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Cleaning up
For 46 years, the In & Out has seen changes in people and cars
By Kathleen Dayton
Staff Writer
Flash back to 1960, when Ford Falcons and Volkswagen Beetles tooled along America’s highways with classic Cadillacs and Thunderbirds. Seat belts were new, air conditioning was rare and drive-ins were packed.
That was the year Patrick McGinnis, a young father of five, decided Charleston’s cars were dirty. He opened the In & Out Car Wash on St. Andrews Boulevard at Wesley Drive in September 1960, with car washes starting at $2.25.
Forty-six years later, the business is still scrubbing Charleston’s dirty vehicles, although SUVs have largely replaced Falcons and a basic wash is $11.99. McGinnis, who is now 76 and retired, has turned over the operation to his oldest daughter, Sandy Ellett, who manages about 30 full- and part-time employees and keeps the business open seven days a week.
Ellett’s father got the idea for the car wash while he was in the U.S. Army and stationed in El Paso, Texas, she said. It was there is saw a semi-automatic car wash for the first time. McGinnis, who had a degree in business administration from The Citadel, was interested in time and production issues and was intrigued. After coming back to Charleston, he left his job at Rodenberg’s Supermarket to launch In & Out Car Wash.
“My mama was cashiering,” said Ellett, who was nine when the business opened. “I remember, as a little girl, my dad was there all the time. We really didn’t see him.”
The car wash equipment of the time required extensive maintenance during the hours when the wash was closed, so McGinnis and some of his employees worked long hours.
“It was always busy around there,” Ellett said. “I thought it was pretty neat. I remember going down there to pick my dad up. I believe we had an old white Plymouth station wagon. Back in those days, most families had only one car, so we spent a lot of time going back and forth to pick up dad from the car wash.”
The business got new equipment about every five years as technology improved. In its early days, cars were hooked onto a conveyor belt with a chain and pulled into the wash, where employees wearing white gloves stood in pits below to wash the undercarriages.
Treating workers like family
Perry Capers, the manager of In & Out Car Wash, started working for McGinnis at 19, just two months after the car wash opened.
“I think half of Charleston thinks Perry owns it because he’s been standing on that corner for so long, but that’s fine with me,” Ellett said. “He’s just a wonderful person and he loves people.”
Capers said he has made a lot of friends at the car wash over the years. He came to the business at the suggestion of a friend 46 years ago, after working as a migrant worker in Virginia, Maryland and New York.
“I worked in the potato fields. I knew all about hard work,” Capers said.
After almost a year at the car wash, hot wax came along and almost cost Capers his job. He was severely allergic to the wax and was out of work for more than a week after his first reaction.
“I came to pick up my last check and told (McGinnis) I was going to have to leave,” Capers said.
Instead, McGinnis moved Capers to the vacuuming section, where he soon became head of the crew. He later became assistant manager of the car wash and then manager.
The changing world
During the 46 years he’s worked at the car wash, both people and their cars have changed, he said.
“Inside the car is about five times as hard to clean as it was then,” Capers said. “Back in the 60s, all the cars had vinyl floors. Very few of them had carpets.”
Good employees were also easier to find than they are now, Capers said.
“You just don’t find people who want to work as hard,” Capers said. “A lot of them were real smart guys and a lot of them went on to careers. Now they are doctors, attorneys and one is even a movie star.”
Capers referred to actor Thomas Gibson, a stage and film star probably best known for playing Greg on the ABC television series “Dharma and Greg.” Gibson grew up in West Ashley and graduated from Bishop England High School. Capers was invited to Gibson’s wedding several years ago and keeps in touch with the actor’s mother.
“He worked here during the time he was at Bishop England, and when he went to acting school in New York, he would come back down here sometimes and put in a few days,” Capers said.
While Capers is the car wash’s most senior employee, many aren’t far behind him. Ellett said she is often asked by other small business owners how she manages to keep good employees for so long.
“There’s no big secret to it,” Ellett said. “We’re a family. We realize that life happens to people. All our employees know they’ve got somebody to back them up, and they need to be willing to back up another employee if somebody needs it. If you’re not going to be a team player, you’re not going to last here long.”
Cashier Glenda McDaniel has been at In & Out Car Wash for 24 years, she said, because the company has treated her fairly.
“I was a young girl when I started, and I had children. There was never a question that if something happened, the other cashiers that I worked with would cover for me and vice versa myself for them,” McDaniel said.
The ultimate test came when McDaniel’s home was destroyed during Hurricane Hugo in 1989.
“I lost everything in that storm,” McDaniel said. “When I called I was told, ‘Just take as much time as you need. Your job is here.’ The car wash wasn’t destroyed.”
From expansion to contraction
In & Out Car Wash at one time expanded to four locations and had about 250 employees, but downsized as McGinnis got closer to retirement.
“Dad was in the retirement process, and it just got to be too much for me,” Ellett said. “The smaller ones were marginally profitable, but not enough for the amount of work and headaches that you have.”
The business also took a significant hit 10 years ago thanks to roadwork and the federal government. When St. Andrews Boulevard, which is part of S.C. Highway 61, was rerouted to merge with the James Island connector, the government erected a fence between the In & Out’s driveway and St. Andrews. The car wash entrance is now on Wesley Drive and is difficult for motorists on St. Andrews to locate.
“We lost about 20 percent of our business the day they put that fence up, because that’s my impulse business. They could just roll right in,” Ellett said. “Like any business, there are good times and bad times.”
And, Ellett said, the car wash business is cyclical.
“You have to be prepared for summertime,” she said. “Summers are very slow. Most people think it’s the opposite, but in the summertime, most of your customers are on vacation and kids want to wash cars to make money and it rains every afternoon. An economic downturn really affects us because it’s a luxury you really can do yourself.”
The In & Out Car Wash is in an upswing right now, Ellett said.
Mary Williams, who splits her time between Charleston and Conway, said she visits regularly.
“When I want my car detailed, they do the best job,” Williams said.
To keep people like Williams coming back, Ellett knows the key is her staff.
“Especially in these latter years when cars have become so expensive, you need experienced people,” Ellett said. “When we plan our crews, we always make sure we have seasoned veterans in the back and in front so they can keep an eye on any new people. People are turning over their second largest asset to you and you have to be in charge of it, so experienced people dealing with the equipment and the process, I think, is important.”
Kathleen Dayton is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her at kdayton@charlestonbusiness.com.
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