HOOD AS GOLD

When all was said and done, Chad Henslin (left) and Adam Paul came away with top prizes for their exceptional work, winning the pinstripe and airbrush categories respectively. The Crowd Favourite, Zack Hampton’s mean and green piece with some exceptional pinstriping. Kevin Cambell’s Wild Card-winning hood.

FINISHMASTER CROWNS HOODMASTER 2021 CHAMPS

BY MAX REID

When you get your car back from the shop, refinished in that dangerous beige you like, the phrase ‘work of art’ might not necessarily always come to mind.

Sure, there’s work that goes into making the paint even, and they have to mix it to get the shade correct, but it’s just spraying a big piece of metal one colour right?

If this is something you have thought to yourself before, you’ve clearly never seen the talent that FinishMaster has put on display for the last two years for its annual HoodMaster painting competition.

In a celebration of the marriage between art and innovation that has always been present in the autobody industry, FinishMaster assembled more than 30 of the top automotive painters in North America to compete to see who can paint the best mini car hood.

Judges pored over a multitude of hoods done in the historic auto painting styles of airbrushing and pinstriping, though prizes were awarded for Crowd Favourite and Wild Card as well.

The painters, along with friends and family, were treated to a gallery-style night at the Bullseye Event Center in downtown Indianapolis, Ind. on October 15. Drink and raffle ticket proceeds were put toward an educational grant for a collision repair program in need, through the Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF).

When all was said and done, Chad Henslin and Adam Paul came away with top prizes for their exceptional work, winning the pinstripe and airbrush categories respectively.

Notably, Stratford, Ontario’s Josh Dobson came away with second prize in the pinstriping category.

Dobson is a product specialist at Axalta and finished near the top of the pack with his pinstriped “Frozen” hood, featuring bold blue lines and an icy silver flake finish.

Crowd Favourite and Wild Card prizes were also presented to Zack Hampton and Kevin Campbell, respectively, whose hoods went outside the box, but still landed them in the winner’s circle.

The HoodMaster event was held in tandem with the first ever PinMaster challenge as well, which pit graduating high school and college collision repair students from across the U.S. against each other to see who could paint the most impressive bowling pin.

FinishMaster is hoping to make HoodMaster and PinMaster yearly traditions that bring together the collision community and celebrates the artistry and ingenuity that is inherent in this industry.

Another SEMA spectacular for the scrapbooks

BY ALLISON ROGERS PHOTOS BY DARRYL SIMMONS

Well, another SEMA Show has come and gone from the Las Vegas strip— but not without giving us plenty to think about as an industry. Marking the first time attendees gathered for the SEMA Show since 2019, this year’s event hosted more than 100,000 attendees, exhibitors and media, according to show officials. Collision Repair mag was on-site at the Las Vegas Convention Centre all SEMA week—check out our exclusive photos from the event!

Marcia Eizaquirre from D&B Auto Colors LLC sporting a Bodyworx Professional beanie at the 2021 Sema Show. Guilherme Brasil and Jose Costa will be sporting the Bodyworx Professional brand on their brand new hats from SEMA in San Jose, California.

The winner of this year’s Best New Collision Repair/Refinish Product was the KECO Body Repair Glue Pull System. KECO’s Glue Pull System comes with a shop light and stand as well as a cart that’s said to offer complete GPR solutions.

The two runner-ups in the Collision Repair and Refinish category are the Eagle electronic measuring system from Celette Inc. and the Drain Cleaner SR250 from Reliable Automotive Equipment.

Other products featured in this year’s New Product Showcase included the BASF Glasurit 100 Line, which the company says is the first basecoat line on the market that offers a VOC value below 250 g/l. 3M’s new Cubitron net discs were also on display, touting the motto: Dust is the Enemy. The 3M Automotive Aftermarket division says the new abrasives offer prime dust extraction properties thanks to its innovative mesh technology. The company says the open net structure provides a virtually dust-free environment—up to 95 percent or higher in dust extraction performance than other net abrasive families.

Frank Terlep’s ADAS CoPilot Pro was also featured in this year’s lineup. Through its mobile apps and web portal, the ADAS CoPilot Pro system provides instant access to a vehicle’s ADAS systems, components, location, calibration requirements, repair procedures and other ADAS-related information based on a vehicle’s VIN.

This year’s title for best new Collision Repair/Refinish product was awarded to the KECO Body Repair Glue Pull Repair System. Runner up for this year’s best Collision Repair/Refinish product was the Eagle measuring system from Celette.

Second runner up for this year’s best Collision Repair/Refinish product was the Drain Cleaner SR250 from Reliable Automotive Equipment. ADAS CoPilot Pro

According to SEMA’s post-show brief, more than 100,000 people attended this year’s event.

It’ll make you say, “JINKIES!”

In 2020, Len Boschman had planned to participate in the International RATical Rod Build Off Drive Off. His blueprints included a 1961 Ford Econoline restored to mirror one of North America’s favourite cartoon classics.

Boschman, who owns MacGregor, Manitoba’s Fourway Motors, had plans to turn the vehicle into the iconic Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine saw his dream fade last year when SEMA opted to go virtual for the 2020 event. Thankfully, the build made it down to the Vegas strip this year to showcase the vehicle at SEMA.

Len Boschmann, owner of Fourway Motors in MacGregor, Manitoba, alongside his Mystery Machine build. Boschmann constructed his build from a 1961 Ford Econoline. It was originally supposed to compete in International RATical Rod Build Off Drive Off at SEMA 2020, but the pandemic cancelled that plan. Thankfully, the build made it down to Vegas for SEMA 2021.