Making cars look like new is Welke’s passion

Josh Welke grew up in Rochester and graduated from John Marshall High School. He said he really wasn’t involved with any activities in school but did have a 2001 Mustang which he still owns. He also said he did spend some time doing some drag racing at that time. 
He then attended Winona Technical School for two years in the Auto Mechanics and Body Repair course.
Josh worked for a body shop for about a year and then made the big move and bought Gordy’s Body Shop in Kasson when he was 20 years old.  
Gordy Quimby had operated the Body Shop in Kasson since the late 60’s so had an established name so no sense changing the business name when he took it over. Josh said perhaps when you are that young you might not think about some of the problems you will be dealing with, but his parents were willing to help him out in getting the business deal made.  
Josh said it is hard to believe but he has already been in business for 15 years. He has two employees, Ryan Danke who has been there for three years and Gene Fjerstad, who has been with Josh two years but had worked for more than 30 years with the previous owner.
2019 was a very memorable year as that June is when the hailstorm hit Kasson, Dodge Center and Mantorville and a huge number of homes needed new roofs and gutters and some new siding. They were also extremely busy, fixing hail damaged cars, getting dents out and replacing broken windows. Josh said they were really swamped working on seven to eight cars each week. That went on for about 1-½ years, he said, until about the time that COVID hit.  
It turned out to be a very good year for business for him. They normally will turn out perhaps five cars per week on a regular basis.  
When I asked him if there is a difference in insurance companies, he said some are easier to work with then others. It seems like insurance companies are having fewer adjusters than they used to as now they are asking customers or himself, to take photos of the damaged cars to send in for estimates, he said.
When COVID hit last March, they were considered an essential business so they continued to operate, but since people were not driving as much there were less accidents. People were also less likely to have their car repaired since they didn’t know when they might be going back to work or if they might be laid off.
He said the virus has also affected getting parts from some of his suppliers and it is taking longer for them to get the parts he needs for the repairs.
Josh said a car he really enjoyed owning was a 2013 red Dodge Viper. In three years he put 38,000 miles on it as he did a lot of driving. He said the car had slicks for the rear tires so no driving on wet roads as that just didn’t work. Perhaps the police kept a closer eye on him when he was driving that vehicle also.  He also had a ZO6 Corvette and a Tesla but they were sold.
Josh said they regularly replace body parts such as hoods, trunks, door panels and grills. They can cut out the damaged roof and replace that with a new one using welds and glue to put it back in place. They do not do work on car interiors but replace broken glass from accidents.  
Since Josh does the repainting on vehicles he said he uses a respirator and has good air flow exchange in the shop paint booth.
During icy road driving conditions and the deer season, it can be a bad time for drivers with crashes and damaged vehicles, but it is also a busier time for body repair shops. Josh said repairing damaged vehicles is better financially for them than fixing rusted out areas on vehicles. He does have a car he will loan out to a customer when their vehicle is being fixed, but said the insurance on the vehicle gets to be expensive for him.
One of the things he started doing is to build food trucks and has finished one and is now working on another one. He said it will take about three weeks to get the conversion made from a delivery vehicle.  They will strip out the interior, cut out a window openings, replace the roll up door with panel type doors,  food grade counters and the equipment for preparing and handling food.  
An inspector will check on the truck to make sure it passes the proper tests before it can be sold to a customer.
The majority of his customers find out about his business by word of mouth since he doesn’t get involved with the social media sites. He doesn’t want to get involved with these sites as he might then face issues with hackers and trolls looking to do more harm than help. Most of his customers are also from the local area unless a vehicle was damaged in a crash while traveling through this community.
Josh owns a house in Rochester in the vicinity he grew up. He likes to snowmobile but said that has been very limited this year with the snow conditions. He bought a new boat last year and plans to do some fishing when he gets the chance this summer. He will watch some of the sports on TV but doesn’t attend games in person.
Josh enjoys the Kasson-Mantorville community and has had a very positive experience during his time in business. He said the people have taken good care of him and he tries to do the same thing when restoring their vehicles to get them back on the road.