CSN 427 AUTO COLLISION hosted a virtual tech session for our club members on Saturday, Jan. 23. Our host, Lorenzo D’Alessandro and his team, welcomed over 100 UCR members, virtually, to his repair facility. CSN 427 Auto Collision is a family business that has been operating in the Greater Toronto Area for over 50 years.
The Zoom session began at 11 a.m. with Lorenzo D’Alessandro describing the repair of a 1987 Porsche 930 that had been hit in the front end. With the car up on a hoist he showed the frame misalignment and how it is measured by the electronic Car-O-Tronic equipment. We then had a short walking tour through the work shop, ably tracked by videographer and marketing director Jessica D’Alessandro, to see the Celette frame-alignment equipment and the frame-pulling hardware. Lorenzo emphasized the precision of the repair work to get the car straightness back to exacting Porsche specifications, important for both repair integrity and vehicle value.
We then relocated again to a more modern Porsche vehicle and learned about the complexities of repairing bumpers due to the sensors mounted behind them. Paint colour matching is complicated due to the various materials used to make different external panels and parts. Special equipment is used such as a spectral camera, and lots of tests are done to make sure of the paint colour match for the repaired or replaced parts. Because of the sensors that are effectively seeing through the bumper, the thickness of the paint must match factory specifications. In some cases the factory does not allow repainting because of this.
Finally we moved on again to an example of the most modern cars with a carbon-fibre tub. These cars are often written off after an accident because of the cost of replacing the carbon-fibre tub, even if it is only cracked.
We then took questions from the virtual audience and learned about the history of the business, with roots in the Toronto area stretching back over 50 years. The tech session closed out with a trivia quiz and some great prizes awarded by CSN 427 Auto Collision to winners from across Ontario. This was a super way to spend a couple of hours on a January Saturday morning and UCR thanks Lorenzo and Jessica D’Alessandro and everyone at 427 who helped put on the event. Thanks also to UCR Digital Editor Christopher Hebert and Vice-President Jackie Metcalfe. </>
