On April 26, CSN 427 Auto Collision hosted its 10th annual Shift Into Spring event alongside the Porsche Club of Upper Canada, drawing hundreds of auto enthusiasts to the Etobicoke facility.
"There's a reason we do this every year -- it's always a lot of fun," said Nick D’Alessandro, operations manager at CSN 427 Auto Collision. "We host the event at the shop with the cars brought in by the Club's members. It turned into a really strong show this year.”
Attendance has expanded steadily over the years, reflecting both the strength of the Porsche community and the shop’s growing role within it.
“The first one had maybe 150 or 200 people. The last few years, we’ve been closer to 500, 600, even 700 people,” he added. “People are coming from all over Ontario now.”
Jessica D’Alessandro, who helped coordinate the event, said the goal remains to connect enthusiasts with the collision repair side of the industry in an accessible way.
“We put on this event every year just to open up the shop to people, have them visit a body shop, see what it’s like,” she said. “And see some really cool cars—there’s some old Porsches, there’s some new Porsches, there’s all kinds.”
“What’s good for the car industry is good for all of us,” Nick D’Alessandro said. “Getting people involved, getting them interested in Porsche, it gives us the opportunity to teach them about the collision side.”
“Cars are a hobby for a lot of people. We want to show customers we’re the same type of people —t hey love cars and we love cars.”
As in previous years, the event supported Make-A-Wish Canada through on-site fundraising tied to food and refreshments, with the shop covering operating costs and matching donations.
“We’ve been working with Make-A-Wish even longer than this event’s been around. It’s always been the charity of choice for us,” Jessica said. “We fund the food and beverages, and we ask people to donate. Then we match 100% of those donations.”
“Any opportunity to give back to Make-A-Wish is a good thing,” she added.
