Our History

Founder John G. Swanson, who at the time owned a small auto body repair shop in Paterson, NJ, took to the road in a Ford E150 with a few supplies and began driving shop to shop. He felt motivated to bring lower prices to his fellow body shop owners. He himself experienced all too well the rising cost of supplies, which was one of the reasons he was struggling to stay in business. He quickly came to find out that other body shop owners felt the same way. He thought he may be on to something and that perhaps this would make a better life for him and his family than the body shop would. Thus in 1984 MGM Auto Body Supplies was born. His connection to the body shop owner was a natural one, and so from the van came a step van to a small rental space to what is today a 5000 sq. ft. facility. The road to success has been long and at times difficult. Never quite having mastered the body shop business, John set a goal of trying to get a better handle on his distribution business. Along the way he struggled to learn about keeping the correct product mix in addition to learning the ins and outs of running a business. After almost 30 years his hard work, dedication, and perseverance is paying off as the company continues to grow. His most valuable asset is his employees, some of whom have been part of the team for almost 20 years. MGM's success has been a long time in the making, but one core belief has remained a constant: to bring quality products with excellent customer service to our customers who are also our friends.



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