BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT:Upscale cars focus of auto shop

Jerry Palanjian strayed far from his roots when he opened an automobile shop in Costa Mesa.

The Lebanon native, who grew up in Beirut and emigrated to America at 19, specializes in providing wheels and tires to some of the highest-end cars on the market: Maseratis, Porsches, Ferraris and the like. For the first two decades of his life, however, the only wheels Palanjian knew sported spokes.

“I was not connected with automobiles, period,” said Palanjian, who runs Grand Prix Performance on Newport Boulevard with his children and nephew. “I had a bicycle.”

But Palanjianwas determined to find in America what he had lacked in his home country. After landing in Boston in 1961, he majored in business management at Northeastern University and moved to Hermosa Beach to work as a salesman for a tire company. He started Grand Prix in 1971 with a pair of part-time assistants as his only employees.

Now, after operating his family business for 36 years, Palanjian has become the go-to-guy for upscale car owners in need of a fix.

The shop stocks a number of rare products intended specially for luxury cars, and the staff often custom-makes rims and other parts in its backroom.

“We cater toward the guys with high-end stuff because we take the risk of stocking that stuff,” said Palanjian’s son, Alex, who does much of the manual work. “We can give them a quick turnaround.”

Ask the Palanjians — including Alex, daughter Jessica and nephew Berj — about their customers, and they’ll rattle off some well-known names. The Mighty Ducks, they said, have stopped in frequently over the years, along with the Los Angeles Rams, Dennis Rodman and a number of Angels stars.

Still, the owners are quick to stress they service all kinds of vehicles, not just the upscale brands.

“Anything that can be altered on the car, we do,” Alex said.