Our History. Over a Century of "Our Family Serving Your Family"
Mike
Loy’s Collision – Family Business History
A family business in Auto Body Repair for four generations from 1917 to present.
Ernest Loy, Mike’s grandfather, started painting cars in 1914 by brush and started the business in 1917 with his brother-in-law. They charged $10 - $12 a car for a complete repaint. The first location was downtown Lewisburg. Bill Loy, Mike’s father, started working with Ernest along with his brother Emerson (Ernie) after they were out of the service in 1946. The second location was 217 West Clay Street in Lewisburg behind Ernest Loy’s home. Bill and Ernie introduced the spray gun into the Body Shop and Ernest knew it was time to turn the business over to the sons. It was named E.H. Loy and Sons at that time. Bill’s sons, Steve, Mike and Jeff, grew up in the family business with Mike starting full time in 1971.
In 1992 Mike and LuAnn started the
third location at 3975 US Route 40 East, the former Robert
Artz Body Shop along with partner Byron Whitaker under the
name of L&W Collision. Mike took over the
business completely in late 1999 and changed the name to the
current Mike Loy’s Collision. Our second
daughter Kelly’s husband, Keenan McKee, starting
working at the shop in 2007 and was instrumental in managing
the 3,000 sq. ft. addition to the shop starting in 2010 that
almost doubled the total floor space to 6,750 sq. ft.
Keenan is new “operations manager” in the facility.
Keenan and Kelly plan to keep the family collision
repair business operating in its fourth generation.
Mike’s brothers, Steve and Jeff, along with the other employees have kept the Loy tradition moving forward at the current locations.
Mike’s involvement in collision repair training with I-CAR for the last 29 years has been an instrumental key to our success. Our shop is among the oldest in the county to be an “I-CAR GOLD CLASS PROFESSIONALS” facility for 27 straight years.
The Loy Four Generation History
Ernest H. Loy
He was born in Pyrmont 1-9-1878. At age 12 he moved to Twin Township near Lexington and later on a farm one mile south of Lewisburg. Ernest had two brothers and two sisters and out lived all of them.
Ernest became a painting contractor and interior decorator. Later he added auto painting, painting his first car in 1914 and in 1917 went into business on a regular scale.
Around
1950 Ernest and his two sons Emerson and Billy opened an
auto paint and body shop which grew into a thriving
business, E.H. Loy and Sons. Ernest
continued in the auto body shop, only a little less
vigorously because of his age, up to the time he was
stricken with a heart condition, three weeks before he
expired on December 17th, 1952. Age
74 years, 11 months and 8 days.
Ernest Loy had many notable records to his credit. At one time he was the state ciphering champion. Earlier in life, he traveled far and near to ciphering matches and seldom came away bested. He was an outdoor sportsman, being an avid hunter and fisherman. As late as the fall of 1952 he bagged 12 squirrels.
He was usually one of the first to be uptown each morning as soon as the grocery stores opened and also to get the early mail.
He established a record as a public servant that few if any local citizens ever equaled. “The Leader”, in it’s issue of January 6th, 1944, had this to say about his civic career: “When E.H. Loy retired as village mayor the past week, he ended a long period of fine public service. In all but six months of the past 27 years he had either served as mayor or a member of the town council. Becoming a councilman in 1916 Mr. Loy refused to be a candidate for re-election in 1917 and so left the council at the beginning of 1918. However, his absence from the council body was short lived as he was appointed to fill a vacancy about the middle of 1918”.
“Mr. Loy first
became mayor in 1920 when he took that office to fill the
unexpired term of G.M. Kumler, following the latter’s
election as state senator. He then served
an elective term, after which he refused to be a candidate
again.
He continued on the council until May 1941, at which
time he again became mayor, filling the vacancy caused by
the death of J.S. Barnhiser. In the
following November , he was elected mayor for a regular two
year term which he just completed. “
“He would not permit his name on the ballot last November with the consequence that he will no longer be making his way to the town hall on the first Tuesday night of each month”.
Later he relented upon the insistence of his friends and was a candidate for member of the Board of Trustees of Public Affairs. He was elected and served two terms from 1946 to 1950, when he said his “quit” decision was final, after a man had served in various village offices for a little over 30 years. He was never defeated as a candidate for a public office.
Ernest was married to Bessie Bittle and celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on Sunday, November 16, 1952, surrounded by two sons and two daughter and their families, relatives and friends.
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Ohio
Shop Celebrating It’s 91st
Year
Standing the test of time, this small-town collision repair
shop has paved its way to success, along the way earning
many distractions.
Mike Loy’s Collision Inc. goes back a long way in Lewisburg, Ohio. Ninety-one years to be exact. Back to 1917. Back to a time when Mike’s grandfather, Ernest Loy, painted vehicles with a paintbrush – and did such a good job that old-timers still recall that you couldn’t even see the paint Marks.
Ernest Loy was so good with the paintbrush that he just couldn’t accept a new-fangled tool called a “spray gun” that his sons brought into the business when they joined it in 1940. It was the first spray gun brought into the shop and Ernest Loy decided right then and there that it was time for him to quit. He said it was time for his sons, Bill (Mike’s father) and Ernie, to run things. The shop those days was in downtown Lewisburg, a town that today claims about 1,800 people.
Ernest Loy, who started it all as a buggy shop – E.H. Loy- died in 1952 (the year Mike was born). He was 74 years old. When Mike’s father and brother joined their father, the business’s name was changed to E. H. Loy and Sons. After their father died, the brothers changed the name to Loy’s Body Shop and moved it to the west edge of Lewisburg.
Mike’s father died in 1998 and his uncle died in 2003. But Mike recalls what a fighter his uncle was. His uncle lost both legs in a bush hog (mower) accident, yet he came back to work. He worked in spite of being in a motorized wheelchair.
Mike grew up in the business and his father and uncle trained him. They trained him so well, in fact, that he has been named the Automotive Service Association (ASA)/National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) Technician of the Year. He will receive his award during the 2008 National Autobody Congress and Exposition (NACE) in Las Vegas. The award recognizes the ASA Collision Division member who received the highest score on the 2008 ASE master collision repair/refinish certification test.
Ten days after Mike’s being informed of the ASA award, ASE called to congratulate him on winning the Snap-on/ASE Master Collision Repair and Refinish Technician of the Year award for the United States and Canada. That award comes with an all-expense-paid trip to San Diego for Mike and his wife, LuAnn, the second week after NACE. “Wow, what an honor,” Mike says of the awards.
Mike, 56, has the second oldest I-CAR Gold Class facility in Ohio and it is the only I-CAR Gold Class Shop in Preble County. He has been an I-CAR instructor 19 years and is the lead I-CAR instructor for Ohio. He is an I-CAR Platinum Individual. And he has been an I-CAR instructor qualification trainer and won the Instructor of the Year award in 1996 for the South Central Region.
He is a past president of the Dayton
(Ohio) Auto Body Association, which is now called the Ohio
Collision Repair
Association. “Being in business hasn’t always been smooth
sailing”, says Mike. One of the biggest
obstacles he has faced was the realization he just couldn’t
afford to have the shop where he wanted it.
He would love to be in the business’s original
location, but he just couldn’t afford it.
The property became too expensive, says Mike, so he moved to
a newer and less expensive facility one mile west of
Lewisburg.
Mike Loy’s Collision strives for excellence and customer satisfaction, “We stand behind our work,” says Mike. Although he owns the business and his official title is “president,” Mike wears many hats. He also serves as the estimator, negotiates with insurance companies and does structural repair.
Mike loves the diversity of each job. “We get a lot of satisfaction in returning a damaged vehicle to pre-accident condition,” says Mike. Mike says that if he could change one thing, it would be to work less and enjoy the family more. His plans for the future? To update the firm’s spray booth for future waterbourne paint systems.
Shop Stats
Name: Mike Loy’s Collision, Inc. Location: Lewisburg, Ohio. Size of Shop: 3,750 square feet on 1.2 acres. Number of years in business: 91. Number of employees: Four
Why Mike Appreciates
ASA
“I joined
ASA for the wealth of knowledge available for owning and
running a quality collision repair facility. The meetings,
seminars, NACE, and legislative information we get keeps us
current in the office and shop. And
rubbing shoulders with other members helps keep us in tune
with the industry. This is why I continue to be a member.”
Mike Loy
Mike Loy’s Collision Inc. has been an I-CAR Gold Class shop for 16 years. It is the second-oldest-I-CAR Gold Class facility in Ohio. Parked alongside the building is Mike’s prize Ford Mustang Mach I, which he bought new in 1973. It only has 52,110 miles on it, says Mike, and it’s “perfect; a real jewel.” Mike enjoys car shows and swap meets. Most of all, he enjoys being with his daughters, their husbands and his grandchildren.
