McCombs: Deal-maker built a diverse empire

Red McCombs describes himself as "a wheeler-dealer."

"There has never been a deal he didn't want to buy," said his grandson, Joe Shields, "and then, for the right price, there hasn't been a deal he isn't willing to sell."

Shields, vice president of McCombs' namesake dealership group, Red McCombs Automotive in San Antonio, said his grandfather counts upward of 400 businesses that he has owned during his career. Some succeeded. Others did not. But McCombs, his grandson said, was skilled at recognizing a bad bet and exiting quickly.

His successes, starting in the early 1950s with used-car lots in Corpus Christi, Texas, eventually would become McCombs Enterprises — a venture that, besides automotive, includes real estate, ranching, energy and philanthropy.

His auto retail business ranks No. 69 on Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealership groups in the U.S., with retail sales of 13,905 new vehicles in 2021. Shields, also director of business development for McCombs Enterprises, said the group today has seven new-vehicle dealerships selling Ford, Toyota, Hyundai and Genesis vehicles.

At one time, McCombs Automotive was the sixth-largest dealership group in the U.S., according to Automotive News in 2011.

For McCombs, achieving that scale meant making deals, relying on his instincts and taking risks.

One defining moment in his career was his decision to help a friend and mentor, Austin Hemphill, who offered McCombs a partnership in his Ford dealership in San Antonio, which was struggling financially.

McCombs told Automotive News in 2011 that just a handful of 16 sales employees remained with the store after he joined. He vowed that if they stayed, they would become dealership owners one day — a promise that came true.

"I figured if I could close 10 deals a day, I'd put that thing back on its feet in a hurry," McCombs said at the time. "The second day turned into the black, and we never saw a red day again."

That dealership became Red McCombs Ford, which is still open in San Antonio, though at a different location, Shields said.

Now 95, McCombs largely has retired from public life, Shields said. McCombs' daughter, Marsha Shields, an Automotive News Leading Women honoree in 2015, runs Red McCombs Automotive as dealer principal.

"He is definitely a visionary," Shields said about his grandfather. "He just has this innate ability to foresee where things are going."

Around the turn of the millennium, he said, McCombs talked about how the Internet would become an important tool for business. Yet, Shields said, he also does not have a computer in his office and has never owned a cellphone.

"Way back then, he said, 'This thing is going to change the game for everyone. We need to be first to act to make sure that we have an Internet presence, that we eventually sell cars on the Internet,' " Shields said.

"Here we are today, and the industry's kind of only now figuring that out."