Lance’s Panel & Spray – A Small Tale

- Written: 18 July 2017

7 years Lance and I had been going through a severe financial stage, not knowing one day to the next how we were going to get through all our bills or even pay the lights or the rent. It was a time of sheer hell.

In Lance’s favour he had the skill of Panel beating and spray-painting, which he had abandoned for 20 years due to seeking a career in drug rehabilitation amongst our youth in South Africa of which I his wife was chosen to join him in his quest to save many kids on the streets of Cape Town. Unfortunately monetary gain was of no consequence to us at the time, however it was a necessary commodity toward our own survival and that of our two kids.

Lance and I subsequently started a small business with a natural cleaning agent without the toxicity of the many cleaning chemicals on the market. We named it Quick & Easy that could be used at home and in the work place. Being in the drug rehabilitation industry did not give us a good acumen for starting a business. We marketed the product at flea markets on weekends and door to door business during the week whilst at night working in the field of saving our youth against the battle of drug abuse.

One fateful day Lance delivered some cleaning product to one of our long term customers at a mechanic shop. In the clients driveway was parked a beautiful old blue Ford Fairlane that had just been fully re-sprayed, Lance had seen the job was not professionally done and had commented to the client who was the owner of the Fairlane that the job was poorly done on such a beautiful car, of which the client then said “Can you do a better job?” Lance had been out of the field for at least 20 years at this point but had not forgotten his trade, and boldly said “Of Course!” The client then responded “Then quote me for what it will cost me to fix the bad job” Lance had at this point not given a quote in 20 years, he hadn’t the foggiest what the actual estimate would be and just sucked out of his thumb a measly price of R2000.

That weekend Lance got to the job and spent 2 weeks re- acquainting himself on this job whilst this mechanics customers where no longer coming for mechanical repairs but coming to Lance for body repairs. Using all the clients’ equipment, which he luckily had on the spot with his workshop, and that was our first big break.

Lance single headedly repaired all nine vehicles inclusive of the Ford Fairlane all on his own. We took this break gracefully, and rushed out and found a house with the money that we had accrued with a nice sized garage so that we could continue what has now begun. Needless to say that our dear mechanic client was very pleased that he could get his shop back.

With no marketing, word soon got around about this fellow called Lance who can do body repair work at this mechanic’s shop, the mechanic’s customers were going to the mechanic’s shop looking for Lance and the client was supplying them with Lance’s Cell number.

Work was still coming to us from that shop. This was incredible. We started work in our garage. Lance started to teach me how to do body repairs on the vehicle and we soon became a husband and wife team building Lance’s Panel & Spray from our backyard. We became very busy and at this point I was marketing Lance’s Panel & Spray by placing a little flier on every car windscreen in and around Cape Town and the Atlantic Seaboard, growing ourselves from our garage into our very first shop Lance’s Panel & Spray – 8 Clare Street, Gardens. We were now the new kids on the block facing panel beating shops the size of giants. They looked down on us, husband and wife with their big compliments of staff, with all the best tools and filled out shops.

Feeling pretty intimidated we pretended it wasn’t there. Instead with heads bent we worked day and night and every weekend on the worse cars possible basically handling the dregs of the barrel. The people that could not afford these bigger shops were coming to us, and because our prices were so low, the little guys that was getting their cars fixed with us was bragging to all the big guys about how dumb they were for getting their cars fixed by the more affluent shops and paying so much money.

With this the bigger guys started checking us out and took a chance on us entrusting their expensive vehicles to us for repairs and oh boy did we start a stink, at which point the more affluent shops who saw us as the small dogs of no threat, underestimating this husband and wife team as no competition, were now starting to sit up of which by this time it was too late. Quietly – effortlessly we had taken over a big part of their market.

Closing down the one big shop that had been there for many years. The talk went around that Lance was a bastard! It was only at this point that we had really remembered to raise our heads. The amount of intimidation was never a subject taken up. We understood it as competition. Lance and I knew what it took to come through a storm but very few people knew this factor, That was our secret. Eventually we now needed to employ extra staff. My Son Jarrit came home from his schooling and went straight into training to help his father run the shop. Jarrit has now since been in the shop for 9 years and fully trained under his father. 

- Serena Hosking
  18 July 2017