James F. "Pat" O'Crowley III Elected New President and CEO of Standard Automotive Corporation

    NEW YORK--April 23, 2001--The Board of Directors of Standard Automotive Corporation (AMEX: AJX) has elected James F. "Pat" O'Crowley III to become the new President and CEO of the Company. Mr. O'Crowley replaces Steven Merker who retains the title of Chairman.
    Before joining Standard Automotive, Mr. O'Crowley was executive vice president of Digital Lighthouse, where he played an important leadership role in preparing for and bringing the company public in March 2000. Prior to that Mr. O'Crowley held senior general management positions with HON INDUSTRIES, Tenneco's subsidiary J.I. Case, Navistar, and Navistar's predecessor company International Harvester. He received a BS at the University of Kansas and earned an MBA at Harvard University.
    Mr. O'Crowley brings to Standard a strong finance and control oriented background, sound strategic thinking, and broad P&L general management experience. He has a solid record of achievement in both turnaround and high growth situations. He is recognized for consistently accelerating growth in revenue and cash flow and for building teams that exceed expectations.
    According to Mr. O'Crowley, "Standard's operating companies are acknowledged leaders in their markets. Each entity has meaningful opportunities for revenue growth and improved profitability. Many of the people I have met at Standard are passionate about returning the company to sound fiscal management and accelerating our rate of profitable growth. We have many strong leaders and capable managers who can help develop and execute our plans. I am looking forward to working with our lending group, suppliers, distribution partners, customers, and employee teams to unleash Standard's hidden economic value."
    Standard Automotive Corporation is a diversified company with production facilities located throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Standard manufactures precision products for the aerospace, nuclear, industrial and military markets; it designs and builds remotely operated systems used in contaminated waste cleanup; it designs and manufacturers trailer chassis used in transporting maritime and railroad shipping containers; and it builds a broad line of specialized dump truck bodies, dump trailers, and related products. Through its Providence Group, Standard provides engineering professional services to both government and commercial industry.
    This release contains certain forward-looking statements, which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors not under the Company's control, which may cause actual results, performance, and achievements of the Company to be materially different from the results, performance or expectations of the Company. These factors may include, but are not limited to those detailed in the Company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.