Patterson Automotive was founded in 1984 in Belleville, Illinois

Darrell & Vickie were both born in Belleville, Illinois, and have lived in the area for most of their lives.  They were married in 1994 and enjoy the outdoors, traveling, boating and spending time with friends and family.  One of their favorite hobbies is taking drives in one of their classic cars so you might see them around town at a local car show or listening to music and relaxing with friends at a local winery!

Darrell began his passion with cars, or anything with wheels, when he was a child.  He went from biking, to go carts, to driving heavy equipment with his dad in the concrete business, to his first love – a 1967 Chevy Camaro.  Since then he has collected and restored many classics as a hobby while running an excavating company as his primary occupation and later as a marine mechanic.  Meanwhile, requests from friends and their friends to restore or customize their classics led him to consider turning his passion into a career.  

When he heard that an acquaintance of his with an automotive repair shop was considering retiring he followed up with Steve Patterson at a local car show.  Patterson Automotive was already known in and around the Belleville area as an honest, trustworthy shop and Darrell wanted to continue Steve’s tradition of quality services for reasonable prices for the everyday person for their daily drivers, but he also wanted to allow them the ability to have their dream car too!  So, together they came up with a plan for Darrell to acquire the shop and Steve to stick around for a year to co-ordinate the transition to new ownership with Darrell leading the classic division.  With Danny leading the daily driver area, as he has for the past 7 years, Steve was able to work his last day on October 27, 2021 and begin his much deserved retirement with his wife Debbie.  

“We will miss him, but his traditions will carry on.  We hope to follow his example and give our customers the peace of mind that they will receive quality, reliable service in a clean, well maintained family oriented shop”