TheSamba.com :: View topic - Anyone in Texas got any info on this place...

Wed Mar 14, 2012 4:05 am

Was cleaning up my new oval today and found this sticker on the fuel tank..

Trying to find some history on the car. Anyone know if 'Foreign Car Company' still exists? I tried a google search and found nothing.
Anyone else got the same sticker?

Wed Mar 14, 2012 7:05 am

You need to refine your google skills :lol: Just teasin.

So I searched "VW Dealers in Fort Worth" and what do you know this one has the same exact address! Here you go sir:

http://www.shopautobahn.com/

Wed Mar 14, 2012 7:08 am

Every interesting.

I cannot make out the second number on the address. University Volkswagen used to be in the 3300 or 3400 block of white Settlement at the intersection of White Settlement and University Blvd. Since it's an Oval, The Foreign Car Co. was possibly the forerunner of University Volkswagen.

There is a Porsche dealer there now.

Contact Tims German Auto 2632 White Settlement Rd Fort Worth, TX 76107
(817) 731-9494

He knows the history of the area and was once, I believe, a mechanic for University VW.

Wed Mar 14, 2012 7:13 am

Harris-
Looks like you posted while I was posting.
Since you are a TX resident let me know if you think I found the right dealer for Foxy.

Thanks.

Wed Mar 14, 2012 7:25 am

Schwing,

Your right, Autobahn is the dealer there selling several makes. Foxy's oval has to be one of the first VW's in Fort Worth. Not much internet history on University VW so I don't know when they started in business, but I'll bet it was in the 60's and after the Foreign Car Co.

Wed Mar 14, 2012 7:44 am

Foxy,

Called to talk to Tim Yarbrough at Tim's German Auto, but he is on vacation. Will call him when he is back to see if he knows anything about The Foreign Car Company

Wed Mar 14, 2012 9:37 am

Foxy,

Some more info and sort of solves your original question.

A friend here in Dallas replied back to me who has a '63, still in the family since new, that came from Foreign Car Company. I always assumed they bought it from University VW, but apparently not.

Here is his reply

"Yep, Foreign Car Company is what is on the original title that I have. They changed to University VW and when my Dad took it in for service, they put the University VW license plate holder on it."

He is interested to know the year of your oval and any history you have on it. Any idea how it made it to the UK from Texas.

Wed Mar 14, 2012 10:21 am

Great detective work Harris!

Wed Mar 14, 2012 11:49 am

Wow, thats great work Harris, I really wasn't expecting such a quick and thorough reply! Thanks alot. :)

I really have no idea how it got from the UK and ended up in Idaho where I bought it from. I had an idea that it must of spent at least some of its life in a very dry state as its very solid. I just discovered that sticker today.
I also have no idea when it went from here to the US either but it must of been in the early 60s I would of thought, because they soon rot away in this country!
Its an Oct 56 built car , 57 MY.

If you speak to Tim Yarbrough then can you please ask him if he remembers the car. I'm sure a right hand drive ragtop oval would be a pretty rare sight over there!

Just cleaning the car up at the moment before I start the repair work..

Wed Mar 14, 2012 5:01 pm

Simon, you've just reminded me to talk to Dan about any history he might know. I will see him in the next few weeks and will ask.

Wed Mar 14, 2012 6:41 pm

Foxy,

Here is Ken Arrington's title to the '63 bought by his dad in April 1963 from the Foreign Car Company in Fort Worth, Texas and the University Volkswagen License plate frame that was put on shortly after the purchase during a service visit.. Also one of the car today.
I love the $1394 price.

Possible scenerio on your '57. I can see a U. S. Air Force guy based in England buying the car there, being transferred to Carswell Air Force base in Fort Worth and shipping the car here. Could have been anytime from '57 to '63. I will ask Tim Yarbarough if he remembers a right hand drive coming through the dealer. May have been the only one as that would be most rare in Texas and we know it was service there.

Unbelievable that it came from England to Texas, then to Idaho and back home again.

What is the color of the '57?

Will be interesting to see what fuscavw finds out.

Thu Mar 15, 2012 1:45 am

fuscavw wrote: Simon, you've just reminded me to talk to Dan about any history he might know. I will see him in the next few weeks and will ask.

Thanks Dave. It might have been Dan who actually bought it in Texas.

Thu Mar 15, 2012 1:59 am

Harris wrote: Possible scenerio on your '57. I can see a U. S. Air Force guy based in England buying the car there, being transferred to Carswell Air Force base in Fort Worth and shipping the car here. Could have been anytime from '57 to '63. I will ask Tim Yarbarough if he remembers a right hand drive coming through the dealer. May have been the only one as that would be most rare in Texas and we know it was service there.

Unbelievable that it came from England to Texas, then to Idaho and back home again.

What is the color of the '57?

Will be interesting to see what fuscavw finds out.

Thanks again for the info Harris.
Yeah i had already come to this conclusion myself. I checked out the address on white settlement road last night on google maps and saw the US air force base about 5 miles away from where Foreign Car Company used to be and thought the same thing. Because of your info I now know it must of been imported to the US between 57 and 63.

Yes its pretty cool that it went from here to the US and I've brought it back 'home' again. When I was first told about the car I figured it was probably from Australia or New Zealand, but I soon found out that CKD cars are marked up around the body/VIN number, this one wasn't. I sent off for the cert and when it came back I was very happy..

As the cert says it was Polar Silver, now its just multi-coloured!

Thu Mar 15, 2012 6:37 am

Quote: Thanks again for the info Harris

Your most welcomed. Pure luck this time around and is as much fun for me as for you. Sketchy info available on this dealer. I've tried several times before and found out more this time than all the others.

Thu Mar 15, 2012 6:56 am

Wow. This is neat!

Thu Mar 15, 2012 11:55 am

Very cool, hope more info comes about.

Fri Mar 16, 2012 8:51 am

Foxy,

Thanks to your question about the Foreign Car Label, I have been able to find out
a lot about Foreign Car Company and University Volkswagen. A route of asking questions that I would not have known to do previously has payed off. Ken Arrington will be happy about the details. Hopefully Monday I will be able to locate some old photos of the dealer’s store.

I called Tim Yarborough this morning and he referred me to Lyle Cherry in Fort Worth.
Visited with Lyle. He started with Foreign Car Company in 1961, quit in ’65 and went back in ’66 for a period of time. Yarbarough worked there at a later date said the dealer closed in maybe 1985.

Lyle remembers only 2 right hand drive cars both belonging to Fort Worth postman that they used on rural routes. He did not remember colors. I wonder if your '57 was here before '61 when Lyle started work there. One quote I found searching Lyle Cherry’s name before I called him is below and indicates Foreign Car Company was located at first on 7th street not far from the last location of University and White Settlement Rd.

“University VW started life as Foreign Car Co and was located in a small lot on West 7th St. just west of Vickery and was there from the mid 50's until about 59-60 when they moved to the north side of White Settlement Road just east of the intersection with University Dr. Also Curtis Terry who used to be the service manager at Foreign Car Co in the early 60s.”

Don't know if Curtis Terry is still aound, but will ask. A service manager would remember in more detail a right hand drive.

Thanks again Foxy for asking the question.

Fri Mar 16, 2012 1:28 pm

Awesome stuff Harris, I should definately be thanking you, not the other way around. I really appreciate what you've done so far.

So if I read it right then the sticker must of been placed on the car between 59 or 60 ( when it moved ) and 63 when it changed names to University VW?

Fri Mar 16, 2012 3:02 pm

Ken's dad bought their car in April '63 and on a soon after service visit they changed the name to University, so I guess up through April. Ken said they had a sticker on the gas tank of the '63 when it was delivered in April. Supposedly Foreign Car started in the mid 50's, but may not have used the sticker until later. Maybe Dan will have a clue if fuscavw gets to talk to him.

Your '57 could have been here before '61. Lyle was real quick to remember the 2 right hand drives. He indicated he had to remember to get in on the right side and not the left. And ironically Ken and I both have known Lyle for years, but never knew he worked there.
Too busy talking about cars.

May never know all about the '57, but it's fun to try.

Sun Mar 18, 2012 9:35 pm

Simon, I ran into Dan and unfortunately, he knows nothing more about its history. He simply told me he found it sitting in a trailer court probably 15 years ago, and picked it up for almost nothing without asking the sellers anything about it. :(