One Rio Grande Valley car dealer whose name is today emblazoned across the region got his start in a modest-sized store selling Buicks just blocks south of the courthouse in Edinburg. 

Bert Ogden sold cars as a side business before opening his first dealership in the 1960s. He would purchase used cars from upstate Texas sources, restore them to running condition, and then sell them in the Valley. The downtown Edinburg dealership was the beginnings of what today are over 20 dealerships across the region that carry the Bert Ogden name.

Another early Valley car dealer – J.V. Carpenter of McAllen – swapped his then-Cadillac line of automobiles for a Chevrolet dealership owned by Dwight Yoder. It was the 1930s when that trade happened. The swap among businessmen was the forerunner to a dealership that would become synonymous with McAllen as Carpenter’s stepson was Charles Clark. Twenty years after the transaction, the Chevrolet dealership in downtown McAllen was renamed Clark Chevrolet. 

“Those were old-school automotive businesses,” said Alex Clark, who with his brother Daniel today own and operate the Chevrolet dealership in its 92nd year of business. 

There were other auto dealer pioneers of that era. In Brownsville, the Knapp family started their own Chevrolet dealership in 1934 that still operates today as Tipotex Chevrolet. In that same era, M.J. Tipton became a shareholder of the Ford franchise in Brownsville in marking the beginning of what would become Tipton Ford. That dealership continues to the present and is still family-owned and operated.

Family Traditions

The succession of family leadership is vital in the history of any dealership. 

For the Clarks, that became evident in 2022 with the passing of Kirk Clark, a beloved figure and community leader in McAllen. Kirk was the son of Charles Clark and they worked together for decades in growing their franchise and eventually adding a Honda dealership in partnership with the Knapp family.

Alex Clark spoke of the admiration he has for the partnership his father and grandfather developed in operating the family auto business. It’s what brought Alex back to the Valley after his college years when his career aspirations were initially in the academic world. His father, Kirk, gave him an opportunity to operate a new insurance business at their Honda dealership and gain new insights into the dealership business.

“My father never pressured me to be in the car business,” Alex Clark said. “I found out that I liked it and that I was good at it. I remembered stories of my dad working with his dad and I thought, we’ll try it.”

The effort proved to be a good one. Kirk mentored his son to eventually assume the principal dealer role that Alex holds today, just as Kirk did decades before in taking over from his own father, Charles. In the Mid-Valley, the Payne family did the same. E.J. Payne, like Charles Clark, was a World War II veteran, and the Midwest native would come to the Valley after the war to open Ed Payne Motors in Weslaco.

Bud and Jimmy Payne would succeed their father, E.J., as the principal dealers and continue to grow the business to include the autoplex the family owns and operate along Expressway 83 in Weslaco. The Payne family sells new vehicles across the Valley from different manufacturers such as Buick, Dodge, Chevrolet, Ford and Volkswagen.

Moving Forward

The Bert Ogden auto dealer story suddenly reached an inflection point in 1992 when the dealer and his wife, Dorothy, died in a car accident. 

Plans were already in place for Ogden’s son-in-law, Bob Vackar, to eventually take over principal dealer duties. Vackar is married to Bert and Dorothy’s daughter, Janet, who with her father, appeared in many of the dealership’s television commercials in the 1980s and early 1990s. The Vackars in the years that followed Bert’s passing would take the Edinburg-based business and expand the business to new dealership locations on McAllen, Mission and Harlingen, along with adding more dealerships in Edinburg.

The Vackars have given generously to the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and the university’s college of business is named after Bob Vackar. A renovated football stadium in Edinburg is named after the Vackars, with UTRGV starting its inaugural football season this August.

All of the RGV’s auto families share some essential things in common. They are rooted in the Valley and know service and connection to customers is vital to keeping their businesses successful.

“We try not to make crazy promises,” Alex Clark said of his dealerships. “We pride ourselves as being dealers who are present and available. I have a vested interest in serving our customers and solving your problems.”