By J.R. Tidwell / Editor

Southern Dixie Auto Repair in Clanton has been selected as the Chilton County Chamber of Commerce business of the month for August.

Owner Jeff Melton said he spent 35 years with Alabama Power and retired before “getting bored” and purchasing Southern Dixie from a previous owner who passed away in December of 2011. Melton re-opened the business in September of 2012.

“I’m not bored anymore,” Melton said. “I have three wreckers, 10 employees, and we take care of business. We take care of our customers. I’m all about customer service. We are very good at what we do, because we have some people here that are very good at what they do. You have to surround yourself with good people to survive.”

Melton said Southern Dixie can fix “anything” that might go wrong with a vehicle.

“We do motor and transmission work,” he said. “We work on diesels and can fix air conditioning as well.”

Southern Dixie does tire changes, oil changes, 24-hour wrecker services, lockouts and “all things mechanical.”

“I will be up at 3 o’clock in the morning going (yawning) ‘OK, I’ll be there in a minute,’” Melton said. “We tow for the city, county and state and several insurance agencies.”

He invites prospective customers to Google Southern Dixie Auto Repair and read the reviews written about his business.

Melton said it was “good” to be recognized as the Chamber business of the month. He is also a member of several other organizations here in Chilton County.

“I want to help make things happen,” he said. “I want our city and county to grow.”

Southern Dixie was nominated by Chamber board member Renee Green.

Francine Wasden, the new director of the Chilton Chamber, brought the idea to highlight a business of the month from her previous post as the head of the Greenville Area Chamber.

“We want to recognize our businesses,” Wasden said. “It gives people an incentive to spruce up and think about doing some extra things. Those are the businesses we want to recognize. We will probably spotlight our businesses of the month throughout the year at our Chamber banquet.”

Wasden said that anyone who would like to nominate a business as a prospective business of the month needs only call the Chamber.

“If you have someone that you would like to nominate, (such as) a business that does good things and goes out of their way to help their community, we want to know about it,” she said.

Southern Dixie Auto Repair is located at 1808 Seventh St. S. in Clanton.