Offering car enthusiasts parts and services otherwise unavailable in the surrounding area, AJW Performance and sister company ISC Suspension employees say their business is driven by their love for cars.

"Cars are my passion, but equally, small businesses are my passion," said AJW owner/founder Andrew Wallace, a 2009 graduate of Plymouth State University.

The operation moved to the Wareham Industrial Park on Kendrick Road from Fairhaven two months ago. It caters to car owners who want to modify their vehicles and make them capable of faster speeds and better handling.

AJW Performance is a retail store for advanced engine after-market parts and upgrades. ISC Suspension, also owned by Wallace and operated out of the same building, is the North American distributor for the ISC N1 Coilover. The coilover is an upgrade to the shock absorbers that come factory-installed in a vehicle, designed to improve vehicle handling.

The shop is the only one of its kind within a 60-mile radius, Wallace said.

Though the company's roots lie in Subaru modification, Wallace said the company is catering to owners of almost all foreign vehicles. Customers can have any of the parts installed on-site.

"It's all about meeting the unique demands of the customer," Wallace said. "We're producing four-cylinder cars, but they're getting 400 to 500 horsepower, 28-miles-per-gallon highway, and they're still safe."

Customers are often participants in amateur autocross races, held in large areas such as parking lots, which require drivers to navigate their vehicles through cones to compete for the fastest time.

Pointing to his own Subaru Legacy, Wallace noted: "You can go get groceries in this, you can put the kids in the back if you have them, and still go to the race track on the weekend and win."

Just 24 years old, Wallace started AJW Performance five years ago as an online-only operation run out of his parents' garage. More than a year ago, Wallace networked with the overseas manufacturer of the ISC N1 Coliover and became the distributor for the product in this neck of the woods.

In 2010, the business outgrew the garage and moved to a rented space in Fairhaven. This year, Wallace purchased a shop at 16 Kendrick Road. The new space is three times larger than the one he previously rented.

To meet the demands of the growing business, Wallace hired 21-year-old Tim Beauregard, a fellow Plymouth State University alum and car enthusiast, this spring. Beauregard oversees sales, marketing, and customer service.

"I'm aware of our ages and I'm aware of the [state of the] economy, but I don't think that's an excuse not to do something unique," said Wallace, a Mattapoisett native.

Wallace and Beauregard met at Pymouth State in 2007 after discovering they had something in common: A Subaru WRX.

"[Wallace] was like, 'I think that's my car!'" Beauregard recalled.

Wallace had traded in the car years before.

"Obviously, I wasn't going to not be friends with [the person who owns] my first car!" Wallace said with a laugh.

Though most of the team's business still comes via the Internet, Wallace said more and more customers from across New England are visiting the physical shop. The company employs one full-time mechanic as well as a part-time employee to take care of Internet needs.

"The ultimate goal is to create more local jobs and generate more income for people in the area," Wallace said.

Wallace and Beauregard are planning a September grand-opening event for AJW Performance and ISC Suspension. For more information about the companies, visit www.ajwperformance.com and www.iscsuspension-na.com or stop by the showroom at 16 Kendrick Road, unit 1.