David Wilson grew his business from a home garage to a 15,000 square foot state-of-the-art collision repair facility.
Decades of experience working with insurance companies and claims.
Wilson Collision Centers began as a dream in the mind of a 22-year-old with a borrowed $1,000 and a phenomenal amount of energy, guts and determination. Returning from the U.S. Navy to Gastonia, David Wilson had the thriving ambition to start his own body shop. ‘David Wilson Body Shop’ first became a reality in his sister’s garage, where he worked day and night to gain the respect of his growing customer base. To take a car or truck damaged in a collision and return it to mint condition — perfectly shaped, painted, cleaned and shined — didn’t seem like a job to David; it was exciting!
David’s love for automobiles along with his talent and creativity quickly advanced him to his own six-bay shop in Dallas, NC. In 1979, he acquired land on Franklin Blvd., the main thoroughfare in Gastonia, and built a 4,000 sq. ft., 12-bay shop to serve the needs of his growing customer base.
In 1983, the construction of another 2,000 sq. ft. building next to the existing shop added six more bays; the existing shop became the administrative offices and detail shop. In 1984, a chance meeting through friends introduced David to his future partner, both in business and in marriage — Kathy. They were married December 9, 1984.
In 1987, David and Kathy’s reputation for quality had become more widespread and another 6,000 sq. ft. was added, which would become our paint shop, housing two Spraybake downdraft paint booths and a computerized paint mixing system to serve the needs of our paint specialists.
Autumn of 1994 brought our final growth (famous last words!) with the addition of 3,000 sq. ft. housing 10 bays! With a facility now totaling over 15,000 sq. ft., as well as the constant addition of state-of-the-art equipment and a team of caring professionals with over 100 years combined experience, we are now fully equipped to serve the collision needs of Gastonia and surrounding communities.
The year 1997 was one of growth and maturity in our relationships with insurance companies. The advent of insurance direct repair a few years previously brought with it great fear and trepidation, causing instant panic. However, we soon realized that our goals and theirs were the same, and we could accomplish them even more expediently together! We wanted to create long-term relationships with insurance companies that were based upon honesty and integrity, and committed to being an industry leader in this endeavor. In order to reflect our new philosophy of doing business, we changed our name to Wilson Collision Centers with the intent of expanding to other locations in the future. We remained incorporated as David Wilson Paint & Body Shop, Inc.
We invite you to review the remainder of our website. Hopefully, it will give you a glimpse of how we go about ensuring that our customers always come first. We feel that this attitude is one of the most important contributors to our success and to the ongoing relationships with the insurance companies with whom we work.= to ensure the best repairs and options for our customers.
Gastonia’s trusted collision repair center since 1979
We take pride in what we have accomplished to date, and are excited about what the future holds. We are challenged, ready, willing and able, and invite you to join us and find out why thousands of customers in Gastonia and surrounding communities turn to Wilson Collision Center for all of their collision and accident repair needs.
