Nebraska Autobody Association
Hall of Fame

Mel Hunke

Mel Hunke was born July 20, 1940 in West Point Nebraska. He attended grade school at a small country school in Aloys, Nebraska. He went to high school for three years in West Point and graduated from Howells High School in 1958. From there, Mel went to Omaha and worked at OBECO and FREUHAUF trailer factories before attending one semester, (all he could afford), of auto collision repair at Milford. After that he worked at Omaha Volkswagen and Johnny Baxter's before moving to Pierce, Nebraska to start Pierce Body Shop.

In the summer of 1965, Mel married Carolyn Means. Together they raised two sons, Chris, the owner of Cars-R-Us Body & Restoration in Omaha, and Greg of Atlanta, Georgia. Debbie is a foster daughter who lives in the Philadelphia area.

Mel taught auto body repair at Northeast Nebraska Technical Community College in Norfolk from 1972 to 1983. Shortly after that he moved to the Kansas City area to be closer to and to participate in the 3-M Arms and other body shop industry seminars. Carolyn and Mel opened a shop in Kansas City and operated it for nearly fifteen years before selling the business to the CARSTAR franchise, which Mel helped to launch.

Now, semi-retired and continuing his seminar and training work, the most interesting development for Mel is the training of insurance adjusters for a catastrophe adjusting team.

Some of Mel's collision repair industry activities include being a past Metal Shop editor for Body Shop Business magazine, member of Exact Foundation Board of Directors, contributing editor to various trade pubications, consultant to CARSTAR automotive from its inception to the present, serving as an I-CAR instructor trainer in the USA and Canada, and of course, most important to all of us, he was the organizing president of the Nebraska Autobody Association.

Inducted March 31, 2001

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