Victory Garage

The Victory Garage at 7th & Kaighn Avenue was established in 1923. However, by 1938, and through the late 1940s a business called the Victory Garage operated at 932 Kaighn Avenue, under the ownership of Edward Rosen, who lived with his wife Belle at 1273 Magnolia Avenue in Camden’s Parkside neighborhood. The Victory Garage remained in the Rosen family through the 1960s.

As late as the fall of 1962 the Victory Garage functioned as a gas station, serving Esso (present-day Exxon) gasoline. Al Rosen was the proprietor during the 1950s. Sometime in the 1960s the building became part of the Earl Scheib Auto Paint Shop chain, and it continued as such for many years. Earl Scheib was a legendary spokesman for discount auto painting. Earl Scheib appeared in his own TV commercials featuring his distinctive, gravel-voiced promise: “I’ll paint any car, any color, for $29.95. No ups, no extras.” Scheib, who went coast-to-coast with his auto painting franchise after opening for business in Los Angeles in 1937, died in 1992.

After the Scheib company pulled out of Camden, the building continued as an auto body repair shop under the name Earl’s Sons. After a short period when the building was vacant, in the latter half of 2003 the building was leased to a new auto repair business, and continues to serve the motorists of Camden.