Every car tells a story at Greenville’s Tommy Pike Customs
Those who come to Tommy Pike Customs’ 30,000-square-foot shop and showroom on Rutherford Road in Greenville are searching for something.
“They walk in and say, ‘I want a Tommy Pike custom,’” Tommy Pike Jr. says of the eponymous brand he and wife, Stephanie, have spent more than a decade building, cultivating, and have expanded with a reality television series on the MotorTrend network, Custom Carolina.
“At Tommy Pike Customs you get what you want, not what I want” he says of his “less-is-more” approach to restoration and customization. “My job is to make sure it’s done right. It takes discipline—you have to know when to say when, and that takes more time.”
On this day, the Pikes’ 10-employee team is busy tackling a years-long backlog of jobs under Tommy’s watchful eye. “We could be working on anything from a ’54 Corvette, a ’73 Vega, ’74 Bronco, to a new Lamborghini, or a new Corvette C-8. We’ve received many requests in recent weeks for a tremendous variety of cars.”
And the clients are as diverse as the cars. “We serve plumbers, CEOs, retirees, veterans, we’ve got truckers and tool-and-dye makers,” Tommy says.
“I joke that we’re the worst business model imaginable because we do everything here. A good model is scalable, repeatable, as in, ‘I’m only going to do Mustangs,’” Tommy says. “But we don’t think about how to make things easier. We want to think about how to make things better, and grow, and give the customer what they want.”
As for a high-level discussion on America’s most iconic, classic car, few are as popular as the Chevrolet Corvette. “And the C2 Corvette (1963-1967 model years), in particular, is probably the most beautiful design,” Pike says. “Everything about it is gorgeous. One of my favorites.”
Of course, he has a healthy personal custom collection, but Tommy Pike’s day-to-day vehicle reflects the pragmatism with which he approaches most other things. “I drive a 2016 Toyota Highlander with 140,000 miles on it that gets 30 miles per gallon,” he jokes. “Bro, I like paying $32-per-week for a tank of gas.”
On a warm, sunny, Saturday, though, you might find him tooling around in his ’69 Camaro, or the ’60 Chevrolet C10, or maybe the ’65 VW Beetle. “On a Friday, if I’m feeling froggy, I ask the boys to prepare one and I’ll drive it home,” Tommy says.
His personal favorite? “Probably the 1972 (Chevrolet) C10. Our son named it Bingo,” Tommy says.
Tommy Pike Customs Restoration Stories
It’s quite clear from just a few minutes with them that Tommy and Stephanie Pike love what they do, despite the hours, the work, the stress. “There’s a lot happening,” Tommy says. “We’re moving and shaking.”
But there’s more to what’s going on than meets the eye, Tommy says, and it’s a far cry from his early years installing car stereos and tinting windows. Emotional attachments, memories, even family histories are almost welded onto the chassis of some cars.
“It’s not about the cars, it’s about the people,” Tommy says. “I don’t qualify on what type of car you’re bringing me. It’s the story—I want to keep it alive. To me, that’s what it’s all about—saving these cars, preserving the stories for these families.”
And the love of the craft extends to those who join the team. “Yes, the cars matter. They’re the business,” Tommy says. “But we’re also building people, careers, here. And we need a lot of skilled people.”
And as the shop continues its steady climb, the mission remains the same. “Preserving American automotive history while growing another generation of automotive artisans,” Stephanie says.
“In the end, we’re passionate automotive people,” Tommy says. “We’re not doing this to become rich and famous. We’re doing it to make a difference.”
Advocating for Trades
“I found out in the eighth grade that it was cars for me,” Tommy Pike Jr., of Tommy Pike Customs, says of his career trajectory.
But there was resistance.
“When I went from junior high to high school, though, people told me, ‘Tommy, you don’t want to work on cars. You want a computer science degree.’ And in a few years, they’d done away with all trades.”
As a result, Pike and his wife Stephanie are building not only a business, but a new generation of skilled workers and automotive artisans.
“We need experienced tradesmen and craftsmen,” he says. “In the end, I want this be a working and learning facility, and have 10, 15 kids in here on a weekly basis doing a half-day in the morning, half-day after lunch. That’s my dream, that’s my goal.”
Stephanie Pike, whose introduction to the automotive business was more on the corporate side, says the realities of small business ownership were eye-opening.
“When Tommy and I got married and I moved down here, it was baptism by fire, taking on a small business,” she says. “I then became aware how important the community is to success. Not just the community of customers, but a community of technicians, fabricators, and installers.”
“The general public should understand the viable jobs, careers, lifestyles available in this industry,” she says. “These kids could be writing their own paychecks, if given a little bit of support. That’s what we’re trying to encourage.”
“This is where you learn,” Tommy Pike says. “You can go to school to learn in the classroom and do the textbook work, but if you want to learn how to put a patch panel in a quarter panel of a ’69 Camaro, you need to learn that through hands-on experience outside of the classroom.”
Tommy Pike Customs, 2499 Rutherford Rd., Greenville, tommypikecustoms.com. Find nine episodes of Custom Carolina at motortrend.com.
