Since 1992
Print and digital marketing
SOUTH PARIS — Do you have a love for cars, human beings and planet Earth? Are you tired of the same old grease-soaked repair shops? As a solar powered, eco-friendly garage, Paris Autobarn at 161 East Main St. is an alternative to the traditional shops. It specializes in Honda, Subaru and electric vehicles, although Paris Autobarn staff will work on any make or model.
“We pride ourselves in finding ways to reduce the environmental impact of automobiles and their service and we have invested countless hours to source automotive products that are sustainable, plant-based and if possible, made in the USA,” said Tony Giambro, owner and chief sustainability officer.
“Our environmental stance starts with us,” Giambro said. “We are automotive enthusiasts who also care about the environment, which is no longer a contradictory statement. Everyone at Paris Autobarn is ASE certified, and we have a combined 50 years’ experience in automotive repair. We understand that smart environmental policy is important to our health as well as our business, so we often travel to Augusta to meet with local representatives and fight for ecologically sound legislation like the promotion of solar power and electric vehicles. While working on cars we wear certified biodegradable gloves and even the shirts we wear are made in the USA from organic cotton printed with water based ink. We put our money where our mouths are and live the ideas we promote.”
The Paris Autobarn shop itself is monument to eco-conscious auto repair. “The centerpiece is our solar array,” said Travis Ritchie, office manager and education outreach coordinator. “We have 45 panels producing 15,700 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. This means our lifts, lights, equipment and every power tool we use is fueled by the sun. The shop is heated and cooled by two highly efficient heat pumps and the whole shop is lit by LED lighting. We have a full suite of automotive repair equipment, including a bio-remediating parts washer that uses water-based solvent and bacteria to break down the oil and grease, an electric induction flameless torch instead of acetylene, and a pneumatic oil filter crusher to fully recycle the oil & steel from every old filter.”
Paris Autobarn is a full service repair shop and offers all of the traditional automotive services including tires and alignments. They try to improve upon each service to be as sustainable as possible. Of course they perform oil changes, but theirs include a high-efficiency oil filter that can extend the oil change interval of a vehicle to 30,000 miles with a filter change every 10,000 miles. They do coolant flushes, but use Sierra coolant, which has low-toxicity and is much safer in the event there is a leak near people or animals. They also perform highly skilled maintenance, like timing belts, and they ensure they are done the right way the first time.
“We are quite proud of the products we offer and we only sell products that we use ourselves,” said Giambro. “Our line of oils and greases are almost all made in the USA. We have biodegradable penetrating lubricant, anti-seize, chassis grease and even offer Maine made cleaners. Our synthetic oil is vegetable-based yet performs to the highest standards. We also offer a synthetic blend oil which is recovered waste oil that has been re-refined to be of higher quality than the original stock! We only offer Nokian tires, which are made from a canola oil base stock with no high-VOC content. Nokian tires are not just the highest quality, but they also boast the safest snow tires available. We tested that while driving 150 mph on a frozen lake at their test facility in Finland!”
For more information, call Paris Autobarn at 744-2169 or stop in to the shop. You can also find Paris Autobarn on Facebook, or visit www.parisautobarn.com.
Paris Autobarn is open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
