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In celebration of the Wright City Chamber of Commerce’s 80th year, The Record is publishing a series of stories to highlight the local businesses that call Wright City home.

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Nestled in downtown Wright City on East First Street North, Town and County Garage has been providing maintenance and repair on local vehicles for almost 50 years.The garage has a long history of service and relationships with customers in the area. Last year, the responsibility for continuing that service and upholding the reputation of the business was placed on a new generation of owners.Town and County Garage was founded by Ted Schamma and Ivan Paul in 1972. They purchased their building, formerly Danny’s Autobody, when Schamma was 22 years old. Paul left the business just a few years later.Schamma has had employees come and go over the years, but did much of the work himself to build long relationships with his customers in Wright City. Many of them were local farmers.“In the beginning, I worked on all kinds of farm equipment. Tractors, trucks, combines, everything that the farmers used,” Schamma said. “I always had a tractor torn apart in here that I was overhauling. I’d go out to the farms and work on stuff. It was a whole different deal.”Over the next 46 years, more of the business became passenger vehicles. Schamma said it’s unusual for an independent shop to even stay open that long.To keep the garage running and keep up with changing technology, Schamma said he had to educate himself in both mechanics and business.“The more expensive the mistake, the better,” he joked. “A big challenge was keeping up with (technology) as it materialized over the years.”Auto parts suppliers hosted training seminars every year for new advancements, Schamma explained.Managing a business also required learning from mistakes, and taking advice from local mentors, he said.“There was a lot I wish I had learned sooner,” Schamma commented. “I wish I had gone to college or school and taken a business management course! That takes a long time when you have to learn it as you go.”The customers at Town and County started out as people Schamma knew growing up in Wright City. New customers came in through word of mouth. Over time, they became longtime clients and started sending their children or grandchildren to the garage for vehicle service.Schamma said he enjoyed those longtime connections with terrific people. But in 2015, he was diagnosed with a serious illness that required surgery and treatment, and that pushed Schamma toward retirement.In the next year, Schamma said he was lucky enough to bring in Brad Olivio, the person who would eventually take over the garage.“I was so happy to have Brad come on board. He had all of this experience, and is a fantastic mechanic. I was so thrilled with him,” Schamma commented.

Town and County Garage owners Brad and Jennifer Olivio, pictured at center and center-left, gathered family and employees to celebrate one year in ownership of the business at a car show and customer appreciation day, June 1 at the garage in Wright City. At center-right is former owner Ted Schamma.

Record photo/Adam RollinsHanding Over ShopFrom 2016 to 2018, the two of them worked together at Town and County. It gave Schamma the chance to introduce customers to Brad, so they could learn to trust him like they trusted Schamma. Then in May 2018, the business was transferred to Brad and his wife, Jenn Olivio.“It was always one of my goals to own my own shop,” said Brad. “Ever since I started working on cars, I wanted to be able to do it myself, run my own place.”Brad has been doing mechanic work for 30 years, and knew Ted’s family through church. In a happy circumstance, Brad left a job at a shop in St. Charles around the same time Ted was looking to hire an eventual replacement.Brad and Jenn now operate the business as a team, with Brad doing the mechanical work and Jenn running the office. And if they have questions about customers or classic cars, Ted still comes by to lend a hand.“One of the coolest parts for me coming into this has been learning the history of the people, the area,” said Jenn. “Everybody’s got a story, and I get to listen to them and talk to them.”The Olivios said their goal is to provide quality work close to where people live, and to get to know customers personally.So far they’ve had a growing number of customers, to the point where it’s sometimes a challenge to get everything done. They said they would like to hire more technicians for the shop, but finding high-quality employees has been one of their toughest challenges.Since taking over Town and County, the Olivios have joined the Wright City Chamber of Commerce, become involved with local car shows and have sponsored community events such as Strassenbash. Jenn explained that their hope is for Wright City residents to become more aware of their local businesses, and for those businesses to provide any service residents need.“I’d like to get to where we can do scholarships for trade schools,” Jenn added. “One of my goals with being involved in the community is to grow us to where we can start giving back to the community.”

Town and County Garage has been providing local mechanic services in Wright City for almost 50 years. In 2018, longtime owner Ted Schamma, left, transitioned the business to new owners Jenn and Brad Olivio, center and right. 

Record photo/Adam Rollins