Downeast Auto Body - History

Downeast Auto Body was born as an extension of our Service Department in 1984 to meet the auto body repair needs of our rapidly expanding customer base.  We began with one bay and one employee in the far corner of our Service Department.  By 1986, to meet growing customer demand, we constructed a 12,000 square foot facility with state of the art frame machines and a spray booth that utilized the same paint baking process used by original car and truck manufacturers.

Later that same year, Downeast Toyota acquired the former Twin City Buick located just down the road at 373 Wilson Street.  Anticipating increased business from our new General Motors customers, the Body Shop Department became a business in its own right and moved into their new stand alone Collision Center at 21 Pierce Road in Brewer.

By 1993, our evolution into an All Makes, All Models Collision Center found us operating beyond the capacity of our existing facilities, so the Metal and Frame Repair division of our business was relocated to 640 Wilson Street, our original dealership’s former Service Department, leaving the Paint Shop division to expand its occupancy of the Pierce Road facility.

Ten years later, in 2003, we constructed a 15,000 square foot addition and upgraded our equipment with all new paint prep stations, spray booths, frame machines and computer measuring systems, front office and lobby space.

In the last 25 years, Downeast Auto Body has grown from one employee and one service bay to one of the largest collision centers in Maine with 30 employees, 30 repair bays, 4 paint prep stations and 2 down draft paint booths.