When Eric Caldera was young, he was fascinated by classic and custom cars. “Every time I would go to Walmart, I’d always go to the magazine section, pick up the low rider magazines and hot rod magazines, and just look,” he said.
Now, just over two decades later, Caldera is living his dream as the owner of his own custom paint and body shop, Colour House Customs in Dublin.
Caldera graduated from Dublin High School in 2004 and went to work at Aurora Dairy for a year while he figured out what he was going to do next. In 2005, he enrolled at Texas State Technical College to earn a certificate in auto body and refinishing.
“I was really big into low riders when I was in high school, anything that had to do with customizing the car,” he said. “So that’s really why I chose to study auto body. It was my way into doing the custom work, which I would call the cool stuff.”
Caldera finished his coursework in 2007 and got a job at a collision shop in Stephenville. “I was in the paint department, so I did all that came after they got done with the body work,” he said. “I did all the prepping, the color matching, the painting, and the polishing, and then we sent it back to the body department for them to start putting it back together.”
While he enjoyed the work, Caldera was frustrated that he couldn’t put in as many hours as he wanted due to the slow pace of the collision industry. He decided to move to the Metroplex and see if he could do better there. “It turned out to be just about the same,” he said. “But I worked up there for about a year and a half, almost two.”
At the time, Caldera, who had just gone through a divorce and won custody of his two sons, would come back on the weekends to be with his kids. His mom and sister helped out with caring for them during the week, but Caldera wanted to be around more for them.
“I got tired of [commuting to the Metroplex], because I was away from the kids and missing a lot of their school and after school activities during the week,” he said. “So I decided to move back and look for something closer.”
When he came back, Caldera found a job at another local auto shop, this one specializing in restoration and custom work. Working there, he met Clynt Hunter. Caldera and Hunter became friends, and when Hunter decided to leave the shop and start his own business, Hunter Body Works in Stephenville, Caldera went with him.
He worked there for eight years, and really enjoyed the work. “The most satisfying thing was the finished product, and the quality of the work that was done,” Caldera said. “I take a lot of pride in what I do.”
As he neared a decade of working for Hunter, Caldera saw an opportunity to open his own business. “The reason I really got into [this business] was to get into the custom scene,” he said. “And I finally had an opportunity three years ago to actually work on classics, restoring, custom paint, and all that came with it” Caldera’s business, Colour House Customs in Dublin, is hard work but he finds it rewarding to get to do exactly the work he wants, and to make his own schedule so he can prioritize time with his family.
“If my kids have sports or things that need to be done, I can just stop what I’m doing and take off,” he said. “I don’t have to sit there and ask, ‘Can I have this day off, can I take off early today?’ So it gives me that freedom.”
Caldera plans to keep running the business, and expand the services that he can offer.
When Caldera has free time, he spends much of it with his three children, Nate, 19, Julian, 17, and Quinten 6. The younger two attend Dublin schools, and Caldera’s parents, Cristobal and Maria Lopez, also live nearby in Dublin.
Caldera recently bought land near Alexander, and is currently working on developing it so he can live there. Caldera also enjoys jiu jitsu, and trains and teaches at Makhuwa Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Stephenville.
Throughout his adult life, Caldera has found inspiration in his family. “Right now, the main thing that really keeps me motivated is my children,” he said. “I’ve never liked to fail, and especially now that I have people that depend on me. They’re a big reason why I keep going. And my other personal motivation is, I don’t like to quit. I’m a big risk taker, so just taking risks motivates me.”
To future Dublin graduates, Caldera offers the following advice: “The biggest thing I tell my son that’s about to graduate is you don’t always have to know what you’re going to do right away,” he said. “Just keep doing something to progress and to be better than you were the day before; to better your life and yourself.”
Where are they now chronicles what Dublin graduates have done since high school. If you have any suggestions for other grads, email publisher@dublincitizen.com.