Windsorites with a flat tire or broken trasmission looking for a mechanic may have noticed something a little different outside Gil Drouillard’s D&D Auto and Truck repair shop.
It’s a 60-tire Christmas tree fully decorated with lights and even a star atop sits under his sign.
“I just wanted to be a little festive this holiday season,” Drouillard said.
A friend of Drouillard’s, Jeff Burns, came up with the idea and suggested he do something different for the holidays.
“It turned out to be a novel idea,” Drouillard said. “As soon as my buddy mentioned it, I said ‘Yeah, let’s go for it.’ It was really him that slogged them all out here and stacked them up, I just helped him with the top part and the star.”
Passersby and customers had a laugh, Drouillard said.
“There’s been a lot of hilarious laughter. When we were putting the lights on the tree, people were stopping out front, laughing at us,” he said.
While the idea may be something new for the 23-year-old repair shop, the excess tires aren’t.
“We do a lot of tire repairs so we have these tires lying around,” Drouillard said.
With a Christmas party for family, friends and customers, he says he plans to leave the “tree” up until New Year’s, when recyclers will come to dispose of the tires.
Gil Drouillard places another tire on his Christmas tree built from old automobile tires at D & D Truck Repair on Crawford Avenue December 19, 2012. (NICK BRANCACCIO/The Windsor Star)
Gil Drouillard places another tire on his Christmas tree built from old automobile tires at D & D Truck Repair on Crawford Avenue December 19, 2012. (NICK BRANCACCIO/The Windsor Star)
