BELLEFONTE — Sam Gray knows all too well what it takes to bounce back from a terrible fire.
His shop, Gray’s Vehicle Clinic, burned for the first time two days after Christmas in 1991. Gray was able to salvage only a few things from that blaze.
“That fire — it was devastating,” Gray recalled recently, sitting at his kitchen table. “It cleaned everything out.”
Gray had limited insurance, and in totaling the damage, “at $800,000 I quit figuring.”
Gray rebuilt the business, though, with services ranging from towing to repairs to state vehicle and emissions inspections — “about anything to get a car (or truck) fixed,” he said.
Then, on Feb. 25, 2016, Gray’s Vehicle Clinic, at 1314 Axemann Road, was hit by another devastating fire.
His shop was largely destroyed by the blaze, which started in the front of the building. A cause was never determined, Gray said, adding that the insurance investigator suspected it started with a soda machine. While Gray was able to salvage more equipment this time, much of what wasn’t lost was damaged. He’s spent a good part of the last year sorting through the remains trying to find lost tools and equipment, then cleaning and, in some cases, painting. That remains a work in progress.
Gray estimates his loss at more than $1 million, and while his insurance coverage was better this time, he said it didn’t come close to covering everything.
But Gray is on the way back — again.
A large new truss building is now up and heated, allowing Gray to get out of the cold to do work. Phone lines were recently installed. Gray said he is continuing work to clean up equipment and get things sorted and shelved, but expects to be ready to take on more vehicle work soon.
Asked if he sees light at the end of the tunnel, Gray said, “Yeah, a little bit. A little bit.”
His daughter Amy Gray pointed out that her father has made more progress than he realizes.
“When you’re in it every day, you don’t see (progress) as much,” she said. She noted that friends who visit point out how far things have come in year.
Now that contractors who got the building up and running are finished with their work, “it will go a little faster,” she said of Gray’s efforts to get fully back up to speed.
Both Sam and Amy Gray expressed appreciation for the many people in the community who stepped up to help in the wake of the fire.
One of the next steps for Gray is to reapply for a state license to conduct vehicle and emissions inspections.
In the time since the fire, Gray has continued his towing business, with help from his daughter.
“He’ll call at 3 in the morning and say, ‘Let’s go,’” Amy Gray said of overnight calls from her father to tow vehicles from accident scenes. “I’ll say ‘OK.’ We’ve been able to keep that going.”
“I can tow anywhere you want it towed to,” Sam Gray said. “If you need minor repairs, I can repair it.”
Gray has been fixing vehicles for as long as he can remember.
His father started the business in 1944, at Heister Street and Calder Alley in State College, but had to close there in 1945 because it was deemed a residential zone. The business then moved to Corl Street before Gray’s father bought a salvage yard on Axemann Road (where the Oddfellows Hall now is) in 1957. The garage has been at its current location since 1959.
“I’ve been cranking wrenches ever since,” Gray said.
After fighting back from two fires, he has no plans to stop now.
