Text by Patrick Bell.
Today, we’ll be taking a look at a Cadillac dealer during the brand’s 1950s heyday: Frank Kent Motor Co. in Fort Worth, Texas. This dealership started selling Cadillacs in 1953 and is still in business today, although its original location later came to a catastrophic end.
Our lead image shows the new car showroom. The car in the foreground is a 1957 Eldorado Seville 2-door hardtop. The 1953-1955 Eldorado had been offered only as a convertible, but the Seville hardtop was added for 1956, and the convertible was renamed Eldorado Biarritz. The Eldorado had special trim and extra standard equipment, so it was pricey, listing for $7286. Only 3900 Eldorados were built for 1957: 2100 Seville hardtops and 1800 Biarritz convertibles. Behind the Eldorado was a Series 62 coupe or Coupe de Ville 2-door hardtop. They were a lot cheaper than the Eldorado, with prices starting at $4677 for the Series 62 coupe, and much more popular, selling a total of 48,933 cars.
The tire to the left of the Eldorado was a showroom display for the “New Firestone Supreme” tire.
This was the used car showroom, where two 1956 Series 62 models were on display: a 2-door hardtop coupe at the left and a 4-door sedan behind it. Both had air conditioning, which was a popular option in Texas despite its $540 price.
The dealership’s founder, Frank Kent (1895-1987), was a Missouri native who married a Fort Worth girl in 1919 after serving his country in World War I. In the 1920s, they eventually settled in Fort Worth, where he worked for various auto dealers as a manager. In 1935, he started his own dealership, selling Ford and Lincoln. (In the late 1940s, it became exclusively a Ford dealer.)
In 1953, Kent was approached by General Motors to be the Cadillac distributor for Fort Worth and West Texas. He sold his Ford dealership and began his long relationship with Cadillac. The 1953 photo above shows him signing the Cadillac franchise agreement. His family’s relationship with Cadillac continued through three generations until they decided to sell out in late 2025. The new owners have retained the Frank Kent name.
Until 1982, Frank Kent Motor Co. was based in this complex at 100 East Lancaster Avenue, on the southeast corner of Lancaster (US 81) and Main Street (US 287) in the south end of downtown Fort Worth. The Streamline Moderne building was designed by architects Edward L. Wilson and James J. Patterson. Country singer Willie Nelson’s father Ira was a mechanic here back when Frank Kent still sold Fords.
In the 1957 photo above, you can see the cars from our opening image in the showroom at the right, while the cars from our second image were in the left side of the showroom, under the sign. Outside, a 1956 Studebaker President 4-door sedan had just turned the corner, while a two-tone 1956 Ford Mainline Fordor was waiting its turn. The seven cars on the street next to the dealership were all GM models, with examples from all divisions except Cadillac. Waiting at the intersection at the left of the frame was a 1957 Ford. The car parked diagonally in the Frank Kent lot was a 1957 Cadillac Series 62 Sedan de Ville 4-door hardtop with a Harley-Davidson Servi-Car trike behind it. Although it looks like the Cadillac had been pulled over, it was actually towing the trike, which was likely a former police vehicle. That was how dealers “delivered” cars back in the day; a dealer representative would drive the car to the customer and then ride the trike back to the shop.
Here is the back side of the auxiliary building on the used car side. This was probably also where the dealership readied cars, like the 1956 Cadillac coupe up on jack stands in the left background. The cars facing the camera included a 1953 Fleetwood Series 75 with a missing fender skirt on the left, with a 1955 Eldorado behind it. The others in the row nearest the camera were all 1957 Cadillac models, with the exception of the one on the far end, which might have been a Chevrolet or Pontiac. The tall building visible in the background was the Texas and Pacific Railway station and office complex, commonly known as the T & P station. It was restored in 1999 and now serves as a Trinity Metro Bus Line station, with condominiums on the upper floors.
Here we see the service department inside the rear part of the main building. Most of the cars seen here were 1957 models, except for the 1955 Coupe de Ville at the left, a two-tone 1956 model nosed in at the far end, and a 1953 model with a black roof in the right row (the second car behind the pillar). Further down, there’s a tail fin that sure looks like a 1957 Chrysler. The 1947-1953 Chevrolet Advance Design truck in the background, under the sign, was probably a tow truck.
In 1982, Frank Kent Motor Co. moved out of this complex to a new location about 8 miles to the west, after construction of an elevated section of Interstate 30 along Lancaster Avenue cost the dealership much of its front parking area. The Kents retained the old facility to store new cars, but on March 12, 1986, tragedy struck. Utility crews were working on a waterline along Lancaster Avenue when a backhoe tore up a gas line they did not realize was there. Apparently they could not get the gas shut off, and the gas fumes that backed up in the old dealership building were ignited by a water heater pilot light. The resulting explosion leveled the building and destroyed 57 new Cadillacs that were in storage. Fortunately, no one was in the building, but 22 people were injured, including the utility workers and some people passing by on the street. The explosion was heard ten miles away and windows were blown out in the surrounding area. In the years since then, I-30 was moved further south, and the elevated roadway was removed. The Kent family never rebuilt at the original site, and while several projects have been proposed since then, the property is still vacant to this day.
Thanks for joining us and have a great day!
Note: If you wish to see your vintage photos featured at Curbside Classic, send them to us at [email protected].
Fascinating story on one of the country’s largest Cadillac dealers! I had seen a photo of this dealer years ago and always wanted to know the details of it–thank you! Yes, I’d say these photos were taken the right year (`57) to emphasize the glamour and beauty that SOLD Cadillacs! And it’s my all-time favorite year for this marque; perfect!
A horrible shame of how the original building(s) were destroyed, but accidents happen. Insurance no doubt covered the lost inventory, but unfortunately all that ‘streamline moderne’ architecture was lost. At least these crisp images remain that show it in it’s heyday!
These old dealership photos are fun. ’57 is one my 2 or 3 favorite years, of Cadillac, it’s hard to pick just 1.
The police Harley 3 wheeler is known as a “Servi-Car”, with 45 cu in flathead engine that dated to 1937 and played a huge role in WW II in the WLA model, also known as the “Liberator”.
According to Wikipedia, the WLA was primarily a rear-echelon vehicle (e.g. police, couriers). For off-roading, the Jeep was preferred.
In the mid 1960’s one of the screws where I was, had been a Moto courier in the late days of WWII, he was stationed in Germany and was hauling the mail after dark on the Autobahn, the ‘blackout’ head light didn’t show much ahead and he hit a large berm of dirt piled where our boys had bombed a bridge, he hit it going full tilt boogie (not very fast, maybe 45~50 MPH) and wrecked the bike and mangled one neg, he still had a pronounced limp in 1968 .
He said he loved that job and was -so- P.O.’d he’d screwed the pooch by speeding in the dark .
-Nate
Thanks! I added that to the text.
This also how my local Oldsmobile dealer, Reilly Oldsmobile delivered their new cars in the 50’s. Great pic of a Servi-Car in action on the owner’s office wall till he passed and they closed shop. Wish I would have snatched it.
Beautiful photographs, it is always a pleasure to have a glimpse at the “old days”. I can certainly appreciate why A/C was a popular option in Texas, even at 10% or more over the base car price (which I imagine was at least partly recovered in resale value)
I wish I could go back to this dealer’s used car lot and buy a nice Dagmar Hardtop Coupe .
-Nate
Back in 1984 and 1985 we used my Suburban and trailer to vend and buy at the original Pate Swap Meet on the Aggie Pate Ranch, south of Fort Worth. My swap spaces backed up against the corral and windmill. Our choice of an inexpensive motel up in Fort Worth had us drive past that dealership twice every day, Tuesday through Saturday while on our way.
We also enjoyed dinner at Angelo’s Bar-B-Que, several miles north of Cadillac Dealership
The comment about the Pate Swap Meet reminded me that there was the old Frank Kent Cadillac sign from the ’57 photos, erected on the southern border of the Pate Museum of Transportation property, facing the northbound lanes of U.S. 377. If I remember correctly, that sign wound up several years ago in the possession of Honest John’s Cadillac Parts up near Denton.
My original post was to note that, according to a book I read years ago, Frank Kent was on a Ford-sponsored safari trip in Africa, set up as a reward for top selling Ford dealers in the U.S. Kent had set up a system where a dealership employee would communicate with him via telegrams, as to how the Cadillac opportunity was going. At some point , the employee sent word that it was a ‘ Go’, and that’s when Kent bid his fellow Ford dealership owners his departure from the safari trip, and he paid his own ticket back to the U.S.