Entering downtown Logansport, it’s been a tradition to be greeted by the square brick building on the corner of Third and Broadway with the shiny classic cars in the window.
The building isn’t going anywhere. But Rusty Wallace, owner of Walters Precision Collision Repair, has decided to hang up his wrench and bring this stage of his career to a close.
Caliber Collision took over the business starting on Monday.
Those cars in the window, one belonged to his father, Dudley Walters. The father left it to his son because he knew his son would never sell it. The other car, which Rusty Walters bought when he first moved into the downtown location, belonged to Dave Thomas, the Wendy’s founder.
“It’s funny how people, when you are trying to tell them our address is 230 East Broadway, they will go ‘oh is that where the old cars are in the showroom?’” said Cindy Walters, his wife.
His father started the business in 1974 in Lucerne. Walters graduated from Caston High School in 1976 and immediately took over.
The business has been in its current downtown location for 25 years.
This wasn’t the way Walters intended to close up shop. In his vision, he would give the shop to his grandson when he was old enough. The 14-year-old had been a reliable helper.
Unfortunately, life had different plans. And that’s ok. The grandson has been inspired by his grandfather and is looking to pursue related classes at Logansport High School next year.
A shop is just a physical space. His grandson will carry his grandfather’s legacy everywhere.
“It’s hard for me to sell because Natasha’s (his daughter) son is 14 and I really thought I would give the business to him,” Walters said. “That’s the hardest part of the whole project. I wanted to hand it down to him but the age difference—the timing—didn’t work out. I’m 66 and I just can’t wait another eight years.”
When it came to a favorite memory from his career it was as simple as that he got to spend it doing what he loved.
“I like to take a wreck and basically make a piece of art out of it during repairs,” he said. “I like to take a wreck and make it as good as it was before. All of my employees are very proud of their work.”
He said Cass County was a great place to do business because if you do quality work and treat customers right, there is an extremely loyal customer base that won’t go anyplace else.
“Our customer base is sure not just Cass County,” he said. “We do work for 20 miles around. Kokomo all the way to Rochester to Lafayette all the way north to Rensselaer.”
The business was so well known for its work that Walters had contracts from the major insurance companies and they sent him work from all of those locations.
“(Their customers) wanted their cars fixed right and (the insurance companies) paid us to fix them right,” he said.
Walters said there was a frequent backlog of over 100 cars to work on. Customers were willing to wait two or three months for the high-quality service that Walters and his crew provided.
“I’m like a doctor,” he said. “You can’t get in to see me.”
He thanked his customers for their loyalty and business over the years. He was also thankful for his employees, many who stayed with him for over two decades.
“Caliber is hiring quite a few more employees,” said Walter. “This business has turned into a monster business to where we can’t handle everything. We’re to the point where we would have to hire more people and get bigger than we are. At our age we really didn’t want to do that. This is a good opportunity for us to let them do that.”
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