At the car wash: with 61 locations, the nation's largest regional chain rings up sales while cleaning up its industry's image.

• Author: Martins, Edward
• Position: PICTURE THIS

More than cars get cleaned up in this oasis of suds and others like it in the Carolinas, Virginia and Georgia. Charlotte-based Autobell Car Wash Inc. is also trying to polish its image in other ways. "Our industry suffers from a bit of a stigma--that if you can't do anything else, you can get a job at the car wash," admits Chuck Howard, CEO of the nation's largest regional car-wash chain.

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Autobell recently opened its 61st wash in Asheville, the 13th new one since 2000. Each costs an average of $2 million. Mixing handwork--a typical site has 20 to 30 full-and part-time employees--and automation, they're designed to handle up to 120 cars an hour, though that pace is rarely hit.

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Howard's dad built the first Autobell, which opened in 1969, as a way to demonstrate the automated vehicle-washing systems that he distributed. Howard, who had just entered UNC Charlotte after graduating from junior college, pitched in. "We were our own general contractors, so I got to do the pipe bending, pipe fitting, plumbing--and then worked in them. When I finished school in 1971, I came on full time, managing washes, repairing equipment, doing whatever needed to be done." It's still a family affair: His son and two daughters hold executive positions.

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Seven years after the first Autobell opened, Car Wash, the cult-classic film featuring George Carlin and Richard Pryor, portrayed washes as a refuge for losers, loonies and potheads. If s an image that s bad for business, especially when the company tries to get property rezoned for new sites. To attract the right kind of employees, who start at minimum wage but can earn tips, the Howards have given about 400 college and trade-school scholarships totaling more than...