Pub. 55 2014-2015 Issue 3

10 R emarkable dealer success stories abound in the State of Texas, but few could match the colorful and successful history of W. Marvin Rush, the genius behind the creation of Rush Enterprises, the largest truck dealership operation ever known. From a di f f icult beginning in a small GMC truck store established in Houston in the mid- ’60s to a chain of almost 130 truck dealerships throughout America, Marvin Rush has realized his vision and then some. Born in Houston, the son of a hard driving entrepreneur who owned a bus company among other enterprises, Marvin Rush began his business career at ten by managing the Coke machine at his father’s bus station. With up to 80 buses in service, the station provided transportation to an under-served part of Houston, giving lower class working people a way to get to their jobs and care for their families. Working off and on for his father as a pre-teenager created occasional clashes between the two strong and stubborn per- sonalities. This tempestuous relationship continued until fourteen-year-oldMarvin, searching for a radio to dress up his car, came upon a dusty, cavernous Radio/TV repair shop with shelves laden with used TVs. The enterprising teenager struck a deal with the owner of the repair shop to become partners in the used TV business, again in a part of town that didn’t have TV and appliance stores or much opportunity for home entertainment in those early years of television. Buying used TVs for $10.00 and retail- ing them for $29.95, with consoles going for $80.00, proved very lucrative. By the time he was 16, the young Mr. Rush expanded into used cars. He soon had a $50,000.00 line of credit which he could float to $150,000.00 and was driving a big Oldsmobile with a boat in the driveway. There were periods during these forma- tive years that his father pulled him back into the bus business, sometimes to help him buy and sell used buses, and other times to spend months at school studying diesel engines and Allison transmissions. From there he became a trainer for the technicians at the Rush Bus Company. Partnering with the Sicilian Hauseman brothers in 1961, Rush began buying used city buses on the east coast and shipping them to South America. A series of busi- nesses followed for young Mr. Rush, all in and around Houston. From a note lot in Conroe to rebuilding Cadillacs for resale, a body shop in Bellaire and owning a junk- yard on Shepherd, Marvin Rush decided that it was time to realize his dream and apply for a dealer franchise. His goal was to be the GMC Truck dealer on the north side of Houston. With $25,000.00 in borrowed money and a grubstake from his other businesses, the 26 year old applied at the GMC truck zone office in San Antonio. After a se- ries of interviews, inquiries and financial background investigations, Marvin Rush became the second GMC truck dealer in all of Houston, Texas. Unfortunately, the other Houston GMC store was owned by the factory. The young dealer soon found that he couldn’t compete with a factory owned store. Running out of cash and floating his Hilton Carte Blanche credit Marvin Rush: An American Visionary