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About Us

A local shop that has been here a long time and plans to stay that way.

Our story

In business since 1983

Scenic 61 Auto Body opened in Duluth in 1983 and has been at 5123 McQuade Road ever since. That’s over forty years of fixing cars for families across the North Shore and greater Duluth area. We’ve seen a lot of deer, a lot of Minnesota winters, and a lot of people who described their situation very diplomatically.

We’re a local shop, not a chain. The people working on your car are the same crew that’s been here for years. We use current equipment, take the time each job actually needs, and don’t send a vehicle back out until it’s right. Now and then that means a select restoration someone hauled in to bring back to life, but most days it is collision, deer damage, paint, and the additional mechanical work the shop takes on.

1983
Est. Year
40+
Years Open
Family
Owned
The team

Eric and Darin

A small crew that knows the work and shows up ready to do it right.

Eric, owner and technician, at Scenic 61 Auto Body
Owner / Technician

Eric

Believe it or not, Eric spent his first career in advertising. Got the business degree, learned the vocabulary, and became fully fluent in circling back and “let’s take this offline.” The kind of guy who ended every meeting with “great chat” and then immediately booked a thirty minute sync to align on next steps.

About five years ago he decided that was enough of that and switched to fixing cars instead. Now he owns the shop, which still feels a little like Darin tricked him into it.

He does not sit still well so he is usually moving around getting into whatever needs doing, but paint is where he locks in. He can take something that looks like it arrived by horse and buggy and leave it looking like a 1950s classic fresh off the showroom floor. That is kind of his whole thing.

Turns out actually fixing things beats talking about fixing things. Who knew. Darin knew.

Darin: Bigfoot in a Scenic 61 Auto Body cap and work shirt in the shop
Last confirmed photo: never
Senior Tech

Darin

Darin founded the shop in 1983 after messing around with cars with his brother and just never stopped. One day it was a hobby. Four decades later it is a career, a reputation, and apparently a personality trait.

There have also been more Bigfoot sightings around here than photos of Darin, which makes sense because Darin is usually under a car and Bigfoot at least occasionally stands up.

These days he handles the additional mechanical work the shop takes on, and the kind of fixes that only make sense after you have done this long enough to have seen everything go wrong at least twice. He keeps things running and steps in wherever something needs doing without being asked and without making it a whole thing.

Bigfoot in the company cap was the best we could do for a photo. We are still working on getting him to hold still long enough for a real one.

Our approach

Same shop.
Same standards.

Same shop. Same crew. Still doing things the right way.

01

The right tools, used right

We use the right equipment and take the time to do it properly.

Rushing jobs is how people end up needing this kind of work in the first place.

02

Straight communication

If you have a question, you get a straight answer.

No runaround. No guessing what is going on with your car.

03

No shortcuts

There are repairs you can see and repairs you feel later. We handle both, because doing one without the other is how a car comes back unhappy.

04

Local accountability

We live here too. That has a way of keeping standards where they should be.

Need an estimate?

Bring it in.
We’ll tell you straight.

No commitment. Just an honest look at what it needs and what it will take.

Mon-Fri 8am-4pm · Closed weekends

Call Request an Estimate
After hours

We’re closed right now.

Monday to Friday, 8am to 4pm. Closed weekends.

Need help now? Try our after-hours line and we’ll do our best to pick up.

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