How five ‘car wash junkies’ are transforming a ‘Macon landmark’ of 50-plus years

Chuck Duggan recalled how water was trucked in from a mining company east of Macon after the Great Flood of 1994 to keep Fountain Car Wash in business when the city was without water for almost three weeks.

Duggan shared other stories of the car wash that’s been a Macon mainstay for more than 50 years. He was a general manager, then partner and later owner of the car wash at 1820 Hardeman Avenue between 1989 and 2014.

Among the stories was the electrical fire of 1999 that resulted in the car wash getting new heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems and all new wiring.

Duggan was also on site when movie crews showed up to film scenes for two different movies at the car wash.

In “Need for Speed,” several downtown roads were closed for the filming of a chase scene, including the off-ramp at Hardeman Avenue and the car wash itself for a day.

In the lesser known remake of horror thriller, “The Crazies,” the car wash was shut down for eight days as its tunnel became the scene of an attack after a toxic virus invaded the film’s imaginary town.

“Fountain Car Wash has been a landmark in Macon for 50-plus years,” Duggan said. “People say, ‘Get off the interstate at Hardeman Avenue, turn right at Fountain Car Wash or meet me at Fountain Car Wash and we’ll go to such and such.’

“It became a landmark and the thousands of young men and women who had their first job there — there was a lot; an awful lot — and that’s probably the legacy of the Fountain.”

New ownership

That legacy is expected to continue under the car wash’s new owners, five close friends from Macon and Forsyth: Wes Cone, Todd Rivers, Mike Conard, and brothers Jeffery Shepherd and John Shepherd.

“We’re just really close friends,” Cone said. “We met through church and through business, kind of different things.”

The men have invested nearly $2 million for the top-to-bottom remodel, and they’ve hired nearly all of the Fountain employees

“We’ve gutted the whole place,” Cone said. “We’re not done with the remodel yet. But the whole place is redesigned. It’s redone.

“All new everything, from ceiling to floor, so the next time you go in there, you won’t recognize the place.”

Also included in the cost is a less extensive remodel planned for the former Fountain Car Wash sister location in Gray that they also purchased.

Big Peach at Fountain

The remodel of the Macon mainstay includes wrapping a good portion of the interior walls with newspaper articles and photos that capture its history.

“So you’re gonna see significant amounts of history of that building actually on the walls,” Cone said.

The new name, Big Peach at Fountain, is also a nod to the car wash’s legacy.

Meanwhile, the Gray location will be called Big Peach Car Wash, the name of their brand they’re expanding across Georgia and into Florida, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Of 15 new car washes in the works, two more are expected to go up in Middle Georgia.

Their first Big Peach Car Wash opened in Forsyth in July 2021. They also have one in Jackson and one in McDonough that’s expected to open in about four months.

The friends financed their business venture through Withco, which bills itself as “a mission-driven real estate investor that transforms business owners into commercial property owners.”

Car wash junkies

“We’re kind of car wash junkies,” Cone said. “When we had the idea to do it, we said let’s do each little thing we love from every car wash … We just all thought the car wash industry was really cool. That was basically it.”

Unlike their other express car washes, Big Peach at Fountain is the only one expected to offer a full service car wash as well as oil changes.

“Most car washes are express, which means after your drive through the tunnel, if you want to vacuum it yourself, you can do that, or you can just keep going,” Cone said. “Full service is where you actually get out, go inside and then one of the employees cleans out your car and takes it through the tunnel and everything.

“It’s going to be an express tunnel but we’ll also still offer full service, which is what everybody has been used to at Fountain for years.”

They expect to offer discounted prices on oil changes for their unlimited car wash customers.

“We’re actually starting our own oil change brand that we are going to start building with most of our new washes,” he said. “Everybody who has an unlimited plan with us, they will get heavily discounted oil changes.”

The remodel

The remodel included all new tunnel equipment, tearing down a metal office building and leveling the lot for additional vacuums.

The exterior and interior are getting a face lift.

In the customer waiting area, they’re adding a soda fountain with their own branded cups and are loading the area with “cool stuff — merchandise, snacks” and TVs.

They’ll have free WiFi.

The interior design accommodates both nearby residents and people who work nearby.

“We’re going to have some high tops, a lot of seating with built-in charging stations for your laptops and your cell phones so that you can easily still work while you’re in there,” Cone said. “So you’ll have entertainment if you’re not working but you’ll have the ability to bring in your laptops, phones, computers, whatever to keep doing what you’re doing.”

The fountain at the car wash remains.

“It’s still working and we’re still going to continue the tradition with Cherry Blossom and doing it pink,” Cone said.

They’re also keeping something unique to the car wash: a single-manned shoe shine station. They’re upgrading that, too.

Work ethic

The friends believe in taking caring of their employees and giving back to their communities.

“We truly care about our employees,” Cone said. “Our pay scale is pretty strong. We start our part-time employees out at $10 an hour; our full-timers at $12.

“Our team leaders make from $15 to $18 an hour. Our assistant managers are making around $55,000 to $60,000 a year and our site managers are making from $85,000 to $110,000 a year. We have the full gamut of benefits. We pay for our employees health insurance benefits. We have a 6% match on our 401 (k).”

Cone credited the years he worked at Publix while in high school and college for what he learned and then implemented into their business.

“The culture at Publix is different than any other grocery store, and what I learned is if you pay your people right and treat them right, then your culture is going to be better, your employees are happier, your customers are happier.

“That’s kind of what we try to build. We want our employees to come to work happy because we know they’re going to treat our customers well.”

Also, each quarter, their car washes shut down early and they have an event for their staff and employees. They rent out a skating rink, or go to a bowling alley or a restaurant.

“We just celebrate that quarter and it’s time for them to bond and to hang out with their co-workers and their families outside of work,” Cone said.

Fundraisers

“The other big thing is we’re all about giving back,” Cone said. “Every quarter at every one of our washes, we do a fundraiser for somebody in the community.”

They donate $5 a car for every car that comes through that day, including for their unlimited members, to a family or a nonprofit.

“If you’re an unlimited member at my wash, you don’t have to pay a dime,” Cone said of the fundraiser. “You just run your car through on the day of that fundraiser and we’re going to pay.

“That’s something that’s been really popular and typically like it’s kids who are battling cancer or some nonprofits. We like to center it around kids.”

They expect to open Big Peach at Fountain next month with a target date of April 15.

To celebrate, the first 100,000 people to join their text club get a free car wash, Cone said.