The paper records detailing 26 years of the business blew east across Massachusetts, some landing as far away as Cape Cod.
David Bell of One-Stop Towing, who lost his shop, tow trucks, and classic cars to the storm, is rebuilding his business.BRIMFIELD – The June 1 tornado took away dozens of cars, some classic, from David Bell along with all five of his garage and office buildings at One-Stop Car Care and nearly his whole fleet of tow trucks.
It couldn’t take his ability as a mechanic or skill as a musician or his drive to make repairs, put cars back together or play in a band.
In less than two weeks One-Stop was back to a limited version of its AAA towing and jump starts with the two remaining trucks.
On Monday a car needing an oil change went up on the lift that was left standing and functional when the building around it blew away in the twister.
It will take a while to get new buildings and a new dozen or more antique cars to work on and it will be years before a tall, healthy forest can surround the business again or replace today’s view of denuded broken tree trunks across Holland Road.
But one building has most of a new second floor and with a loaned trailer as an office Bell and his workers are busy cleaning up, rebuilding and starting over again to fix and tow cars for the business he formed 26 years ago.
And on the weekend of July 9-10 Bell has friends joining him for a music fest right at the site where people can kick in some money to help people in Brimfield hit hard by the storm and see for themselves the level of damage at one of the dramatic scenes left by the storm that swept from Westfield to Charlton.
“I thought I was going to retire soon. And then, in 30 seconds, this happened,” Bell said, gesturing around at the wreckage. “I have to start all over again.”
His five regular workers have been doing volunteer stints, helping get the business to a functional level, and Bell is planning to get some used cars for his lot and get his repair business going to the point that he can make a full payroll again.
He has had to scrap what remained of the classic cars on the property, something he said was sad but necessary to bring in some cash.
There was no insurance for most of what was lost and taking out a loan at this point does not seem a good idea to him.
Bell is grateful for the outpouring of support from customers, local schools and churches and friends who have rallied with help.
An office trailer, loaned to him by John Fijol, a salvage yard owner in Warren, has been at One-Stop since the first week after the storm, and used computers have been donated, so the business aspects can start to be dealt with.
The paper records detailing 26 years of the business blew east across the state, some landing as far away as Cape Cod.
Bell also lost his two boats and his musical instruments that were in an upstairs studio, but his house in nearby Holland was not harmed.
“We had a lot going here,” Bell said.
With a network of friends, the plan right now is to build it back up.