Standing Behind
Thompson & Salyer
Family Legacy of Automotive Excellence
Built on Mastery. Driven by Precision. Backed by Family.
Thompson & Salyer European & Exotic Motorsports is a family owned automotive company built on more than 30 years of hands-on technical experience, decades of business ownership and entrepreneurship, and a shared lifelong passion for exceptional automobiles.
Based in Oklahoma City, we created Thompson & Salyer to provide owners of European, exotic, luxury, performance, import, and select diesel vehicles with something increasingly difficult to find: specialized automotive expertise backed by honest communication, personal service, and people who genuinely understand the vehicles entrusted to them.
At the heart of the company are two Oklahoma families Tommy and Harleigh Thompson, and Chris and Jen Salyer bringing distinctly different backgrounds together under one name.
Master-Level Automotive Experience
For Tommy, the automotive industry has been his life's work.
With more than three decades of hands-on experience, Tommy has built his career around technically demanding European, luxury, and high-performance vehicles. His expertise in advanced diagnostics, complex electrical and mechanical systems, manufacturer-specific technology, and difficult-to-diagnose concerns forms the technical foundation of Thompson & Salyer. His focus also includes building a team of exceptionally experienced, high-level technicians equipped to service and repair each vehicle to the standard it deserves.
His experience also extends beyond the service bay. Prior to Thompson & Salyer, Tommy had already built an automotive business from the ground up, giving him firsthand experience as both a master-level technician and automotive business owner responsible not only for the vehicles being repaired, but for clients, employees, operations, growth, and the reputation behind the work.
For Tommy, exceptional service isn't about replacing parts until a problem disappears. It is about understanding the vehicle, identifying the actual source of the concern, and repairing it correctly.
Inside Thompson & Salyer Tommy is focused on maintaining the technically driven automotive professionals and developing a team whose knowledge is concentrated on the vehicles we serve.
Our goal isn't to depend on one exceptional technician. It is to build a facility recognized for master-level standards, specialized knowledge, advanced diagnostic ability, continued learning, and precision workmanship throughout the technical team.
Business Leadership. Collector. Restorer. Racer.
Chris Salyer's background brings another dimension to Thompson & Salyer.
Chris has spent decades as an entrepreneur, business owner, and Oklahoma civic leader. His career began in banking and accounting before moving into entrepreneurship, where he founded and grew National Check Cashers Corporation into a seven-state company employing approximately 250 people. He later held numerous executive and community leadership positions and was one of the founders and a past president of Automobile Alley, Inc., contributing to the revitalization of one of downtown Oklahoma City's most recognizable districts.
But Chris's automotive experience extends far beyond the business world.
He is a lifelong collector, restorer, hands-on automotive enthusiast, and vintage racer.
His automotive history includes Aston Martins and other significant performance and collector vehicles, involvement with the Aston Martin Owners Club, restoration projects, and participation in historic motorsports.
Among those experiences is La Carrera Panamericana, the legendary Mexican road race revived as a historic motorsport competition. Chris competed in the Carrera multiple times, including competition alongside co-driver Wiley Carlile in the Turismo Mayor class. His years behind the wheel in the Carrera included a race victory, adding competitive vintage motorsport to a lifelong automotive history that extends well beyond collecting, restoration, and ownership.
His passion for Aston Martin also brought his story to television. Chris and his Aston Martin were featured in “The Oklahoma Aston,” Season 1, Episode 3 of Legendary Motorcar.
That experience matters at Thompson & Salyer because Chris understands the client's side of the relationship firsthand. He knows what it means to search for, acquire, restore, preserve, race, invest in, and genuinely care about an extraordinary automobile and what it means to trust someone else with the keys.
Where Their Experience Comes Together
Tommy and Chris are both experienced owners and entrepreneurs, but their individual backgrounds bring different strengths to Thompson & Salyer.
Tommy combines master-level automotive expertise with firsthand experience building and operating an automotive business. He understands what should happen under the hood, behind the diagnostic equipment, throughout the repair process, and across the operation of a successful automotive facility.
Chris combines decades of entrepreneurship and organizational leadership with firsthand experience as a collector, restorer, enthusiast, and vintage racer. He understands how to build and sustain businesses while also understanding the expectations of someone entrusting an important automobile to another person's care.
Together, those perspectives allow Thompson & Salyer to approach the automotive business from both sides: the technical standard required by the vehicle and the level of service expected by its owner.
The Families Behind the Name
Thompson & Salyer represents more than a partnership between Tommy and Chris. It represents two families.
Harleigh Thompson leads the company's branding, marketing, digital presence, and many aspects of client experience and day-to-day operations. From developing the Thompson & Salyer identity and online presence to advertising and client-facing communication, her focus is building a brand and reputation capable of growing alongside the company for years to come.
Jen Salyer represents the other half of the Salyer family behind the company and is part of the family foundation on which Thompson & Salyer is being built. Together, Tommy, Harleigh, Chris, and Jen share a commitment to building something their families can genuinely be proud to stand behind.
For Tommy and Harleigh, that future already includes the next generation Kayson, Kenzeigh, and baby Kash growing up around automobiles, craftsmanship, entrepreneurship, and a business carrying their family's name.
This isn't simply a shop that happens to carry two family names.
Those names are part of the reason the standard matters.
Specialized Service, Right Here in Oklahoma
Most importantly, we are the people whose names are on the building.
Our goal isn't simply to earn a repair order.
It's to earn the relationship that brings you back and show you a standard of care and expertise that has historically been difficult to find in Oklahoma.
European and exotic vehicles are at the heart of Thompson & Salyer, with capabilities extending to luxury, performance, import, and select diesel platforms.
Our vision is to provide Oklahoma owners with access to specialized automotive knowledge and capabilities that have too often required looking outside the state.
Certain vehicles require specialized equipment. Others require manufacturer-specific knowledge. The most difficult require something harder to find: a technician with the experience and diagnostic ability to understand what the vehicle is actually telling them.
We are building Thompson & Salyer to bring those elements together under one roof while preserving the personal service and accountability of an independent, family-owned company.
Whether we're maintaining a European daily driver, diagnosing a complex electrical concern, repairing a high-performance platform, or caring for an exotic or collector automobile, our standard remains the same:
Diagnose carefully. Communicate clearly. Perform the work correctly. Treat the vehicle with respect.
We are technicians and collectors. Racers and restorers. Entrepreneurs and business owners. Husbands and wives. Parents and automotive enthusiasts.
Visit Thompson & Salyer
3617 SW 44th St.
Oklahoma City, OK 73119
Mon – Fri: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM