‘TNT’ booms in Autryville

A new business has exploded on the scene in Autryville as Sampson County native Benny Faircloth has opened the doors to TNT Automotive.

TNT is located on the main drag through downtown, 208 W. Williams St., and is set up shop inside what use to be the old gas station Lucky Stop. Open three days a week Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Faircloth’s business model, and reason for opening up, aimed at getting anyone into a vehicle.

“TNT Automotive, I opened it to help people,” he said. “Doesn’t matter if they’ve got bad credit or no credit, for me, it’s about getting them into vehicles. I just want to help the community and to put something different in town to showcase a little bit about what I enjoy and what I like. That being cars, motorcycles and pretty much anything with an engine.”

“That’s really it, I‘ve enjoyed cars my whole life and enjoyed being around them,” he added. “Be it driving and racing, being on dirt bikes and four wheelers, anything like that. Especially growing up out here in the country, I just always took a liking to cars, I don’t know, I guess I kind of just followed my passion and ended up falling in love with it.”

Seeing as TNT is a car lot naturally the car selection is the biggest draw. As for what Faircloth said they have to offer, he’ll have just about anything that isn’t brand new.

“Just about anything, anything that’s not brand new,” he said with a chuckle. “Plenty of used vehicles, and there’s plenty to choose from. As of right now, as people could see, we‘ve got some trucks and SUVs, some SUVs with third rows, low miles. I’ve got very well maintained vehicles that come from multiple auctions that we visited from all over the state. So there’s a large variety and the vehicles that you’ll see on the lot are ever changing.”

“There’ll be a lot of variety and I’m going to continue to add more and more to the lot as we grow as time allows,” he said. “People can expect to see, definitely, a larger variety even more so than what they see now, so basically, I’ll be growing with the community as they grow with us.”

While TNT is a used car lot, Faircloth did note that he currently isn’t taking trade-ins, but it’s for sure something he plans to have in the future.

“At the moment, we’re not accepting trade-ins, but eventually I will be,” he said. “Starting off now, it’s tough to take any trade ins, but eventually that will be an option for sure. As of right now, we’re doing in house financing, so no credit check and we’ll pretty much finance just about anybody with a down payment. As long as they can afford the payments and afford insurance or they can come and make a cash offer on a car to get a good deal out the door. We accept cash, cards, Apple pay, Google Pay, we’re up with the times and pretty much accepting all forms of payment.”

Since TNT’s location is housed inside an old gas station Faircloth renovated the space to become what it is now. An effort he said took a lot of hard work and long works to bring it back to life.

“When we got here it was nothing like this,” he said. “As a lot of people know around here it was a gas station for years and years. When I got here it was covered in dirt, rat poop, bugs and pretty much everything you can think of that’d be in a building that hasn’t been used in four or five years. I had to take a gas station and turn it into what what is now, a car lot, which took a lot of 10 to 14 hour work days.”

“We were staying up at night and going home late, getting three or four hours of sleep and coming right back the next day to do it again,” he added. “My old lady was on her hands and knees scrubbing the floors and baseboards and my friends were always helping out. It was just a lot of hard work plus sweat and tears for sure.”

Born in Fayetteville, Faircloth was raised in Sampson County is known by most as “Benny.”

“I pretty much immediately moved out to Clinton with my mom, dad, brother and sister,” he said. “I grew up most of my life in Clinton going to Salemburg Elementary and grew up in the middle of nowhere, pretty much enjoying everything that brings.”

“I had a pretty troubled childhood and grew up kind of rough,” Faircloth continued. “My parents did the best they could, they were in the middle of kind of becoming who they were gonna be in life. My dad was a pastor and a truck driver and he passed away in 2013. My mom, she and my stepdad, are on the rescue squad, both are paramedic supervisors over the county.”

While he was a troubled youth, a glimpse of that life any can see when meeting him, as tattoos of his journey adorn his body. He began to turn his life around following the passing of his father, that moment changing him forever.

”I grew up as just kind of the bad kid in school, got in a lot of trouble when I was younger and a lot of people came to know me for being the bad kid,” he said. “I grew up a lot since then and turned my life around because I wanted to be a better person.”

“I want to change who I was, not just for me, but for my family and my parents,” Faircloth said. “Seeing my dad die really, really opened my eyes and showed me how short life can be. It made me just want to, all around, become a better person and be a better person to other people. I want to spread love and kindness in the world and set an example to show you can go from nothing and a bad life to create what you want it to be.”

Speaking of love, the thought of where Faircloth’s love for cars that made him want to open a car lot came to mind. When asked, he shared that story as well, one that’s connected to a pair of his close friends.

“It was really two of my buddies, JB and Amy Bais, they own a car lot in Roseboro, Base Hit Auto DEALS,” he said. “JB took me under his wing and took me to the auctions, showed me around and taught me the ropes a little bit. Honestly, if it wasn’t for them I would have never even been here.”

An accomplishment that he himself never planned for and still can’t believe he achieved.

“I never thought I could accomplish something like this,” he said. “With their help, support from my family and my old lady, it’s just all came to fruition. It wasn’t really planned, it just kind of came about. I met JB and his wife and he started showing me around and how it’s done. The more I went to auctions and the more I saw I just fell in love with the process and how it could be done.”

The name of Faircloth’s business TNT Automotive is definitely one that sticks out in the mind just like his logo. Shortened from his original idea of Tough and Tested, he dove into how he came up with the namesake.

“Originally I wanted it to be Tough and Tested Automotive but with being a dealer, you have to put that on all the cars you sign,” he said. “Putting that on all the paperwork, you have to sign that over and over and over. So I chose to shorten the name that way it was easier to sign and to repeat. I thought TNT was pretty catchy, Tried and Tested, like I said, and when I pictured TNT in my head I thought of a box of dynamite.”

“Eventually there’ll be some better signage to make the building look nicer so we’re slowly improving every day and basically starting from scratch but it’ll slowly come to life.”

When asked what he’d say to the community about coming out to pay TNT Automotive a visit for their next potential vehicle purchase Faircloth said this.

”I’d love to get anybody financed and get anybody in a car that I can,” he said. “One of my biggest passions in life and one of the biggest things that brings me joy and happiness is helping other people. To me, there’s no better feeling than that day you get a new car, whether it’s used or brand new.”

“Either way, that day you get that new car there’s just no better feeling,” Faircloth added. “When you’re riding down the road, you got your music playing with the windows down — nothing beats that. I‘d like to provide a service to Sampson County, especially growing up here most of my life, if I can help anybody in the town or anywhere surrounding Sampson County; get into a vehicle and give them that perfect day leaving with the windows down and the wind blowing through their hair, that’s a day happy for me.”

With only his final remarks remaining, Faircloth aimed those words toward ones of thanks and gratitude. Words meant for those most important in his life that helped him reach this crowning moment.

“I want to definitely thank Amy and Jimmy Bais, if it wasn’t for them taken me under their wing, I would have never gotten this far,” he said. “I gave them multiple phone calls, a lot of headaches and struggles, asking them a million questions. I thank them for their patience; also my family, for having my back and pushing me to continue doing what I can to get this far. My old lady Niah as well, making sure she had my back on everything and for her being here helping me get the building right and just supporting me every way possible as a good woman.

“If it wasn’t for my little family and having a reason, a goal to do all this and to push as hard as I can, I wouldn’t be where I’m at.”

“I also must give my utmost thanks to God because, if it wasn’t for God, none of this would be possible to begin with,” Faircloth said. “God’s given me an awesome family, good friends, a good woman and two beautiful dogs that are basically my kids. It’s all due to God, that’s the ultimate thing — if not for God none of this would be here.”