Four Generations, One Industry: The Barber Family Story

Automotive is not just the industry I work in. It is the environment I grew up in.

For my family, this story goes back to 1967, when my grandfather Roy Barber opened a gas station. That was the first chapter. It was not flashy. It was honest work, local relationships, and a business built by showing up for people consistently.

That foundation matters more to me the older I get.

Roy Barber: the first chapter

My grandfather Roy started the family’s path in automotive with a gas station, but what he really built was a standard.

He built the idea that you serve your community, do the work properly, and let your reputation be earned over time. In industries like ours, that still matters. People can tell when a business is built around shortcuts and noise. They can also tell when it is built around trust.

Roy gave the family a place in the industry. More importantly, he gave us a way of thinking about business.

Calvin Barber: carrying it forward

My father Calvin took that foundation and carried it into the next era.

Every generation faces a different version of the same challenge: how do you preserve what matters while adapting to what the market needs now? My father lived that challenge in real time. Keeping a family business alive is not passive. You do not inherit stability. You inherit responsibility.

Watching that up close shapes you, whether you realize it at the time or not.

I saw the pressure. I saw the work. I saw that family business is not just about legacy. It is also about the daily grind required to keep that legacy from disappearing.

My chapter: mechanic to operator

I became the first mechanic in the family, which gave me my own lens on automotive from early on. I liked working with my hands. I liked understanding how things worked. I liked earning money through skill and effort.

By 17, I had already made around $60,000 from pizza delivery and mechanic work. That taught me something important early: if you are willing to outwork most people and stay useful, you can create opportunities for yourself fast.

Later, I was making roughly $135,000 a year at Canadian Tire in Edmonton. I had a solid path. But I kept feeling the pull to come back and build something bigger at home.

That decision led me into distribution, which led me into one of the hardest periods of my business life. In 2017, I lost $650,000 in the first year. In 2018, I made a major inventory bet on a winter tire container that helped turn the business around. Both events are part of the same chapter. One taught me pain. The other taught me precision.

Now I run Autrex, formerly Capital Auto Parts, from Winchester with Ottawa operating and Cornwall opening in 2026. The scale is bigger, the systems are sharper, and the mission feels clearer than ever.

The fourth generation: Roy

What makes this story different now is that I can already see the fourth generation in the room.

My son Roy is four years old. He is still a kid, obviously, and I do not put future expectations on him like he owes the family one specific path. But there is something powerful about watching him grow up around the same industry that shaped the generations before him.

Family legacy should not be a cage. It should be a platform.

If Roy decides one day that he wants to build in automotive, I want him to inherit more than a name. I want him to inherit a stronger business, better systems, clearer lessons, and a healthier foundation than the one I stepped into.

That is part of why I care so much about building properly now.

What four generations really means

People hear “four generations” and think it sounds nice for branding.

For me, it means something heavier.

It means remembering that every generation either strengthens the line or weakens it.

It means understanding that what you build today affects people you may not be able to fully picture yet.

It means trying to create something durable enough to outlast your own chapter.

That is how I think about Autrex. That is how I think about The Honest Builder. And that is how I think about the work I am doing now around systems, content, and operations.

Final thought

The Barber family story in automotive started with Roy in 1967.

It moved through Calvin.

It changed shape with me.

And now, with my son Roy, the possibility of a fourth generation is already standing in the shop, the warehouse, and the conversations.

That is not just a nice story.

It is a responsibility.