In Overdrive: Automotive Painters Supply

After 43 years and seven locations across the Gulf Coast, Mobile-based company sees even more growth in its future. 

It’s Friday afternoon before the third Saturday of October 2025. As the sun sets, commuters driving home along I-65 in Mobile after a long work week can hear the hard-driving beats of classic 1980s rock songs — Phil Collins, Journey, Boston — coming from somewhere along the East I-65 Service Road. If they happen to look off toward the east around Prichard, they’ll see a hive of activity as people in matching shirts — green for Friday — erect tents, perform sound checks, set up barbecue grills.

All this is happening at Automotive Painters Supply (APS) in preparation for APS’ 21st Annual Cruise-In, an event that company founder Tommy English said began as a simple customer-appreciation gathering with free burgers, hotdogs and soft drinks; door prizes every 30 minutes; and — for many the main draw — a chance to show off and admire an impressive array of classic cars. At the first Cruise-In in the early 2000s, approximately 80 cars showed up. These days, the event draws roughly 400 cars — representing an astonishing increase of approximately 400%. “There’s no charge to anybody, and anybody can come,” English said. “You bring your car — finished, not finished, it doesn’t matter. We have people come from all over — Louisiana, Panama City, Birmingham. It’s just a good day” — one that always makes an effort to give back to the community through fundraisers like raffles that go toward a worthy cause. More on that later.

It does not hurt that the Cruise-In happens right after Cruisin’ The Coast®, the wildly popular, eight-day annual event that draws tens of thousands of auto enthusiasts to the Mississippi Gulf Coast during the first week of October each year. A car guy himself, English always participates in Cruisin’, as well as, of course, APS’ Cruise-In, which gives him a chance to show off some of his numerous classic cars. English is a Camaro man, and many of his cars are Camaros, his favorite of which is a dark blue 1969 convertible with white-and-black houndstooth interior.

Steady Growth Fuels Expansion Plans

If they’re from around here, those who come to the Cruise-In almost certainly buy their automotive paint — and much more — from the company, which is headquartered in Mobile and has six additional locations: Pensacola, Florida; Daphne; Fort Walton Beach, Florida; Gulfport, Mississippi; Montgomery; and Auburn-Opelika, which opened in that order following the original location in Mobile in 1983. The stores carry a comprehensive inventory of automotive paint, abrasives, spray equipment, body fillers, detailing supplies and safety gear. With the company enjoying steady growth, English said he is looking to open three additional locations within the next five-10 years to reach a total of 10. He’s currently looking at both existing buildings and greenfield opportunities. “We’ve grown steadily every year for the last 15 years, and we are ahead of last year,” English said in June.

APS customers consist of auto body shops, car dealerships, do-it-yourself-ers and big industrial clients like a company that supplies railroad cars and other transit products and a machinery manufacturer specializing in forklifts that mount on the back of 18-wheelers. Suppliers of metal garbage trucks and dumpsters are also APS customers. APS is a Platinum PPG Distributor, which means it part of an elite, vetted network of automotive and industrial coatings distributors.

English has been with PPG — which stands for Pittsburgh Plate Glass — since the 1980s. One of five major paint brands that include Sherwin-Williams, BASF, Axalta and AkzoNobel, “PPG is a Fortune 500 company that “used to be in the glass business, but got out of that and are just in coatings now.” With the planned merger of AkzoNobel and Axalta, the global coatings and paint industry, like many others, is poised for a sea change, English observed. The same thing has been happening in the automotive and industrial paint wholesale and retail business.

It’s quite a different time from when family-owned companies sold products they developed themselves, or at least knew the companies that did. When English started selling PPG products, they were branded as Ditzler, a historic brand launched in Detroit around the turn of the 20th century synonymous with vintage and classic car finishes. PPG acquired Ditzler in 1928, but continued to market automotive refinishing products under the Ditzler name until 1986, when APS had only been around for three years.

A Passion for Paint: The Beginning

In the early 1980s, English worked for an auto parts shop that also sold paint. As a young man who always wanted to keep his car looking its best, he preferred the paint side of things. English’s employer swapped paint back and forth with another local shop that specialized auto paint. “If they were short on something they borrowed from us, and if we were short on something we borrowed from them,” English said. The relationship between the auto parts shop and the paint store grew, and one day one of the paint store’s delivery drivers told English its owner was looking to sell. English, who had always wanted to own his own business, was interested, and, after a deal with another potential buyer fell through, English and store owner tallied the shop’s inventory and English — with two business partners — cut the man a check. English now had his own business — at the time operating out of a 4,000-square-foot building on Furr Street in Midtown Mobile.

The trio ran APS for approximately a year together, but English’s business partners said they preferred the auto parts and machines side of things — that they “didn’t know paint and didn’t know what to do with it.” English, on the other hand, knows and loves everything about it — the technology, formulas and chemicals used to make it, the process, working with customers to get things just right, even the smell.

Largely fueled by automotive paint sales, business was going strong in the late 80s. When English and the two business partners parted ways, English bought the first, main Mobile location with the other two assuming ownership the Saraland store, to which they added a significant auto parts component.

Beyond Classic (and Regular) Cars

English saw vast potential in paint, not just for classic (and regular) cars but for many other things: fiberglass boats — especially relevant given APS’ coastal location — the aforementioned railcars, forklifts and dumpsters; and airplanes. When he began the company, it was just himself and the small crew that “came with the business” when he bought it. But English is a relationship builder and people person, and he ended up hiring good people he got to know while doing business, in addition to family members who showed a passion for the work: His two sons, Christopher and Lee, handle sales and daily operations, respectively. His sister, Abby Vernon, handles finance and accounting, and Abby’s daughter, Jessica, is an office administrator. English also has a nephew, Justin, who works in the warehouse. Across APS’ seven locations there are approximately 50 employees including delivery drivers, sales people, counter staff and branch managers. Nearly all who work in the shops know how to match and mix paint. Some of them have been with APS for roughly 30 years.

Mobile: APS’ Beating Heart

The 25,000-square-foot Mobile headquarters is the beating heart of APS. It’s where the corporate offices are, as well as an attractive, well-stocked main showroom, a massive warehouse and high-tech mixing equipment such as one that mixes and manufactures high-end industrial paints and finishes in 85-gallon drums. “It’s pretty neat because we make it from just plain resin into the finished product,” English said. “We can also mix and fill aerosol cans.” APS has had industrial paint-mixing machines since the mid-1990s and the aerosol can system for about five years, though “we’ve really ramped up getting the word out about that to let people know that we can do it.” A unique offering, the aerosol can service means a person seeking to touch up a scratch on say, the side of their 1964 Bahama Blue Volkswagen Beetle, can do so without breaking the bank. Using a computerized color-matching system, APS staff members are able to ascertain virtually any color.

Vernon said APS boasts the “newest, latest and greatest” paint technology the industry has to offer, and is constantly training its employees and customers on the new equipment. “We want our customers to be successful,” she said.

The Importance of Giving Back

As a family-owned and operated business, APS fully understands the importance of a healthy, happy family. For that reason, shortly after the first APS Cruise-In, the company decided to make raising money for a local family a big part of the event, Vernon said, adding:

“We’ve always had a 50-50 split-the-pot raffle at the car show, and we realized people in our industry are very generous and would want to give back if they could. So, each year, we find a cause for them to donate to. We’ve been very blessed in this family and in this business, and it feels right to give back.”

At each Cruise-In, a prominently displayed donation jar tells the story of that year’s recipient. Local people for whom APS has raised money include the family of a baby girl awaiting open-heart surgery, a young mother undergoing cancer treatment in Texas and the family of a young girl undergoing therapy and surgery for cerebral palsy (CP). Oftentimes, APS’ fundraiser recipients are on hand for the big auto show. “When we say your generous donations are life-changing, we really mean it!” said the family of the child battling CP. A few years ago, they extended a “very special and heart-warming thanks to APS for allowing our family to be part of your event.”

Revving Into the Future

There will always be guys (and gals) who love their vintage muscle cars, V8 sedans, 57 Chevys and lowriders, and want to keep them looking absolutely perfect, not to mention the ongoing need for bright and shiny forklifts, railcars and yes, even dumpsters. For that reason, English anticipates growth far into the future. He wants the English family to always be a part of it. Lee English has a baby son and a daughter and Christopher English has a young son. Twenty years from now, Tommy English would love to see these boys (and girl) carry on the family legacy at APS, continuing to offer face-to-face, personalized customer service in an increasingly corporate world.