Great Day

The Theodore Robins Ford Family History:


Theodore Robins sold his first Ford in 1923 for $637.10. Eighty-seven years later, Theodore "Bob" Robins Jr., the founder's son, is still selling cars and trucks from the country's most storied automaker at his Costa Mesa dealership. The Robins family is in their 87th year selling Fords. Robins' father sold his first car almost two decades after Henry Ford formed the Ford Motor Co. and began selling the experimental Model A. Only four other Ford dealerships in the country have been in the same family longer. "We've been selling them almost as long as they've been building them," Robins said from the office of a dealership now essentially run by sons Jim and Dave. The dealership has been family owned and operated for four generations with Robins Jr.’s grand-daughter, Nicole, running the Internet Department. The Robins dealership, which has also been run out of two Newport Beach locations in its history, is the only licensed Ford dealer in the area and routinely places among the area's top five in sales volume.

Robins Jr. can recount an oral history of his family's dealership. The elder Robins, who died in 1976, opened his Bay Avenue Garage for a mere $15 per month on Balboa Peninsula in 1921. He made sure "to offer good service and treat [his] employees well," Robins Jr. said about his father. "Maybe it was not as structured as things are today. But that was basically the principals he followed for all those many years and that are still practiced today."

Robins still remembers his first steps in the family business. In early February 1923, two men walked into the repair shop with an offer to purchase it, saying a Ford dealership had opened up. On Feb. 7, Robins hopped into a Model T and headed up to Los Angeles, where he promptly signed an exclusive deal with Ford. It was a golden opportunity that Robins knew he couldn't pass up. It was also the Model T that the younger Robins drove to Newport Harbor High School during his senior year, in 1947. Several years earlier, Robins began working in his father's dealership, ferrying parts to garages all over town. He even secured a driver's license at a ripe 14 years old so he could get behind the wheel of the parts delivery truck. In his office, which he took over from his father, he still keeps the original 1923 Ford Franchise Agreement framed on the wall. Next to it hangs Theodore Robins' first car sale on Feb. 14, 1923 -- a week after he'd set up the dealership

As a boy, Robins said he fell in love with the car culture Ford helped to bring about among greasy-haired teens in 1950s America. Robins himself remembers taking his 1932 two-door sedan out to the Orange County Airport, now John Wayne Airport, to sanctioned quarter-mile drag racing every Sunday. "This wasn't the stuff where they paid big money," Robins said. "You did it for the fun and getting a trophy." Through the years, the dealership has expanded several times, moving from its original Bay Avenue location. In 1928, the elder Robins moved it to a building at 22nd Street and Central Avenue, which is now Balboa Boulevard. The dealership was across the street from a Bank of America, which has since been replaced by the Crab Cooker restaurant. In 1955, Robins moved again, this time to Coast Highway and the property now occupied by Sterling BMW. In 1966, Robins was ready to expand again; he pulled up stakes and headed to his current location, at Harbor Boulevard and Bay Street. "He's an institution here in town," said Ed Fawcett, president of the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce. "They've been an anchor over there forever."

Throughout the years, the Robins family has been active in the community. For many years, the Robins family generously supported the Fish Fry. In the late 1970s, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District named their auditorium Robins Hall. Robins attributes the dealership's longevity to its reliance on the fundamentals: new cars, used cars, effective customer service and a wide array of parts. And he has evolved with the times. Despite his success, Robins remains humble. "The mere fact that we've been here a long time doesn't mean we feel like we're entitled to anything," Robins said. "We're here. We provide a service. We like to give back to the community."