Founder

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Bob Bivens 

 Bob started his training for autobody when he was 16 years old. Bob was trained under Harry Shackle at the Elkhart Area Career Center.  

After high school, he started working in a body shop.  

After getting married and starting a family, the pay wasn’t enough, so Bob started doing “side jobs” out of his garage and then Bob’s Body shop was started in 1993. The pay at the main body shop still wasn’t sufficient, so an opportunity arose at a large truck and bus manufacturing plant, to work and be the second in charge under the paint shop manager. After working here for 10 years, another opportunity came to work as a paint rep for another large supply company alongside BASF. There were lots of training offered there. Bob got to go to the main paint lab in the US located in Ohio. By going to this training, he had acquired a certification in paint and color matching. He has also acquired knowledge in the chemistry of paint and products. 

In 2014, Cobra Automotive Designs was established and moved to a facility in Mishawaka. This location ran until we outgrew this facility in 2021 and moved to our current location in Elkhart.  

Bob’s Body Shop went from a very small team to Cobra Automotive with roughly 20 employees and is still growing. 

Cobra Automotive is a paint shop that specializes in all phases of paint, RV, automobiles, motorcycles, boats and fleet painting. 

God has blessed Bob and the company to where we are at today!