New but old auto paint shop in Whanganui

Steve Watkins is ready to step into running his own auto paint shop again.

Having closed the doors on his auto painting business over 10 years ago, Steve Watkins is ready to step into running his own show again.

Rising like a phoenix from the ashes, Steve is about to reopen his business under the name Phoenix Auto Painters.

“When I shut down Steve Watkins Auto Painters, I was at the end of an 18-year marriage, I was drinking heavily, and I was pretty broken and demoralised,” says Steve.

After closing his auto painting shop, he took his spray gun and skills as a painter first to the Wanganui Motors panel and paint shop, then to Ross Francis Panel and Paint.

“Painting cars is my passion. It’s what I’m good at,” says Steve, who also points out that he will paint anything he can use a spray gun on, “from a car bumper that needs tidying up to wooden furniture to full car repaints”.

But it is painting the old-school American muscle, custom and classic cars and motorbikes that Steve says is his real forte.

“It’s the direction I really want to go in,” he says. “You just can’t beat the look and feel of an older vehicle.”

Cars and bikes painted by Steve in his 30-year career as an auto painter have ended up in collections and museums all over the world.

“The quality of the paint job can make or break a valuable vehicle. The look on an owner’s face when they see the finished result, or being at a car show and seeing a car or motorbike I have painted pulls the crowds, makes the dust and dirt, and the time and care I take with my work all worth it,” he says.

Rather than restart his auto painting business under its old banner, Steve draws upon the symbolism of rebirth and regeneration as depicted by the phoenix bird to name his new business Phoenix Auto Painters.

“I am back, and I know I am more than I was before,” says Steve, who is also quick to mention his gratitude towards Shaun Smith at Ross Francis Panel and Paint for his generosity and support.