A downtown Oxford business that’s been fixing damaged vehicles for five decades is closing its doors this week.

Dunlap Collision’s days of removing dents, straightening frames and handling paint jobs are finished, according to Joe Dunlap, who owns the auto body shop at 75 N. Washington St. (M-24) near the Polly Ann Trail bridge.

“I gotta let her go,” he said  “I hate to (do it) . . . It’s really hard to let it go, but what are you gonna do?”

A combination of health and economic issues led to Dunlap’s decision.

“I lost my eyesight. I can’t do my job anymore,” he said. “I can see a little bit, but I’ve probably lost 80 percent of my eyesight.”

Dunlap, who will celebrate his 80th birthday in October, said doctors told him his vision is “not coming back without a miracle.”

“So, I’m hoping for a miracle,” he said.

The other factor that led to the closure is the cost of doing business, which, according to Dunlap, has “gone bananas.” After paying insurance and taxes, he said “there’s nothing left.”

“The cost of doing business today is just enormous compared to what it was back (when the shop opened),” Dunlap noted.

Due to his vision loss, Dunlap is no longer able to save on staffing costs by either doing the work himself or filling in for absent employees.

“I used to be able to pretty much do everything myself,” he said. “I used to be able to skate around the whole shop. Can’t do that anymore.”

Oxford has been Dunlap’s home since 1951 when he came here from Missouri.

Six years later, he went to work for Homer Hight Motors, a Chevy-Pontiac-Buick dealership that was once located where the Oxford Marketplace shopping center stands today. “They used to sell a lot of cars,” Dunlap said.

After he finished his regular shift, Dunlap would work with the dealership’s body shop guys for free, “just to learn the trade.”

Dunlap purchased the body shop Hight owned at 75 N. Washington St. and opened the collision shop bearing his name in 1968.

All these years later, Dunlap is still grateful to Hight for giving him his start. He called Hight a “wonderful old gentleman.”

“I can’t say enough good (things) about him,” he said. “He just helped me tremendously. When I went (to the dealership), I had nothing.”

When asked what he will miss most about the business, Dunlap immediately replied, “My customers.”

“I enjoyed the job, but I really enjoyed my customers – a lot of old friends,” he said.

As for the future of his M-24 property, which the village has zoned as Central Business District-Transition, Dunlap said he plans to sell it. He said he’s “had a couple of calls” from interested parties, but “until you’ve got it on paper, you’ve got nothing.”