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Historic Houston Car Dealers And Repair Shops


Subdude

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  • 2 years later...

If you are meaning the one in Cypress, it was Doug Russell Chevrolet. I remember it because he, along with I.W. Marks and some young guy and his relatively new Gallery Furniture were sponsors of Houston wrestling with Paul Boesch on Saturday nights.

 

The dealership folded and I believe that Mr. Russell is no longer among us.

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You'll have to be a bit more specific. Between the Beltway and FM 1960 there is a near continuous string of new and used car dealerships. One right after another. Some have changed hands and names several times, and several are closed and sitting empty.

Edited by FilioScotia
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  • 1 month later...

Ah yes. The "old" 290.  Thanks.

IIRC it was a modest facility too. There was a carport big enough to cover about a dozen vehicles parked side by side (similar to what Star Motors on the Old Katy Road has for their used cars today) and a showroom that could probably hold three cars at most. Of course there was a service garage behind that.

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  • 1 month later...

I used 2 recall watching a scene from the 1970 film Brewster McCloud where a billboard for MacRobert Chevrolet (later AJ Foyt, now the present-day Kroger Meyer Park) was advertised; some in the Montrose used 2 come across the following dealerships:

 

Auto Sports Ltd (later Dominion Jaguar) Kirby/West Alabama (where the former Borders bookstore is now located)

Mahan Volkswagen (now Momentum Audi) Kirby/Richmond

Jimmie Green Chevrolet (now the Randalls off Westheimer/S Shepherd)

River Oaks Lincoln-Mercury (now Whole Foods Market Kirby/West Alabama)

DeMontrond (later Hub) Buick (currently a strip mall Westheimer/Kirby - current DeMontrond Buick located off 45/Rankin)

Mossy (later Ray Hewitt, Rice Menger) Oldsmobile - Main/McGowen (later USA Body and Paint late 80s - 90s, now Stewart (formerly Don Massey) Cadillac; Mossy dealership moved 2 the Katy Freeway/Kirkwood in 1979 adjacent 2 the present day Mac Haik (formerly Tom Peacock) Chevrolet, now Mossy Nissan across from Westside Lexus)

Bland-Curran Cadillac (Bagby/West Gray/Webster - now Post Lofts since 1997)

Bill McDavid Oldsmobile (Gulf Freeway north of Gulfgate - later became a furniture store but site redeveloped into a Home Depot)

 

The only inner loop dealerships still in business without name changes - Tommie Vaughn Ford and Knapp Chevrolet

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Thanks for that late 1950s photo of Tommie Vaughn Ford on N. Shepherd.  It was probably taken a year or two after Vaughn moved his dealership from a location on North Main to North Shepherd. 

 

I love the story of Tommie Vaughn. He was a college football hero at A&M, flew bombers in WWII, got into the car business after the war and opened a Houston dealership that's still family owned and doing business nearly 60 years later. He was also active in all kinds of civic stuff, and when he died he was one of Houston's best-loved citizens. Sadly, they don't make men like Tommie Vaughn anymore. Check out his story on their website.

 

http://tommievaughnford.com/Heritage-History/

 

I could be wrong, but I think Tommie Vaughn is the oldest car dealer in Houston, and maybe the last one that's been family owned since the beginning.

Edited by FilioScotia
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  • 1 month later...

Wow, Subdude! That pic of Tommie Vaughn predates my recollection. That is awesome, but where's the big towering Ford sign? That thing's been up there since I was a kid. Hadn't paid real attention to it in years since I don't live in the Heights anymore, but it used to light up at night and rotate. My older brother used to work at the Goodyear there on 11th, next to the old Wiener's.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks for that late 1950s photo of Tommie Vaughn Ford on N. Shepherd.  It was probably taken a year or two after Vaughn moved his dealership from a location on North Main to North Shepherd. 

 

I love the story of Tommie Vaughn. He was a college football hero at A&M, flew bombers in WWII, got into the car business after the war and opened a Houston dealership that's still family owned and doing business nearly 60 years later. He was also active in all kinds of civic stuff, and when he died he was one of Houston's best-loved citizens. Sadly, they don't make men like Tommie Vaughn anymore. Check out his story on their website.

 

http://tommievaughnford.com/Heritage-History/

 

I could be wrong, but I think Tommie Vaughn is the oldest car dealer in Houston, and maybe the last one that's been family owned since the beginning.

 

Jack Roach Ford is the oldest Ford dealer ship in Houston. The started in either 1921 or 1923. My dad bought a new Ford from Tommy Vaughn in 1957. The dealer ship was then located on North Main, so I know it had to be after 1957 when they moved to Shepherd.

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  • 4 months later...

I ran across this photo library of Houston car dealers on Photobucket while looking for a photo of the elusive Bill McDavid Oldsmobile neon sign. Some of these have been posted here before, but there are quite a few others I hadn't seen before. 

 

http://s1187.photobucket.com/user/automotivehistorian/library/Houston%20Car%20Dealers?sort=3&page=1

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I ran across this photo library of Houston car dealers on Photobucket while looking for a photo of the elusive Bill McDavid Oldsmobile neon sign. Some of these have been posted here before, but there are quite a few others I hadn't seen before. 

 

http://s1187.photobucket.com/user/automotivehistorian/library/Houston%20Car%20Dealers?sort=3&page=1

 

 

Cool stuff.  Thanks for posting the link.  To me it is interesting to see how dealerships gradually migrated from downtown to the far outskirts of the city. It is hard to believe now that Kirby was once fairly heavily lined with car dealerships.

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More Kirby:  Sam Montgomery Oldsmobile ("Sam the Rocket Man") was in the Village, and IIRC had a spaceman astride a rocket coming out of the roof over Kirby.  (sheez, now I've got the jingle stuck in my head).

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There was an Archer Rambler on the 5000 block of Kirby by Goode Company.  I believe the dealership building is still in use.  I don't know the name of it, but I think there might have been a Lincoln-Mercury dealer close to Kirby and Alabama.

 

 

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There was an Archer Rambler on the 5000 block of Kirby by Goode Company.  I believe the dealership building is still in use.  I don't know the name of it, but I think there might have been a Lincoln-Mercury dealer close to Kirby and Alabama.

 

It was probably River Oaks Lincoln Mercury. I saw a nice 88-91 Mercury Grand Marquis last week that still had the River Oaks Lincoln Mercury decal on the trunklid.

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Cool stuff.  Thanks for posting the link.  To me it is interesting to see how dealerships gradually migrated from downtown to the far outskirts of the city. It is hard to believe now that Kirby was once fairly heavily lined with car dealerships.

 

Early in the history of Houston the dealer ships seemed to be not only in the downtown area but were strung along Washington Ave. and Harrisburg and on around the curve onto Broadway. Washington Ave was old Hwy. 90 and continued on to Preston in the downtown area. Milam seemed to be heavily vested with dealerships in the downtown area, I can think of about a half dozen that was on Milam just off the top of my head.

 

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