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When Ezra Morton opened East Albemarle Texaco in the 1960s, he probably didn’t think about whether the business would still be going 60 years later. But, if he did, he would be glad to know that not only is it still going, but going full speed ahead.

Better than that, he would be happy to know that even after a few iterations of company name and location, the business is still in the family, operating under the mantle of East Albemarle X-Press Lube.

“Back when my Uncle Jerry (Myers) was getting ready to retire in 2013, we considered selling out,” said current owner/operator Allen Furr, “but I believed my grandfather (Morton) would have wanted us to keep it in the family.”

Allen, who was only 1 year old when Morton died in 1979, based his feelings on the feedback he had heard from customers who frequented the service station during his grandfather’s tenure.

“Lots of people had told me over the years how good he was to them,” Allen recalled. “That’s when we knew what we needed to do.”

The original East Albemarle Texaco was located at the intersection of East Main Street and Badin Road, a site subsequently occupied by Eckerds, Rite-Aid and currently by Tidal Wave Car Wash.

Following Ezra Morton’s death, ownership of the business passed to his widow, Emma, who in turn passed the business on to her sons-in-law, Tony Furr and Jerry Myers. Tony (Allen’s father), along with Myers, were the second-generation owners/operators of the business.

Tony began working at the station when he was in high school and reminisced about the original business.

“It was an old three-bay service station,” he recalled. “We had two bays that were used for service and one car wash bay.”

The station offered vehicle repairs and cleaning/detailing as well as gasoline.

“We were a full-service operation,” said Tony. “We also ran two tow trucks on top of everything else.”

Not only did Tony work at the station, so did his eventual bride-to-be, Peggy, who had learned quite a bit about cars herself.

“At the time, we sold Gates hoses and belts,” Tony recalled, “and the Gates Corporation would send out an ‘under-cover’ person called ‘The Gates Mystery Man’ to dealerships. This man would pull into a service station under the premise of needing a repair, but he would have already created a problem with the car himself. The idea was to see if the employees at their businesses would find the problem.”

Furr continued, “The man pulled in and everyone was busy. Peggy was working inside on the cash register, so she went out to meet him. He told her, ‘I need a man to come out and look at my car.’ She said, ‘I can take care of you,’ but he insisted that he still needed a male mechanic. That didn’t stop Peggy. She raised the hood and looked inside and told him his fan belt was loose and he needed a new one. Long story short, she received an award from the Gates Company.”

In the early 1990s, Texaco changed its requirements for affiliated stations, requiring that they be renovated to a specific appearance.

“That was a problem for us,” Tony said, “because we didn’t own the building. It was owned by Holden Brothers from Concord, who supplied our gasoline. So, we had to drop the Texaco name, and we became East Albemarle Auto Care.”

The absence of Texaco from the name was short-lived, however.

“In 1994, Holden Brothers reached an agreement with Texaco, and a new state-of-the-art combination four-bay express lube, gas station and convenience store was rebuilt on the site. It was the only one of its kind,” recalled Tony. “And we were called East Albemarle Texaco again.”

Five years later, more change came about when the Holden Brothers contacted Tony.

“Back then, Eckerds was buying every corner lot in the country, and they made an offer to Holden Brothers. They (Holden Brothers) wanted to sell, but they wanted to offer us enough to move the business, and we reached an agreement,” Tony said. “Looking back, I wish I’d asked for more.”

Furr and Myers were able to purchase a lot from Tom Rabe on what was then Barnard Road, and the current East Albemarle X-Press Lube opened there in 2004.

“At first, we were concerned about being off the main road, but we have lots of loyal customers and our business now is better than ever,” Allen noted.

Allen, who had begun working at the business in 1996 (his junior year in high school), eventually worked as a local banker, but returned to the family business a few years after Myers retired. And while Allen handles the bulk of the current operations, Tony is still a regular presence at the business.

“I do plan to retire,” he said, “I’m just not sure when.”

As is the case with any family business, support goes beyond what happens “at the shop,” and Allen and his brother Justin (who works at the business when not at his full-time job at Hendrick Lexus), are able to continue the business with the support of their own families.

“My wife is Jenny Furr and she is the Stanly County attorney,” Allen noted. “I have two daughters, the oldest is Addison (a senior at Gray Stone) and our youngest is Emerson (seventh grader at Gray Stone).”

“Justin’s wife is Kate and she teaches at Badin Elementary School,” Allen continued. “They have two sons, Eli (a seventh grader at North Stanly Middle) and Landon (a third grader at Badin).”

“Who knows?” Allen asked. “These kids may turn out to be the fourth generation providing service for people’s cars in Stanly County.”

And for now and into the future, the Furrs plan to continue operating the business by Ezra Morton’s words: “Know your customers, and do what’s right.”

East Albemarle X-Press Lube is at 2020 Hilco St., Albemarle. Hours are 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday to Friday and 7:30 a.m. to noon Saturday. Call 704-982-9712.