Raymond Kupelian started in the industry at the age of seven. By the age of 16, he had acquired the skill to weld (electric or acetylene), and build any metallic item. During the 1050’s, while working in a metal workshop, he repaired tanks for the Lebanese army and improved his training as an auto body repair expert. As the only educated person in the workshop, Kupelian was soon foreman and was extensively trained in frame repairs, made challenging by the 1/4 inch thick hides of U.S. cars of the time.

By 1960, Kupelian set up shop in Freetown, Sierra Leone, where cars were totaled for minor frame damages. Kupelian repaired those frames and to the surprise of the British Insurance Co. He saved a bundle for the Brits, while earning the enmity of new car dealers… British and German experts tried to challenge his work, extensively measuring each repaired frame. Having made a name for himself, Kupelian was joined by his twin brother in 1963.

Called ‘Raymond Garage’, the shop soon earned contracts with embassies and ambassadors, including the US embassy in Freetown. In the early seventies, the Kupelian brothers became the pioneers of DRP services and introduced the pulling system and appropriate rural technology to West Africa, (and were even interviewed by the BBC for it.) Having trained in England and Italy, they qualified as European craftsmen.

Twenty years later, the brothers immigrated to the USA, and set up shop at 537 W. Garfield, then operating as the well known “Jewel City Auto Body”. Then it was renovated and renamed “Advance Coach Works”.

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