Troy Mayor Carmella Mantello, left, recognizes Jack Troy’s Auto Body Works owner, Jim Barron, and his family on Thursday during an anniversary celebration for his body shop on 5th Avenue in Troy. The business is celebrating its 110th anniversary.
Will Waldron/Times Union
Jack Troy’s Auto Body Works is seen Thursday on 5th Avenue in Troy. The business is celebrating its 110th anniversary.
Will Waldron/Times Union
A collection of historic pictures of work performed at Jack Troy’s Auto Body Works is displayed Thursday at the shop on 5th Avenue in Troy.
Will Waldron/Times Union
Jack Troy’s Auto Body Works owner, Jim Barron, is interviewed during an anniversary celebration on Thursday at the shop on 5th Avenue in Troy.
Will Waldron/Times Union
A historic, undated photo of Jack Troy’s Auto Body Works is displayed on Thursday at the shop on 5th Ave. in Troy.
Will Waldron/Times Union
Jack Troy’s Auto Body Works is seen Thursday on 5th Avenue in Troy.
Will Waldron/Times Union
An automotive pulling bench is part of the collection of tools at Jack Troy’s Auto Body, which hosted a celebration of its 110th anniversary Thursday at the shop’s location on 5th Avenue in Troy.
Will Waldron/Times Union
Attachments for an automotive pulling bench are displayed at Jack Troy’s Auto Body Works on 5th Avenue in Troy on Thursday.
Will Waldron/Times Union
Troy Mayor Carmella Mantello, left, speaks to Jack Troy’s Auto Body Works owner, Jim Barron, right, during an anniversary celebration for the body shop on Thursday.
Will Waldron/Times Union
Stillwater Village Mayor Judith Wood-Zeno, who is related to Jack Troy’s Auto Body Works owner, Jim Barron, attends an anniversary celebration for the Troy body shop on Thursday.
Will Waldron/Times Union
Paints are stored at Jack Troy’s Auto Body Works on Thursday, March 26, 2026, on 5th Ave. in Troy, N.Y. The business is celebrating its 110th anniversary. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Will Waldron/Times Union
Paints are stored at Jack Troy’s Auto Body Works on Thursday.
Will Waldron/Times Union
Spray guns used in auto body work are stored at Jack Troy’s Auto Body Works on Thursday.
Will Waldron/Times Union
Stillwater Village Mayor Judith Wood-Zeno stands in the paint booth at Jack Troy’s Auto Body Works on Thursday.
Will Waldron/Times Union
TROY — Generations of drivers know Jack.
Jack Troy’s Auto Body Shop, founded during the first American automobile boom, has reached a 110-year-old milestone.
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Such longevity is a proud achievement for current owner James Barron, who has served many grandchildren of customers from decades past.
“This place has been here during World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, Vietnam, Korea, 9/11, the coronavirus,” Barron said. “I think there is security. Everything else around it changes, but old Jack Troy’s is still here.”
Barron, a 52-year-old Stillwater resident, took over the business in 2018 after working at Elmo’s Auto Body in Ballston Lake. The garage had previously been owned by the Gervais family since 1972, according to Times Record archives on fultonhistory.com. Former city Planning Commission Chairman and boxer John Sarkis, known by his “Jack Troy” ring name, started the shop in 1916.
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By the 1940s, Jack Troy’s advertised itself as the city’s “oldest, largest” auto body shop. The latter part of that claim no longer holds weight, as portions of the original property were sold off long ago, and the number of employees — once in the double digits — has been scaled down.
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The business is currently staffed by three employees, including Barron and his wife, Michele Barron, who keeps the books.
Jim, who has worked in the auto shop industry for decades, believes that the small size has a personal advantage over larger shops. He described his model as “slow and correct.”
“I find a gap in the industry … when you work for a small shop, that’s your car, you know the customer, get to know them, and then you work on the car, and you do it the best you can,” Jim said.
Outside of church and family life, Michele said that Jim is passionate about Jack’s Troy around the clock.
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“Even though his hours say ‘Monday through Friday,’ he’s there on the weekend, constantly,” Michele said. “Even when he’s home, he’s talking about it with a lot of words I don’t understand.”
On Thursday, Troy Mayor Carmella Mantello honored the business with a proclamation marking its 110th anniversary. She told the Times Union that Jack Troy’s and other longtime businesses have provided continuity and sustained investment in the city, even through the economic downturns of the late 20th century, when deindustrialization and population loss forced many businesses to close.
Despite its age, Jack Troy’s is not the oldest business in the Collar City. According to Rensselaer County Historian Kathy Sheehan, that superlative goes to Gurley Precision Instruments, Inc, which began in 1845 as Phelps & Gurley. And water control device manufacturer Ross Valves was founded in 1879.
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Some longstanding businesses in the city, including Bella Napoli Italian-American Bakery, Wm. J. Fagan & Sons and DeFazio’s have made it onto New York’s Historic Business Registry run by the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Assemblyman John McDonald and state Sen. Jacob Ashby intend to nominate Jack Troy’s for the list in the future, according to Mantello.