Mel Martin: An American Success Story

An inspiring tale about a true American success story.When Mel Martin was 8-years old, his father left the family.When American went to war, Mel's brother Don went off to fight leaving the 13-year-old Mel the man of the house. Juggling school with work, Mel soon made more money than his teacher mother.When his father returned, his mother and father tricked Mel into coming from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Mayer, Arizona as they remarried without telling him. The sold his car, emptied his bank, and left him no choice but to start his life over in Mayer, a dot on the map mining town in the middle of the Sonoran Desert.At 17, Mel opened his first garage. He took a flatbed truck, jerry-rigged a winch, turning it into a wrecker, and soon had the busiest garage in the county.At 24, he lost everything, moving to South Phoenix and starting a garage. Within 10 years, he had multiple businesses, 108 employees, 34 wreckers, and made himself into a blue-collar millionaire.Along the way, he befriended everyone and anyone and built a social network that spanned the Arizona Valley.Mel built the most envied business footprint in Arizona. Never carrying debt, Mel's work ethic and subsequent entry into real estate development and investing, Mel built a massive portfolio that led him to start collecting cars and opening the biggest automotive museum in Arizona.Now at 95, Mel is still buying cars, closing on real estate deals, and living the American Dream.Read how a life-long blue collar man became one of the most successful self-made entrepenaurs in history. Read more