Barrack's

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Co-owner Bob Johnson poses outside Barrack’s of Huntington in this 1980 photo.

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HUNTINGTON — Automobile seat covers were a specialty at Barrack’s of Huntington,
 and the company is no doubt best remembered for the thousands
 of seat covers it sold and installed over the years.

But the busy shop at 237 Washington Ave. also installed and repaired
convertible tops, windshields and window glass, exhaust systems,
air conditioning units, mufflers and more. Barrack’s
 had just about anything and everything you
 needed for your car or truck

The Huntington shop was established in the mid-1950s as a branch
 of Barrack’s Auto in Charleston. (Established by Dan Barrack
and later operated by his son Gary, the long-time
Charleston business, which also had a branch
in Beckley, closed its doors
in March of this year.)

In a 1980 interview with The Herald-Dispatch,
 Robert F. Johnson said he worked at Barrack’s
 of Huntington for nearly 20 years before
 he bought the place.

Johnson said he was hired as a salesman at Barrack’s after he
 visited the shop in search of a new top for his convertible.

“I came in to buy a convertible top, and they asked for more
money than I had, so I argued the price down. They
said if I could sell as well as I could buy, they
would give me a job,” Johnson said.

Johnson shared ownership at Barrack’s of Huntington
 with Paul G. Dodson. The business was last listed
in the Huntington City Directory in 1988.

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Note:  This Article and picture appeared in the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper on May 12, 2020

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