After 75 years, former West Quincy institution Scavo's Auto Body gets a new look

Mary Whitfill, The Patriot Ledger
·3 min read

QUINCY – Cora Scavo, 5, looked up at the new, towering mural of her grandfather on Willard Street on a recent afternoon. She smiled at it from her perch on her dad's shoulders, though the little girl never knew the man she saw smiling back at her. But everybody else did.

Al Scavo pulled cars from the Quincy quarries, towed for people in trouble in the dead of night and ran an autobody shop on Willard Street for about 35 years. It's been roughly 40 years since Scavo's Auto Body closed and 13 since its owner died at the age of 92, but people still talk about the avid fisherman, board member of the Quincy Trade School and Fore River Shipyard welder.

Joe Scavo and his daughter Cora, 5, look at the mural he had painted to honor his late father, Al, who founded the garage on Willard Street in Quincy.
Joe Scavo and his daughter Cora, 5, look at the mural he had painted to honor his late father, Al, who founded the garage on Willard Street in Quincy.

"This tells a story," said Joe Scavo, Al's son and the man who commissioned the new mural. "People have been coming up left and right, from guys in their 20s to guys who actually knew my dad all those years ago. ... It immortalizes my dad and improves the aesthetic."

Al Scavo ran the full-service body, auto and towing company from 1946 into the early 1980s. Though Scavo's itself is now long gone, the family still owns the land at 548 Willard St. and the several buildings on it. It's now home to three different businesses: Blue Hills Automotive, Blue Hills Gas and South Shore Collision.

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Joe Scavo said fixing up the exterior look of the property was a long time coming.

"It's sometimes a little bit of a dump here, and that's what we're trying to fight," he said. "Over the years, the building started to age, but I wanted to do something nice. I wanted to preserve the property but also preserve the family name, which really hasn't been on the building in years."

Before and after: A new mural on the wall of the former Scavo's Auto Body on Willard Street in Quincy.
Before and after: A new mural on the wall of the former Scavo's Auto Body on Willard Street in Quincy.

Scavo reached out to spray paint artist Brandon Rockwell, of Quincy, who has worked on murals in Hull, Weymouth and Marshfield. Together they conceptualized the plan to paint a 1960s-era Ford tow truck with Al Scavo inside and the Quincy quarries in the background.

"The truck stuck out to me. I felt like it was a great symbol of what this place represented," Rockwell said.

A photo of a truck owned by Al Scavo was used as a model for the new mural at the former Scavo's Auto Body on Willard Street in Quincy.
A photo of a truck owned by Al Scavo was used as a model for the new mural at the former Scavo's Auto Body on Willard Street in Quincy.

It took three days of nonstop painting for Rockwell – who has been professionally spray painting for decades – to finish the mural, and Scavo said it took his breath away the first time he saw it.

"You expect it's going to be good, but when I walked up, I saw my dad looking at me from across the parking lot," he said. "I can't explain it."

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Scavo said the owners of South Shore Collision may hire Rockwell to do work on their part of the property as well, and he hopes the mural is the beginning of a rehab to the property overall. Rockwell said he's proud of how the piece came out, especially the idea to bring in Quincy's famous quarries.

"The soul of the place is still here, and now you can see it," he said.

Quincy mural artist Brandon Rockwell, who goes by the name "Brandalism," looks at the mural of the late Alfred Scavo he painted on a Willard Street garage that was founded by Scavo. Tuesday, May 3, 2022.
Quincy mural artist Brandon Rockwell, who goes by the name "Brandalism," looks at the mural of the late Alfred Scavo he painted on a Willard Street garage that was founded by Scavo. Tuesday, May 3, 2022.

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Reach Mary Whitfill at mwhitfill@patriotledger.com.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: After 75 years, West Quincy's Scavo's Auto Body gets a new look