Cam Covert Finds a Niche in Joplin with Niche Cars

Most car aficionados like the attention a custom or exotic ride gets them. The heads that turn at intersections and the conversations about the car at a gas station are what drives a lot of car lovers. Cam Covert, owner of Midwest Motor Co., in Joplin, Missouri, is no different.

Cam came to be a niche car dealer by accident. He first bought and sold 2-3 cars in high school just to make a little money. Flipping cars then became a hobby that allowed him to continue to make extra cash.  

“I had a full-time job that wasn’t car-related, but I enjoyed finding or building that one unique car someone was looking for,” Cam says. “Before this became my job, I got in ‘trouble’ with my neighbor for having too many cars in my driveway. I was either working on them or selling them.”

Cam now lives where he has a shop and space to work on cars. Plus, he and his two employees, Ricky and David, who are also car guys, have space to work on cars at Midwest Motor Co., his niche car lot on Range Line Road in Joplin.  

And by niche, we’re talking Ferraris, a Lamborghini race car and even a Cadillac station wagon. If you’ve driven down Range Line in the past 10 years, you might’ve seen one of those “that’s in Joplin?” cars sitting on the lot or in front of the building.

“Not everyone is looking for a 2012 Cadillac CTS-V station wagon,” Cam says with a laugh. “But there is someone out there looking for just this exact car. The buyer might want us to make some modifications, and we can do that.”  

Social media has been a boon to Cam’s car business.  

“We’ll post a car that we just got in, and someone will see it and forward it to their friend in a different state who is looking for this exact vehicle,” Cam says. “We’ve sold cars to people from all over the country and even in other countries, thanks to social media and word of mouth. We also buy cars from all over the country.  

“I’m not afraid to take chances to get ‘oddball’ cars. Finding what someone is looking for and completing the dream for them is a fun and exciting way to make a living. We sell hundreds of cars a year, but I’ll admit, if I was selling plain Hondas or Toyotas from a regular car lot, I’d be bored to tears.”

His passion for unique cars has caught the interest of not only sellers and buyers, but of TV producers, too.  

For quite some time, Cam has been in talks with several production companies about a possible reality show based on his life, which he admits he finds odd.

“I’m just an entrepreneur from a small town, flying around the country chasing cars and living my life. Is that interesting to people?”

He didn’t initiate contact with any of the production companies.  

“I still don’t know who did it, but a while back, when a relationship of mine ended, one of my friends filled out an application from ‘me’ to be on ’90 Day Fiancé.’ It’s a reality show that follows American men and women who travel to other countries to pursue love. I didn’t plan to only date foreign women, so I think it was done as a joke. But a show producer called me and we talked about international dating and just general things about me, my job, etc. We decided ’90 Day Fiancé’ wasn’t a good fit for me, and that was the end of it.”

So he thought.

A few months later, Cam was contacted by a different production company to discuss a possible reboot of Motor Trend’s show “Chasing Cars.” The original show follows people searching for older cars from the ’50s-‘70s and restoring and/or modifying them. The reboot would have a modern spin by featuring cars from the ‘80s and newer. Cam says those talks sort of died out, but experience has shown him a production company could call out of the blue with a similar or different idea.

Back to the possible reality show about his life. Cam says he has done some pilot filming, but he’s still unsure about doing a reality show.

“Not everyone gets that opportunity, which is cool, but again, I’m just a guy doing my job. Do I want people to know that much about me and my life? I’m still up in the air if I want this to actually come to fruition.”

In the meantime, he’ll continue searching for that one super cool car that someone else wants.  

“I even had a guy from Nebraska who follows MMC on social media travel through the area and made a point to stop in Joplin just so he could see Midwest Motor Co., since he had seen the cars we posted over the years. He wanted to meet the guys who make people happy with cars.”

Cam knows how fortunate he is, and he likes using MMC as a vessel to give back and help others.  

“The community has been good to me, and I want to pay that back,” he says. “MMC has helped people or families with a need who couldn’t afford to purchase a vehicle themselves. We has also hosted huge car shows, often called Cars and Coffee events, which drew in hundreds of visitors from across multiple states.”

MMC has also done smaller acts of service, such as sponsoring youth leagues, paying down student overdue lunch accounts for area school districts and donating lunches or dinners for first responders across multiple departments.  

“Joplin helped me grow, and I enjoy giving back to the people of Joplin.”  

For more information about Midwest Motor Co., go to midwestmotorcompany.com or follow MMC on social media. And maybe watch for a reality show featuring Cam Covert one of these days.