Forey Wall Used Cars

Forey with his brother Glen at "Forey Wall Used Cars". Photo courtesy of Forey Wall.

Forey Wall Used Cars was a used car lot run by Forey Wall. Started in 1946, the lot was located at 10792 Long Beach Boulevard in Lynwood, California. “At the time I was living in South Gate. I had a few custom cars for sale in the lot, but not many,” Forey told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama in 2016. Al Sulminoff was Forey’s partner at the lot. Al and Forey hung out together and liked to have a good time. In 1948 they went to Newport Beach to buy a boat. Forey had $8,000 cash in his pocket. They walked into the Chris-Craft Boat store and were basically ignored. Forey looked across the street after he was frustrated because nobody would give them any service, and he saw Garwood boats across the street. "Sully" and Forey walked across the street, picked out a 16 foot Garwood and trailer, paid cash and drove off with their new boat. After that, Forey and Al had plenty of young ladies that wanted to ride their boat.

Wall Custom Cars

In 1954 Forey expanded his business, and he rented a bigger lot at 3900 E. Firestone Boulevard in South Gate. He kept the Lynwood lot, but he rented it out to a friend. At the time Glen had a pretty good job managing Ben Katzman’s used car dealership. During Christmas of 1954 Forey asked Glen if he wanted to go into business with him. Glen replied “You want to go into business with me? Yeah, I just rented a lot on Firestone. A whole block,” Forey replied.

January 1, 1955 Glen and Forey went into business together. They had seen an opportunity in the market, and decided to form “Wall Custom Cars,” a dealership specialized in selling and buying custom cars. Mike McCarthy, a Lincoln and Mercury dealer had been on the lot before Glen and Forey. They sold nothing, so they had to move.