Who's Your (Hub Cap) Daddy?

When modern Atlanta's expanding skyline of soaring Midtown and Downtown buildings is discussed, Moreland Avenue between I-20 and I-285 isn’t part of the conversation. But in 2026, it's booming with gentrified neighborhoods, business construction, new apartments and bustling retail.

“We’ve been here 43 years, and are still going,” says Jim Redwine, the Fayetteville native known as the Hub Cap Daddy. “The well known come here looking for hub caps and wheels. Even Governor Kemp was here looking around for a cap with a friend.”

Hub Cap Daddy sits at the end of Moreland, nestled near an assortment of businesses — not to be seen on the next Atlanta Chamber of Commerce video. Clutch and flywheel repair, a tow yard, a rundown cemetery, a drive-in theater turned flea market, a boarded-up church, and a lunchtime strip club.

“I own the land here and the gentrification hasn’t made its way this far down Moreland," laughed Mr. Redwine. “But this is Atlanta; it’s coming.”

How exactly does one become the Hub Cap Daddy?

“In my early 20s, I was in Cincinnati selling cars, working seven days a week with long hours, 9 to 9, and wanted to do something else — something I knew,” offered the affable 73-year-old entrepreneur. “I opened a Cincinnati hub cap business, and after seven years, decided to come home to start this business in 1983. Then I opened four other hub cap shops around Atlanta, and now I only have this place.”

The hub cap business has changed over the years. Vehicles are no longer manufactured with the familiar caps of the '60s, '70s, and '80s, but now are replaced by wheels. Hub Cap Daddy sells lug nuts, tires, wheels, and other related items.

“I have always enjoyed the hub cap business (50+years), and plan on turning it over to my son when I’m ready to stop.”

There are thousands of hub caps scattered through the Hub Cap Daddy yard. Close your eyes and you can see your father’s Ford Galaxy 500 or your uncle’s Buick Electra 225, or even your aunt’s Oldsmobile Delta 88.

Hub caps aren't needed only for cars; the big Detroit boats needed them too.

“We have a system so that we know where everything is,” Stanley O’Kelly told me. "Lots of old Fords and Cadillacs.” 

It’s the Redwine/O’Kelly Dewey Decimal System of Hub Caps, basically a library of sheet metal. 

Mr. O’Kelly has been an associate at Hub Cap Daddy more than 30 years. Also part of the team: the venerable sentry cat who has his own outside office chair — the much loved Hub Cat who greets customers with judgement and limited affection.

“I’ve always been a big purchase guy. I have whatever anyone needs 99% of the time. A few years ago we experienced a fire and lost so much. I’m appreciative for my many friends who helped us get back on our feet — relationships matter.”

Like any long, successful business, the key is customer service.

“We get people in here and help them get what they need. Word of mouth is always the best advertisement.”

On a blustery, cold Atlanta day, Jim’s 30-year-old Lincoln Continental is serving as his warm office with coffee, notebooks, pads and pens.

“I like to play golf, but I still like the business as I have for 50 years. No retirement yet, just waiting for the next customer,” says the Hub Cap Daddy.

In the not so distant Atlanta future, the gentrification of Moreland will find its way toward the Hub Cap Daddy front gate and the age:old question will be answered: Who’s Your Daddy?