The doors opened in April 1982, the name R&D Performancenter, with only a modest 1248 square foot. of workspace and display area. The owner and only employee, Dwight Giddens, left his position as a licensed mechanic is Truro to pursue turning his hobby into a full time job. That job consisted of the development of a performance engine machine shop and performance parts and accessories store. By 1984 business had grown to the point that a purchase of hub town performance in Truro was in the offing. Hub Town was procured and the 2 business' run in parallel. This marked the first expansion that R&D had undertaken but not the last. Between the 2 stores there were now 3 people working and business was growing quickly. By 1986 it was time for the first major expansion at the lower Onslow site of R&D, and a decision was made to combine Hub Town and R&D under the same roof. This expansion doubled the size of R&D to 2496 square foot. and sales continued to climb. In 1992 a cube wan was purchased and a new chapter began as R&D added track side sales as part of their customer service program. By now 4 people handled the day to day operations and a further expansion was in the design stages. The largest expansion to date, 5952 square feet, opened in 1996. The showroom was now larger than the original building, and the growth continued. By the spring of 2000 it was time to replace the cube van with a new 26 foot air conditioned trailer to better serve the growing customer base, which now required a staff of 8 people to service. Fast forward to the spring of 2006, long time friend and customer of R&D, Stephen Henderson, purchased the company and continues the tradition of performance and customer service in the same location today.