Tesla Model S Crash

Almost Everything's Wreck of the Day is a 2013 Tesla Model S--the first one we know of to wreck. Almost Everything is located about 5 miles from the Tesla factory so we are fortunate to have Tesla employees as customers and to see Teslas every day.

This was a serious crash but the driver was uninjured.  In addition to being blindingly fast, handling better than virtually anything on the road and getting the best fuel efficiency, the National Highway Safety Administration says the Model S is the safest car ever tested. We want one.

Thanks to our buddies at WreckedExotics.com for sending us more photos to cry over.

Almost Everything Autobody Recognized by PG&E for Energy Efficiency

Pacific Gas & Electric Company Energy Solutions Engineer Eric Noller says, "you (Almost Everything Autobody) have recently done a thorough lighting retrofit of both the shop and office areas. The new T5 lighting is an excellent choice and is one of the most efficient commercially available options on the market. The new fixtures also provide great light quality for the work you are doing."

"Other than lighting, the primary source of energy consumption is the painting equipment. This is specialized equipment that should not be modified due to the need to maintain quality and production, as well as for safety purposes." Eric concludes, "Overall, you are doing a good job in staying energy efficient. . . There are no major recommendations to be made at this time." Thanks Eric. We appreciate the time you spent reviewing our operations and for re-affirming our green credentials.

Last year Almost Everything Autobody was named a PG&E Community Hero for participation in the SmartAC energy conservation program. We work to continually improve processes and reduce our impact on the environment. In 2007 we converted to ultra-efficient lighting. In 2008 we installed super-efficient filtering to keep 99.5+ percent of paint pollutants from escaping into the atmosphere. In 2009 Almost Everything Autobody introduced ultra-low VOC and "waterborne" paints to virtually eliminate smog-causing pollutants. In 2010 we converted our primer processes from sprayed to rolled-on. This process change dramatically reduced health hazards to employees and waste streams. In 2011 we converted our landscaping to drought tolerant plants to eliminate the need for watering.

The way we see it, efficiency translates into reduced costs--if it is both cheaper and better for our kids, what's not to love?

Scraped Bumper on 2010 Lexus RX450h

Almost Everything Autobody's Car of the Day is a 2010 Lexus RX450h Hybrid with a scratch on the front bumper. Almost Everything repaired the scratch and matched the original factory paint.

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Autobody News Article on Almost Everything Autobody

Almost Everything Autobody recognized for environmental conservation efforts in December issue of Autobody News. The article sites Almost Everything Autobody's work with PG&E to reduce energy consumption and avoid brown-outs & black-outs. It also discusses our many other green efforts like VOC reduction, hazardous waste reduction, improved filtering and conversion to waterborne paints.

For more information visit: http://autobodynews.com

Almost Everything Autobody–Community Hero

October 29, 2011, San Francisco–Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) names Almost Everything Autobody a "Community Hero" for its participation in a groundbreaking energy conservation program. Almost Everything Autobody allows PG&E to remotely turn off its air conditioning when demand spikes. In its thank you letter, PG&E said that Almost Everything Autobody's participation in the program helped "ensure the grid's reliability for communities across California. . . When less electricity is generated from fossil fuel plants during peak times, fewer greenhouse gases are produced. This means cleaner air for everyone." PG&E reports that the program saved enough energy to power 84,000 homes!

Almost Everything Autobody is proud of our green credentials. In addition to our participation in the PG&E program we work to continually improve our processes and reduce our impact on the environment:

• 2007 Converted facility to ultra-efficient lighting
• 2008 Installed new paint booth with super efficient filtering to keep 99.5+% of paint pollutants from escaping into atmosphere
• 2008 Converted to low VOC paints to reduce smog causing chemicals
• 2009 Converted to premium, ultra-low VOC paints to further reduce smog causing chemicals while improving paint performance
• 2009 Introduced latest "waterborne" paints in our "Factory Platinum" line to virtually eliminate VOCs with the best paints in the industry
• 2010 Joined PG&E SmartAC Program to reduce energy consumption
• 2010 Converted 90% of primer processes from sprayed-on to rolled-on. Process change reduced VOCs, health hazards to employees and waste streams
• 2011 Converted landscaping to drought tolerant plants to eliminate need for watering

Almost Everything Autobody encourages you to participate too! For more information visit:   www.pge.com

Video of Tesla Models S & Roadster

The Tesla factory is just down the street from Almost Everything Autobody but we haven't seen a Model S on the road yet. Looks good. Looks very good. It's getting easier being green (and sexier. . . and faster!)

Volkswagen TDI Cup: Rookies to Racers

Watch Volkswagen TDI Cup on Discovery Channel. It's an ad for VW masquerading as a reality TV series. . . and it's brilliant! Volkswagen offered an opportunity for young drivers between the ages of 16 and 26 to race in a 10 event series. Qualifiers had to pony up $45K USD (cheap for car, track, crew & training.) Only the top 25 applicants were chosen for the series based on performance in go-kart, physical and technical trials.

The show gives a great sense of how demanding racing is physically and mentally and how difficult it is to rise above the rest to become a champion. Congratulations to all of the young aspirants on the show for making it this far. We can't wait to see the rest of the season.

The racing is also a plug for diesel and Volkswagen's turbo direct injection diesel technology in particular. These cars are quick, thrifty and they never rattle or spew smoke.

Thanks to the following for background and images:

http://froma2j.blogspot.com/2010/08/volkswagen-jetta-tdi-cup.html

http://blog.cochesalaventa.com/uno-abajo-seis-para-ir-por-el-vw-jetta-tdi-cup.html

http://foro.tuning-on.com/stock-cars/eeuu-vw-jetta-tdi-cup-street-edition-racing-t58532.0.html

2012 Fisker Karma First Drive

The Fisker Karma is a plug-in electric, sexy as all get out, high performance, 4 door exotic hybrid that may actually be capable of 100 mpg AND 0-60 mph (approx. 0-100 kph) in under 6 seconds. Initial test drives report that it handles brilliantly--better than any other car this size (a bit hard to believe but we at Almost Everything Autobody are intrigued enough to think that this might be an alternative to our Maserati Quattroporte fetish.)

For more pictures and a full article on the initial test drives, visit AutoBlog.

GM's Going to Put Almost Everything--And Every Other Bodyshop--Out of Business

Good friend James May shows off GM's Hy-Wire car of the future on Top Gear. Standard Features:

• Hydrogen Fuel Cell Powerplant
• 11" Thick Integrated Chassis & Driveline
• Interchangeable Bodies
• Zero Emissions (except for water)
• 0-60 in 2 seconds (we just made that up but why not)

2006 Maserati Quattroporte with Auto Paint Service, Wet Sand & Polish

Today's Car of the Day is a 2006 Maserati Quattroporte that came in with scrapes & scratches plus some minor original paint imperfections. Almost Everything Autobody repaired the scrapes and painted the rocker panel using the same type of high quality waterborne finish used at factory. We then "cut and buffed" various panels to eliminate surface scratches and to provide a more premium gloss finish.

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Another Home Run for Hyundai? 2012 Veloster

Jalopnik is quickly becoming my favorite on-line car fix site. Here's their take on the world premier of the 2012 Hyundai Veloster (click link) at the Detroit International Auto Show.

Almost Everything Autobody's take is this is another dramatic score for Hyundai, the surprisingly hot, cheap, green AND RELIABLE car company. The Veloster manages to look quick and mean but almost cute at the same time. It's really light which means 1) it should be quick 2) handle well and 3) get up to 40 mpg. It's got 2 front doors & 1 rear passenger door plus a big hatchback. You can get it with a 6-speed manual transmission. I'll take one now.

Porsche 918 Spyder Hybrid the Star of Geneva Auto Show

From Edmunds.com (our favorite site for real world auto pricing), here's the scope on the awesome Porsche 918 Hybrid! Edmunds says it upstaged Lamborghini, Bugatti and Bentley at the premier automotive show in the world. And it may possibly be the fastest production car around Germany's famed racetrack, the Nürburgring—assuming it gets produced. We hope so.

Car of the Day - 2003 Honda Civic with Peeling Clear Coat

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Delaminating Paint

Does your car look like this? A lot of our customers ask if this condition is caused by either a manufacturer's defect or from something that happened to their car.

Most likely you didn't do anything wrong and neither did the manufacturer. The paint is just showing its age. We call this condition delaminating paint, delaminating clear coat or just peeling paint. It is caused mainly by ultraviolet rays (UV) from the sun, the same thing that causes sunburn & peeling on humans and the deterioration of your lawn furniture. Weather, chemicals, temperature and other environmental factors also contribute to the paints decline.

In the 1960s & 1970s many people bought a new car every 2-3 years so they never noticed the paint wearing out. On used cars, it was normal to expect to paint the car every 5 years or so. And the average car did not last as long as they do now. Bodies and engines were typically worn out at just 100k miles.

Much has improved since then. Cars often have engine warranties for 100k miles and many last well over 15 years and 200k miles. Because of this, more people are noticing the paint failing on their cars even though the paint is much better than it was 30-40 years ago. Factory paint jobs typically last 7-14 years depending on color, chemistry and environmental conditions.

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Strange Vehicles - Russian Ekranopan

Okay, so this isn't a car at all but very cool none-the-less.


Part airplane, part ship, part hovercraft. These things were/are able to go very fast, very low to the surface and because of a boundary layer effect (kind of an air cushion provided at the surface of the water) they can fly with smaller wings and/or less power (less energy required) than a normal plane. Pretty cool stuff.

Cool Site for Concept Car Designs

We stumbled on this very cool site for concept car designs the past week and thought we'd share it with you:
http://www.stingraysstudios.com/Concept_Cars.html
This is a design concept for an all electric Corvette Stingray of the future.

Jaguar C-X75 Hybrid Supercar Prototype

Check this out from our dear friends at Top Gear, the Jaguar C-X75. It's a jet-engined hybrid supercar with 780 hp, 1180 lbs-ft of torque, electric motors at all 4 wheels, 0-100 kph (0-62 mph) in 3.4 seconds and a range of 560 miles!! We want. We NEED!

Almost Everything Milestones: 3000th Vehicle Repaired-98% Customer Satisfaction

Thank you to our many loyal customers and our terrific crew for achieving an important milestone. Almost Everything Autobody took in our 3000th vehicle for repair on August 6, 2010, just 28th months after we opened this new facility on Centralmont Place in Fremont, California. To repair over 1000 vehicles per year requires a well-trained and dedicated staff.

The economic recession that started in 2008 hit us like it hit everyone. Our revenues declined and we had to lay-off employees. So we lowered prices to both help our customers make ends meet and to keep our experienced technicians working. What happened next surprised us.

During the worst part of the recession, our business grew rapidly. We started hiring back employees and even hired new employees. In Spring 2010 we increased capacity 15%. A few months later we increased capacity again, by another 20%.

At the same time, our customer satisfaction score increased to 98% as measured by the independent industry watchdog agency CSI Complete.

So thanks again to our customers who have honored us with their business and our great employees who work hard to keep our customers happy.

Car of the Day - 2006 Scion Tc with Accident Damage

Today's Scion coupe was involved in a fender bender that left the driver's side quarter panel buckled and the rear bumper scraped up. Almost Everything Autobody fixed all the dents in the quarter panel and repainted it and the bumper to match the original factory color and finish. We used the latest technology, environmentally friendly waterborne paint that comes with Almost Everything's nationwide lifetime warranty.

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Car of the Day - 2001 Ford Crown Victoria

Today's car of the day is a 2001 Ford Crown Victoria that came in need of Auto bodywork and paint. Almost Everything Autobody weld shut some holes, align the hood, prepped the car for paint and put a full coat of primer sealer. Almost Everything Autobody painted the entire car with our Supreme Paint Service that comes with 4 year written warranty. The customer requested to change the color of the car to a green metallic.

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