-Louise said the other task on their agenda was getting married, hopefully next year. “But it depends if we’ve got time!” she said.
RALLY AROUND REGIONAL WA RAISES $35K FOR RFDS A group of West Australian-based Capricorn Members have raised $35,000 for the Royal Flying Doctor Service through this year’s On The Road Again rally. Nine vehicles and four support crew joined this year’s event, driving around WA’s Wheatbelt, Goldfields and Great Southern regions to raise money for a great cause. Among those taking part in the November rally were Nigel Oborne of First Class Automotives, Dave Durrant from Mindarie Workshop and Auto Electrical, and Keith McCracken of Keith McCracken Automotive in Bayswater. “All the vehicles are 1995 or prior, but 4x4s are open — so we had a near-new LandCruiser, an old Ford Transit van, my Mercedes-Benz 1984 280SE,” Nigel told Ignition magazine after returning to Perth. “We went along a lot of off the beaten track roads, including an old railway line. They had to be gazetted roads for insurance purposes but some of them were still pretty rough. “I just put my car on the hoist; it’s holding together, the Merc, but it’s a bit of a mess!” The rally started in Northam, east of Perth, on 7 November and finished a week later in nearby York — having taken in hundreds of kilometres of often very dodgy roads and the towns of Koorda, 2 0 C A P R I C O R N I G N I T I O N H O L I D AY E D I T I O N 2 0 2 0
Kalgoorlie, Norseman, Esperance, Hopetoun and Newdegate. “All the vehicles held up but unfortunately the tail-gunners, who follow at the rear, hit a ’roo just west of Esperance and disabled their transmission,” Nigel said. “But we were able to fix it up and get it working again.” The week included themed dress-up days, visits to local tourist spots and plenty of fundraising with local communities. “We had a lot of fun stops,” Nigel said. “We had a pink day, for the Pink Lake in Esperance. And in Newdegate we had a farmer day, so we went and raided the chequered shirt shop and dressed like farmers.” The On The Road Again tour was supported by the Australian Automotive Service Dealers Network in WA (co-founded by Nigel in 2013) and every cent raised goes directly to the RFDS.
