Huffines Auto Dealerships are celebrating 100 years of being family-owned and operated in North Texas this year.
J.L. Huffines Sr. opened the first auto dealership in Denton in May 1924. That was a Willy’s-Knight, Overland dealership which later became the maker of Jeep vehicles.
Huffines Sr.’s grandson, Ray Huffines, is the current president and CEO of Huffines Auto Dealerships.
Ray Huffines said trips to the dealership in Lewisville, when he was six or seven years old, make up his first memories of his family’s business.
“I would go to my grandfather’s dealership after hours and pick up coke bottles and I’d also load the coke machine,” Ray Huffines said.
Today, there are 10 Huffines dealerships in Dallas-Fort Worth with over 900 employees.
Huffines Sr. passed away in 1971. Ray Huffines believes his grandfather would be amazed if he could see how the family business has grown over the decades.
“I remember him saying, ‘Dallas and Fort Worth will grow together,’” Ray Huffines said. “He envisioned that it would all grow together and it has.”
There are two Huffines dealerships in McKinney. Other dealerships are located in Plano, Lewisville and Corinth.
- 1301 N. Central Expressway, McKinney
- 1201 N. Central Expressway, McKinney
- www.huffines.net
