Paintless Dent Repair

According to Wikipedia:

“Paintless dent removal was started by Frank T. Sargent in 1931, when he wrote a groundbreaking work “The Key To Metal Bumping”. This book describes the tools of paintless dent repair, how to use them, and even gives illustrations on how one might predict the metal to move.

Almost 30 years later Oskar Flaig made the first public display on record, in February 1960 during the “International Motor Sports Show” in New York City, USA.

Oskar Flaig was an ordinary member of staff at Mercedes-Benz. His job was to take care of the paintwork of all the show cars presented at trade fairs. Damage, scratches on the paintwork and small dents, produced by the public during the day, needed to be re-painted at night, so the vehicles would be in perfect condition the next day.

At the trade fair in New York City, Oskar Flaig used a hammer handle to push out a small dent, so he would need to apply less filler before painting. Nevertheless, the result already looked perfect after pushing. After the show, Flaig returned home to Germany and started developing techniques and tools to repair dents.

He was eventually promoted to foreman at the Mercedes Sindelfingen plant where he was known as the “golden tinsmith” and started PDR training programs at all branch plants. These techniques were used in Germany for a long time before finally being promoted as a successful way to repair dents in the United States in 1979-1983 when Juergen Holzer moved from Germany to Minneapolis, Minnesota and started Dent Kraft (the first recorded business in the United States use paintless dent repair).”