Earl Trammell

Earl Trammell (born February 8, 1934; died May 21, 2022) was the owner of Foreign Car Body Shop on 6th Avenue South.

Trammell dropped out of school before graduating to help support his family by repairing automobiles. He found he had a talent for paint-matching and detailing. After renting a small garage from a relative for several years he opened his own shop. In the early 1980s he bought the building at 6th Avenue South to house his business, as well as part of his growing collection of classic cars.

Trammell retired in 2020. He died in 2023 and was survived by his wife, Pat, six of his children, and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was buried at Oakwood Memorial Gardens in Gardendale.

Collectors John Pierce and John Clay Wolfe acquired 22 cars from Trammell's estate, many of them Chevrolet Corvettes put in storage right off the lot in the 1970s and 1980s with the interiors still wrapped and the sales stickers still on the windows.

References

• "Earl Trammell" obituary at dignitymemorial.com
• Koplowitz, Howard (October 10, 2023) "Alabama businessman quietly kept $1 million car collection in barn for 50 years." AL.com