Like many others, Donny started playing with Hot Wheels as a toddler and young boy. “Having been in love with custom cars and trucks since an early age, it’s no wonder I ended up working on them.” Once he reached middle school, Donny caught his first glimpse of a Mini Truckin’ magazine and the rest was history.
In the early 2000’s, Donny built and showed a custom 1993 Toyota pickup winning multiple awards along the way. However, he says the greatest joy has been the life-long friendships he has made. “The car community is unlike any other. We support and help one another. If I had to sum up my love for the car community in one word, it would be friendship.”
In 2009, after a few years of working at a local shop, Donny adopted a son. When work was slow, the shop he was working at would let people go and would tell them to call back after the slower seasons when work might pick up again. This inconsistent schedule made Donny realize he wanted more for his son and needed to find a better job. Needing to start somewhere, Donny started his own business running ads for headliners and quickly realized he could make more in a day than he previously was able to make in a week. Soon after, Donny took the money he had and bought a used sewing machine and got to work making “every mistake imaginable” until he got better. Over the years, he would visit Phil Cato at his former shop in Atlanta to pick his brain and hang out. Cato introduced Donny to new techniques, gave him tips, and ultimately introduced him to Moore and Giles Leather. Now, Donny himself uses Moore and Giles on the majority of his interiors and credits his amazing team, including life-long friend David and his brother Dennis, for the success they have seen over the years doing what they love.
Donny is now in his thirteenth year in business and still says he is learning as he goes.
