Victoria Park Automotive

As whirring joists go up and down and mechanics shuffle back and forth across the shop floor, Spiro Daras, the son of owner George Daras (pictured above), chats about the family business.

Victoria Park Automotive, a CAA-approved facility with eight full-time employees, has been in Don Mills, at the same location, since 1996. “It’s been a long time,” says Spiro, who grew up helping his dad in the business. “It was an empty unit; there was no office space or anything. My dad came here with a customer from the old auto shop; he started off with nothing. We built a little office in the front and two little hoists. Within two weeks we had five hoists going. One year later we put in an alignment rack. ”

When Ontario’s Drive Clean emission program started, the auto shop was a trailblazer. “We put in the machine to conduct these government required checks,” says Spiro. “We were the second shop in Ontario doing these tests.”

Today, the family-owned business offers a full range of automotive services. “We do everything from exhausts to suspension to emission tests to alignment ... we do it all,” Spiro explains. “The only thing we don’t do is body work.”