Ellicott City, MD, 1964.
Vallejo, CA, 1970.
Bowling Green, KY, 1972.
Vintage Dealer Postcards: Ford Dealers 1964-1972
– Posted on July 20, 2023
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Curbside Classics Archives
Ellicott City, MD, 1964.
Vallejo, CA, 1970.
Bowling Green, KY, 1972.
At least these ones feature mostly Ford products, unlike the Chevy dealership a few weeks ago which had a bunch of used Fords.
What’s the red sports car cut off on the left side of the second picture?
Looks like a Datsun 1600 or 2000. Produced with 2 different engine sizes.
That’s an interesting observation. I wonder what Ford brand loyalty was back then vs. Chevy, or maybe Ford dealers tended to wholesale competitive cars more often. For one thing, you’d have a better chance of retaining service work.
Noticed that one too, I believe its a 60s Nissan Fairlady/Datsun Sports. Neat little roadster!
Did Ford enforce the changeover to standard signage (as in the Wallace postcard here), or were existing dealers allowed to keep their old signs?
Pretty sure it was a mandate. Also, in many cases the dealers leased their brand signage from the company and they could call it back.
Chrysler started the corporate identity trend under Lynn Townsend in 1963. Ford and GM followed.
According to an interview with the guy who managed the Chrysler program, it started when Lynn Townsend, back from a dealer swing, commented on Holiday Inn’s distinctive signs and wished Chrysler had enough dealers to match them, and someone pointed out they had about three times the dealerships as Holliday Inn had motels, but they all looked different.
My family’s C-P dealer was one of those, and in fact was built by my great grandfather originally to sell Model Ts.
Like the “lil red roadster” in the “CA pic. “Datsun”?
I love looking at these old postcards .
-Nate
The Vallejo Ford dealer is long gone…
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.109904,-122.2510496,3a,37.5y,190.37h,91.82t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sV8MgLdAxMLUkIJ0ajKe6zg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
The dealer’s long gone, but I’m amazed that little structure is still standing!
The Wallace Ford complex is still there too – garage buildings and all. It’s now a shopping center, and from the road it looks like a new building, but in the aerial view you can tell that it’s the same structure since the web of garage buildings look identical.
Aerial:
https://goo.gl/maps/fktcZ6oJvFEBwvR3A
Also, the water tower in the background matches!!
Parlett knew how to set up a display. Note that the cars are angled to reflect the roof, creating an invitation to the front door.
Do like the red Datsun roaster on the far left of the second photo. Maybe it belongs to the salesman in the doorway. I’m sure he would hit the Happy Hour on his way home.
The top photo has a Ford Country Squire which always reminds me of Goldfinger movie. The Country Squire from movie can be found in toy dept of your local Walmart.
We were living the next town over from Ellicott City in 1964, we lived in Catonsville from 1963-1965. Dad didn’t have a Ford (yet), he was on the 2nd of 2 Rambler Classic wagons, a ’63 at that time, which got totalled right as we’d moved out of our house there…we were staying in a Holiday Inn on route 40, right in front of our motel one guy waved my Dad turn in front of him but he got tagged by someone else in the other lane.
We moved quite often back then, my Dad was a chemist in the semiconductor process business, which he worked in from 1956 till he retired for several different companies. He had to work where they made them; at the time he worked for Westinghouse semiconductor but he started working for them in Pittsburgh around 1961, they moved him to Maryland 2 years later. He started in Atlantic states, moved to New England, then southern California, then to Pittsburgh by 1961.
I’m sure things have changed a lot. One thing I remember is that our dentist had an office in the basement of his home…probably not too unusual back then; I also had an orthodontist who had an office in his home a few years later…One of my friends had a home which backed onto route 695…there was a short chain link fence separating his yard from the highway…we used to watch the cars while seated on his swing set.
Dad bought 2 Fords in a row starting in 1969; starting in the late 80’s he had 3 Mercury Sables in a row.