Jump to content

Historic Houston Car Dealers And Repair Shops


Subdude

Recommended Posts

Don't forget Jimmy Greene Chevrolet at the southeast corner of Shepherd and Westheimer. I heard the owner got a pile of money when he sold that property.

I remember the Buick Dealership on Kirby. At one time it was Al Parker Buick which had its origins as Earl North Buick which had been on Milam (see houswest's post of 12/28/07). Al Parker relocated on the Katy Freeway, I think, and his general manager Hub Fossier, opened his dealership on Kirby before that one moved out to US 290.

The original Buick dealership on Kirby was DeMontrond, which opened in 1953.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't forget Jimmy Greene Chevrolet at the southeast corner of Shepherd and Westheimer. I heard the owner got a pile of money when he sold that property.

I remember the Buick Dealership on Kirby. At one time it was Al Parker Buick which had its origins as Earl North Buick which had been on Milam (see houswest's post of 12/28/07). Al Parker relocated on the Katy Freeway, I think, and his general manager Hub Fossier, opened his dealership on Kirby before that one moved out to US 290.

Al Parker was the Buick dealership on Hillcroft just south of Bellaire I believe; it got absorbed into David Taylor Cadillac on the SW Fwy but the old building is still there - an appliance store now?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Didn't see Mike Persia Chevrolet mentioned here. It was on North Main, somewhere near the old tunnel. I had a girlfriend who graduated from Davis High in 1963, got a job at Stelzigs downtown and immediately bought a brand new '63 Impala Super Sport. Black with red interior. It was a beauty. She worked at Stelzigs all her life, retired from there, not downtown though. Think they moved near 610 and Richmond.

There was a Bob Robertson Chevrolet too but I don't know where they started. They ended up on the Gulf Freeway near Telephone or Wayside in the 80's.

Another dealer was on the Southwest Freeway, Autosports or maybe AutoSports, can't remember. I bought my '74 MGB there, in '74. Still have it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, Rusty, how you jogged my memory. Though my uncle lived in Houston he always bought his Chevrolets from Lawrence Marshall in Hempstead. This was back when the Marshall store was only in Hempstead and had a showroom that would hold only about three cars. One time though, and it must have been in the mid-70s, he bought a new Chevrolet pickup truck from a dealership on US 290 near the high school (it was also much smaller then). Again, this dealership had a small showroom. I can not remember the name now to save myself but it was a person's name like Lawrence Marshall. I believe the first name was Doug though. Anybody out there remember better than I?

Yep, it was a small dealership where the cars sat under a type of polebarn type building. If I knew where I put the 63 folder at that has the orignal owners manual and every last work order since new in it I could get the name of the place and the address. I know it most likely has since been torn down. Sucks though because I wanted to take the car back over there when finished to get a photo of the car with the abandoned dealership in the background.

Didn't see Mike Persia Chevrolet mentioned here. It was on North Main, somewhere near the old tunnel. I had a girlfriend who graduated from Davis High in 1963, got a job at Stelzigs downtown and immediately bought a brand new '63 Impala Super Sport. Black with red interior. It was a beauty. She worked at Stelzigs all her life, retired from there, not downtown though. Think they moved near 610 and Richmond.

There was a Bob Robertson Chevrolet too but I don't know where they started. They ended up on the Gulf Freeway near Telephone or Wayside in the 80's.

Another dealer was on the Southwest Freeway, Autosports or maybe AutoSports, can't remember. I bought my '74 MGB there, in '74. Still have it.

I didnt think bout Mike Persia, even though I have some radio recordings that include Mike Persia radio ads.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Al Parker was the Buick dealership on Hillcroft just south of Bellaire I believe; it got absorbed into David Taylor Cadillac on the SW Fwy but the old building is still there - an appliance store now?

Sorry but I disagree on the Al Parker name. the Buick dealership on Hillcroft and Bellaire was Marcus Jones Buick/Opel.

Farther up Hillcroft at the SW Fwy was SW Volkswagon, across the SW Fwy was Richardson Chevrolet before changing to Cal Worthington Chevrolet.

While at Hillcroft and the SW Fwy (the SE corner) turn right on the SW Fwy feeder and travel 200 yards or so you would be at Ferrari of Houston and still a little farther up the feeder you would come to the old Luke Johnson Ford dealership which became Westside Ford.

To those discussing a Chevrolet dealership in Cypress, I remember Doug Russell Chevy in Cypress out near the Texas Instrument/Compaq facility.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry but I disagree on the Al Parker name. the Buick dealership on Hillcroft and Bellaire was Marcus Jones Buick/Opel.

Yes, you are correct, I got it wrong.

Another one outside the loop was Southwest Motors, on Chimney Rock at Gulfton, an Alfa Romeo dealer. I bought a 1972 Spider Veloce 2000 there. They carried one other import brand but I can't remember if it was Fiat or what, I was only interested in the Alfa.

It's now an Aamco Transmission shop, show windows bricked in.

Mosehart and Keller was mentioned above. That may have become Houston's first Mercedes dealership. My dad bought a Mercedes 190 in 1959 and I remember the name Mosehart and Keller.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, you are correct, I got it wrong.

Another one outside the loop was Southwest Motors, on Chimney Rock at Gulfton, an Alfa Romeo dealer. I bought a 1972 Spider Veloce 2000 there. They carried one other import brand but I can't remember if it was Fiat or what, I was only interested in the Alfa.

It's now an Aamco Transmission shop, show windows bricked in.

Small world,I bought an Alfa Spider Veloce at Southwest Motors, but in 1971. SW Motors was owned by Joe Locario, I believe they also sold Triumphs. Joe also raced an Alfa GTA. I saw him running at the SCCA races in Galveston a number of times. Joe is on the left in the picture.

post-2050-12659923906366_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Small world,I bought an Alfa Spider Veloce at Southwest Motors, but in 1971. SW Motors was owned by Joe Locario, I believe they also sold Triumphs. Joe also raced an Alfa GTA. I saw him running at the SCCA races in Galveston a number of times. Joe is on the left in the picture.

post-2050-12659923906366_thumb.jpg

Joe was 'my' mechanic over the years I owned the car but I would have identified him as the fellow on the right in the picture. It's been a long time, though. Looks like those two could've been brothers. I'm not sure I ever knew I was dealing with the owner of the dealership. My salesman was Jerry Bland/Blank? I remember the race car and that it was Joe's. It was often parked beside the dealership.

Triumph? I just don't remember but maybe it'll come to me. I'm thinking I may have seen a Citroen in the showroom at some time? I was familiar with Triumphs and wouldn't have taken a second look at one but would have walked over to look at a Citroen and can't recall ever having done that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Joe was 'my' mechanic over the years I owned the car but I would have identified him as the fellow on the right in the picture. It's been a long time, though. Looks like those two could've been brothers. I'm not sure I ever knew I was dealing with the owner of the dealership. My salesman was Jerry Bland/Blank? I remember the race car and that it was Joe's. It was often parked beside the dealership.

Triumph? I just don't remember but maybe it'll come to me. I'm thinking I may have seen a Citroen in the showroom at some time? I was familiar with Triumphs and wouldn't have taken a second look at one but would have walked over to look at a Citroen and can't recall ever having done that.

That is Joe, top left, and that is his brother, top right.

You're right, they also sold Citroens.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

brucesw and Earlydays, did either of you ever know Claus Jensen? He used to own a shop specializing in Alfas in the late 80s/early 90s, and at least one of the guys that worked for him used to be a mechanic at Southwest before it closed. Seems like everyone around town that had an Alfa at the time either knew or knew of Claus - I was in the midst of a memorable but all-too-brief and expensive fling with a GTV6.

He had a nice Milano that he used to race in SCCA's SSGT class, but ran into a succession of troubles that I believe may have involved a divorce, and his shop subsequently moved around to several different locations in the Gulfton/Rampart/Chimney Rock area before I lost touch with him. I'd already sold the GTV6 by then, but would occasionally wind up at the shop with a friend who had an Alfetta.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

brucesw and Earlydays, did either of you ever know Claus Jensen? He used to own a shop specializing in Alfas in the late 80s/early 90s, and at least one of the guys that worked for him used to be a mechanic at Southwest before it closed. Seems like everyone around town that had an Alfa at the time either knew or knew of Claus - I was in the midst of a memorable but all-too-brief and expensive fling with a GTV6.

He had a nice Milano that he used to race in SCCA's SSGT class, but ran into a succession of troubles that I believe may have involved a divorce, and his shop subsequently moved around to several different locations in the Gulfton/Rampart/Chimney Rock area before I lost touch with him. I'd already sold the GTV6 by then, but would occasionally wind up at the shop with a friend who had an Alfetta.

Didn't know Claus....I sold the Alfa after a couple of years and got a BMW 3.0 sedan to have room for the family.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Claus sounds like he was after my time. I did a lot of work on mine myself - stuff I wouldn't even think of doing now. I took it to just one mechanic other than Joe. He kept it forever; finally I had to demand my car back. It ran very poorly and 2 days later I took it in to Joe to get it fixed right. Wasn't long after that I got rid of it. Never really did run right again. I had a lot of trouble with that car but a lot of fun too. Once had to leave it sitting beside the road in Rosharon late at night; can't remember the problem but this was ages before cell phones. Hitched a ride home and called Triple A to go down and haul it in to Southwest.

I traded it in for a Chevy Silverado! I like variety.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There was a Volvo dealership on Bellaire just west of Weslayan, across from the Bellaire Theater. I went there once to test drive the P1800. The main showroom became an Italian restaurant, Nick's Place, I think, for a long time but is something else now.

There was a Nash/Rambler/AMC dealership on Bellaire just west of Chimney Rock. Vance and Sons? All the buildings have been demolished I think.

Last fall the topic of old dealerships came up in the comments on a Leon Hale column in the Chronicle. Someone asked what dealer used the slogan 'I sell cars cheap because my wife is rich.' Nobody ever identified the dealer. Any ideas?

Someone else in those comments mentioned a Crosley dealership on Shepherd near the Alabama Theater in the 40s and 50s.

Here's an excerpt from Marguerite Johnston's Houston, The Unknown City, on Google Books on the early days of the automobile in Houston. Mosehart and Keller was a long time Studebaker dealership; a poster on another board said at one time they claimed to be the oldest automobile dealer in the world. Mercedes gained entry into the US market through the Studebaker dealer network according to Wiki so was M&K was probably the first Mercedes dealership here. Later M&K had a Ford dealership; I think it was on OST maybe? According to the AC Collins website a manager there, AC Collins, quit to purchase the Ford franchise in Pasadena and is still in business.

Edited by brucesw
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 months later...

I am Henry Satterwhite's daughter and David Satterwhite's sister (Cindy). Yes, that is my father's 52 Ford up there still on that pole (I was born that year). It was one of my dad's race cars (he welded the 2 sides together and Bill Raines Repair Shop can tell you what it took to get it up there). If you are facing the shop, there was a hill to the left where the original shop was and the car was even higher and upon a pole on that hill and not in front of the shop as far as I always remembered it. It did not move when dad built the new shop. I remember him building the new building. My dad had SATTERWHITE in big neon lit capital letters on the sides and I remember the car being yellow. I have an original photo of it blown up in my private stash of photos at home. He told me how he had made it. My father was a well respected businessman and an excellent automotive painter, radiator and body repairman. I was extremely close to him and went nearly everywhere with him. We especially liked to fly in his planes. He was also pretty hilarious quite a bit of the time. For instance, people had quite a few accidents at that red light at the corner of 6th and Yale because they were looking up at that car on the pole, run the red light and have a wreck. The wrecks weren't bad and that's not the reason he put the car up there, but he'd laugh everytime and, since part of the business was paint and body, he'd say it was there because of the problem it caused and it was therefore, good for business. He was joking I promise you. He was quite a character and my idol. My family all died, one by one, when I was in my twenties...first was mom, then dad, and then David. I have a picture of the car in my livingroom and many times, during the years, I've wished I could afford to buy it, take it down and bring it home to keep. However, it would be quite an ordeal and maybe it's better to let it stay there as a sort of old landmark of some kind. Besides, don't know where on earth I'd put it and I'd want to restore it to the original way it was. I have the original way it looked at home and I Google Earth it once in a while to make sure it's still there. Thanks for remembering the car, my dad and brother. You said you went to school with David, etc. JRH1948, so I'd love to chat sometime.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

And, to reply to the person who asked if my dad, Henry Satterwhite, had another shop ever on North Shepherd, the answer is no. It was always at 6th and Yale. I have photos of the old shop when it was up on the hill and and pics of his auto sales on the corner before he built the new shop down on that spot. Thanks loads for the interest and remembering. His daughter, Cindy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not a computer genius, but I do alright. If someone could tell me how to on this site, step by step, to post the original photo I have of my dad's car on that pole at Satterwhite's Auto Shop at 610 Yale, I'll try sometime to do that. I have a printer with a scanner and a laptop with Windows 7 and everything I would need except the exact how to. The photo has the date Jan. 1960 printed on it. I was born in 1952 and remember the car going up, so it had to be in the late 1950's when it was put there. It shows really old cars in the auto sales lot, too, before he built the shop that is on the site now. I have other photos from prior to that of that previous car lot building he had there, etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Once you have scanned the photo and saved it on your computer you can click on the add reply button here and then under Attachments (just below the reply box - I posted an image of the area below) click browse and select the saved image. Then click on the Attach This File button and it will show in your post once you click Add Reply.

34j3la8.png

And yes, welcome to HAIF and thank you for sharing your story - very neat!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, you are correct, I got it wrong.

Another one outside the loop was Southwest Motors, on Chimney Rock at Gulfton, an Alfa Romeo dealer. I bought a 1972 Spider Veloce 2000 there. They carried one other import brand but I can't remember if it was Fiat or what, I was only interested in the Alfa.

It's now an Aamco Transmission shop, show windows bricked in.

Mosehart and Keller was mentioned above. That may have become Houston's first Mercedes dealership. My dad bought a Mercedes 190 in 1959 and I remember the name Mosehart and Keller.

The reason Mosehart and Keller was Houston's first Mercedes Benz dealership is because Studebaker-Packard was selling Mercedes Benz vehicles throughout their dealer network at that time. After Studebaker-Packard ceased production of full sized Packards in late 1956 and realizing that the Studebaker based replacements were not selling either, they needed a vehicle to appeal to traditional Packard customers. A franchise agreement was quickly arranged, and soon Mercedes Benz vehicles were availbale nation wide throughout the Studebaker-Packard dealer network. Mosehart and Keller was Houston's surviving Studebaker dealer at that time. As Studebaker's fortunes diminished throughout the mid 60's, Mercedes Benz cancelled these dealer frachises and set up their own network.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry but I disagree on the Al Parker name. the Buick dealership on Hillcroft and Bellaire was Marcus Jones Buick/Opel.

Farther up Hillcroft at the SW Fwy was SW Volkswagon, across the SW Fwy was Richardson Chevrolet before changing to Cal Worthington Chevrolet.

While at Hillcroft and the SW Fwy (the SE corner) turn right on the SW Fwy feeder and travel 200 yards or so you would be at Ferrari of Houston and still a little farther up the feeder you would come to the old Luke Johnson Ford dealership which became Westside Ford.

To those discussing a Chevrolet dealership in Cypress, I remember Doug Russell Chevy in Cypress out near the Texas Instrument/Compaq facility.

I think the buick dealer at Hillcroft and Bellaire was Bob Marco Buick which shut down sometime in the early 90s. The structure is still there but it has been divided into small independent shops that sell food, clothes, music, etc..

Southwest VW was at the SE corner of Hillcroft and Harwin where the X-brand blue roof malls are located now. They closed sometime in the early 90s as well. My dad has a 73 bug that was bought new at that place.

The old Southwest Lincoln Mercury location on the northbound feeder of 59 just south of Hillcroft is a puzzle to me. It has sat vacant for over 15 years when they moved further down 59 closer to the beltway. Pretty much everything is still intact but just delapidated from abandonment. They do have 2 classic cars that have sat in the showroom since they left. I can't say if they are complete cars that could run or just shells but they look too good to just leave behind like that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am Henry Satterwhite's daughter and David Satterwhite's sister (Cindy). Yes, that is my father's 52 Ford up there still on that pole (I was born that year). It was one of my dad's race cars (he welded the 2 sides together and Bill Raines Repair Shop can tell you what it took to get it up there). If you are facing the shop, there was a hill to the left where the original shop was and the car was even higher and upon a pole on that hill and not in front of the shop as far as I always remembered it. It did not move when dad built the new shop. I remember him building the new building. My dad had SATTERWHITE in big neon lit capital letters on the sides and I remember the car being yellow. I have an original photo of it blown up in my private stash of photos at home. He told me how he had made it. My father was a well respected businessman and an excellent automotive painter, radiator and body repairman. I was extremely close to him and went nearly everywhere with him. We especially liked to fly in his planes. He was also pretty hilarious quite a bit of the time. For instance, people had quite a few accidents at that red light at the corner of 6th and Yale because they were looking up at that car on the pole, run the red light and have a wreck. The wrecks weren't bad and that's not the reason he put the car up there, but he'd laugh everytime and, since part of the business was paint and body, he'd say it was there because of the problem it caused and it was therefore, good for business. He was joking I promise you. He was quite a character and my idol. My family all died, one by one, when I was in my twenties...first was mom, then dad, and then David. I have a picture of the car in my livingroom and many times, during the years, I've wished I could afford to buy it, take it down and bring it home to keep. However, it would be quite an ordeal and maybe it's better to let it stay there as a sort of old landmark of some kind. Besides, don't know where on earth I'd put it and I'd want to restore it to the original way it was. I have the original way it looked at home and I Google Earth it once in a while to make sure it's still there. Thanks for remembering the car, my dad and brother. You said you went to school with David, etc. JRH1948, so I'd love to chat sometime.

Its still up there. Although its painted white now its still pretty much there. Its also good to hear the history as well, I didnt know the car was a yellowish cream color at one time (said yellow and I asked parents and they said it was more of a cream color as they remember it)

But if you can get that photo loaded up I can say for sure the story above will be copied and pasted to the description of the photo after I save it. One thing I do is try to keep the history and stories with the photos where possible. Such as the story of that one car coming from dallas to houston that ended up wrecked on the incomplete overpass.

Only thing that I would really love to see is more photos of the old Ivy Russell dealership on yale street. I have the one color photo but would love to see some more photos of the place as a dealership and the inside. I have no idea how the inside even looked. To be honest I am looking for that to try and duplicate the inside (not sure if cars were parked inside or not) to compliment mh 56 that was bought there new.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Rusty-S for noticing the photo and post about my dad's old race car still up in the air at 610 Yale Street. Thanks also for going as far as to ask your parents about it. It wasn't a bright yellow, more a light yellow color. I can tell on Google Earth that it's white now, too. I spoke to Bill Raines' son by phone at his shop down the street, gosh, probably a year or two ago about it. He told me it looked different, but was still there and he recalled better than I do about all the work and the company that put it up there. That was when I decided to check it out on Google Earth for the first time. We decided it would be better off left there for people to see because it would be really expensive for me to greedily try to obtain it and keep it for sentimental value personally. I was so very close to my dad and still miss him a lot. If he were here, he'd be as tickled as I am that those two old sides of one of his old race cars that he put up so long ago is still there, that it's on this website and people still remember. I'll eventually get that photo posted...kind of busy managing a new company right now. The photo is from January, 1960-therefore, it is a black and white photo. The car couldn't have been up there too long prior to the photo because I would have been 7 years old at the time it was taken and I remember it being put up in the air and how he decided just where to cut the car apart, etc. I'm so glad I came across this site and the responses from people who remember my family and that old race car. I'd love to hear more comments or emails from anyone who knew my dad or David. Thanks everyone!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
I had a girlfriend who graduated from Davis High in 1963, got a job at Stelzigs downtown and immediately bought a brand new '63 Impala Super Sport. Black with red interior. It was a beauty. She worked at Stelzigs all her life, retired from there, not downtown though. Think they moved near 610 and Richmond.

Sorry that I'm "so late to this party", but H. Leo Stelzig Jr., one of his sons (C.C.) and one of his daughters (Francis) are all our customers here at my auto repair business.

I'm known the family since the early 70's, when C.C. and myself were high school age.

Anyway, what was your girlfriend's name?

TIA!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Man, I sure worked at a bunch of dealerships in the over 40 years, too old now but I don't care for it any more anyway. Started out in Aug 1970 3 days after I left the Army I was downtown trying to purchase a new Buick 455 Gran Sport, the Yellow and Blue Striped one!. well even after placing 2000 down I still couldn't get it financed? in those days you actually had to have a credit history and an extra hand or arm or even a leg to get financing. Well I was talking with my salesman and he knew I wasn't even working yet so he asked it I wanted to work there. I met the then service manager Florian Meleski and he hired me on the spot, they told me to go down to the Sears Store a few blocks down the street and pick out what tools I needed and charge it to Al Parker. I don't have to tell you there aren't any places like that now and this was probably one of the finest close knit family dealerships in Houston. Every mechanic employed there had been there over 30 years, a few much longer. All of them would be retiring soon and they wanted to bring in some new younger people. The shop foreman was named Frank Bitski, yep they were all Polocks and a grand bunch they were. There was Smitty who was 65 years old and working like he was 24!, saw him some years later in a parts store and he was still doing well. Another was Johnny, a completely deaf man, he would have someone else listen to any noises in a complaint but other than that he worked by himself and was a good mechanic. I remember one time he came whipping around the corner and drove a car upon his 4 post lift, the engine mount was broken and the throttle hung as he topped the lift!, he drove thru the wall and landed out in the service drive which ran the entire length of the building, the only separation from the service bays were plywood panels, so when he took out the wall the 1 inch air line in the ceiling was ripped out and the god awful noise of high pressure air and the horn of that car he was driving made everyone drop to the floor. Old Johnny was sitting there in the car with all that noise around him and people running everywhere and he just looked surprised and stunned. No one injured and everything went back to normal.

So here is a photo of what the property looks like now, in 1970 and beyond the property actually had a second lot across the street with a thru street to the other side, they have filled in that street and made that property much larger than it was at one time. Also on the left side of the photo on that corner the old body shop was sitting there, and while I was there they moved the body shop down Milam a few blocks close to the sears store, then used the original body shop for the New Opels which Buick was now selling. That large building across the front of the property is a Bank Building as it was then, there was a coffee shop inside where we would all go and have our coffee several times a day.

My next photo and comments will be on Mike Persia where I worked and that's if I can even find any old photos, they're very scare. Mike Persia also owned a dealership in San Antonio.

post-9486-029997500 1287810066_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Back to the top . . .

A few pics of Raymond Pearson Ford and Bob Robertson Chevrolet.

Enjoy!

I wonder if Raymond Pearson Ford was designed by the same person who designed the old Park Place Mercedes in Dallas? I use to work at P.P. and saw some old photos of it when it was a Pontiac dealer. Looks just alike.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wonder if Raymond Pearson Ford was designed by the same person who designed the old Park Place Mercedes in Dallas? I use to work at P.P. and saw some old photos of it when it was a Pontiac dealer. Looks just alike.

That's a great question, and I wish that I had an answer . . .

I'd imagine that there were but a few architectural firms designing dealerships back in the day, so I suppose that it's quite possible.

Do you have any recollection of the dealership name when it was a Pontiac dealership?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...