Ford Model A Dealerships

[Model A Canuck]

Would anybody know if their is a model A dealership list being kept?.I am looking for info on Ontario and Canadian dealerships in particular


Thanks

[gdmn852]

Hello, I don’t think there is a list of Ford agencys kept. Best thing to do is take a trip to the library research department and ask for a city directory and phone book, if the have one , for the year you are interested in. I did this and found the location of one of the two Ford agencies in Erie,Pa. Got there in time as it was being torn down. Good luck.

[J Franklin]

A list of dealerships would be a long one as most towns had a dealership. I have photos of three or so somewhere myself and maybe some thread here could be initiated and take off.

[fundytides]

Here is a lead on an early Ford dealership in Bouctouche, NB. https://www.facebook.com/irvingoil/p...8273136537005/
As far as I know, the Irving interests still have a dealership arrangement with Ford but they only sell to their own companies. Probably a pretty unique situation and maybe the only one that exists. I understand that the vehicles that they buy from Ford are delivered through regular Ford dealerships in the area. Several years ago, I saw a brass plaque in the lobby of the Irving Oil Head Office commemorating the fact that they had an early Ford delaership. A letter to Irving Oil may get you some info. I have a framed publicity photo of a 1933 or 34 Ford that was doing a cross canada "Economy Test" at the time. It has signage on it and dignitaries and general public nearby. The photo was taken on Union St. in Saint John, NB probably in the area of the Ford dealership.
The two Ford dealerships in NB that I remember from the 50's were Briggs Motors (Saint John) and Percy Bridges (Gagetown). When Percy closed up in the 60's 2 vehicles that were in the showroom/garage were a 1917? Fordon Tractor and a 1958 Edsel. I bought some Model A and T parts from Percy before he closed so I think his family had the dealership from the 20's or 30's.
In general terms, a "City Directory" for various Canadian cities would be a good place to start to compile a list of early Ford dealers. Good luck!

[Joe K]

Back cover March/April 2012 "Restorer" Magazine.

Back Cover
Photo by Dr. Ed Kendrick, Weatherby Lake Missouri
On January 27, 1928, Detroit notified the Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant at 1025 Winchester Avenue in Kansas City Missouri to immediately begin making the Model A. That afternoon at 3 pm, they cranked up with 200 men and began production.
The first Kansas City Model A rolled off the line that day. Today the plant stands with auto production ceasing in 1958, and little visible evidence of Ford remains. Except for these brick in the smoke stacks.

A cut-in picture of the 1928 Plant is shown, and shows a building that would be larger than a football field - and the two stacks.

What you can see in the large picture from today is the two stacks - standing in a field.




One is reminded of the two largest power-plants in New England BOTH now torn down and replaced with smaller, more efficient generation - within my life-span.

Things don't stay the same for long...

Joe K

[rotorwrench]

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The best way to find local area information is checking with libraries or library systems that keep records from local news papers. The Henry Ford likely has records about their sales dealership system but libraries usually keep news related periodicals that would have advertisements for all the local dealerships. Model A production was only in a 4-year time frame so that would be a time frame to start with. Ford of Canada was it's own entity so it should have had it's own way of keeping records.

Phone books were mentioned but they were somewhat limited in scope in those years and didnt always have a good yellow page section. Those that do are easier to check but don't have a lot of information during that time. Folks would ring their local switchboard and get information from them.

[fundytides]

Just for clarrification, when I said "City Directories" I di not mean telephone directories. In Canada and maybe in the US, hardcover "City Directories" were produced and sold, mostly to businesses and are a reliable source of information on Businesses and individuals lpocated in the apllicable areas. Most public libraries would have many past issues of the directories for their area in their reference section.

[A Model A]

Originally Posted by Model A Canuck

Would anybody know if their is a model A dealership list being kept?.I am looking for info on Ontario and Canadian dealerships in particular

If you have a newspapers.com account you can search "ford dealer" during the years 1928-1931 and limit it to Canada or Ontario and you'll get a lot of hits. An Oct 16 1929 full page ad highlights eight different dealers in Ontario.

[katy]

Here's one: https://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/sites/dom...rsgarage.shtml

Maybe try other cities for their history and/or historic sites

[rotorwrench]

I came from a small town in Kansas so it didn't have much in the way of directories but the local switch board had them. Our little town had a Ford franchise dealer as many little towns. I'm sure that Canada did as well even though there may be differences. It would be interesting to find out what information may be out there about historical records from Ford of Canada. The Benson Ford Research Center has most of the US Ford historical info but I don't know about Canadian information. Canada supplied other parts of the British Commonwealth as well so there were plenty of records generated by that organization. It could be a daunting task to list all the dealerships in that era for any specific province of Canada but it could be done with enough sources of information.

[David in San Antonio]

Dun & Bradstreet Canada may have their business directories going back to (or before) the 1920s. They attempted to list the name, address, and assets of every business they could.

[rotorwrench]

A friend of mine worked at libraries every time he got into trouble to satisfy his community service. He was disabled so updating all the old paper and micro ficshe was all he could do. The librarians loved him since he got pretty good at it. A lot of that stuff is likely digital now days. They keep everything they have room for so paper stuff was time consuming and took up a lot of space. Digitized files are the way to solve a lot of that but someone has to do that too.

[Model A Canuck]

Thanks for the help guys

Here is the Ford dealership in nearby Acton Ontario (Norton Motors) in 1930.They were a model A dealer.The second picture looks like it was taken a bit later then 1930

[Model A Canuck]

Originally Posted by A Model A

If you have a newspapers.com account you can search "ford dealer" during the years 1928-1931 and limit it to Canada or Ontario and you'll get a lot of hits. An Oct 16 1929 full page ad highlights eight different dealers in Ontario.

Thanks that is a great site i use it all the time.So far i know their were altleast three Ford dealers selling model A's in my hometown during the model A era

[30Murray]

According to this page from the 1930 Ford Illustrated news there were more than 5500 Ford Dealerships in the British Empire. The numbers probably changed a lot over the years of production.

[katy]

In western Canada, Henderson's City Directory was a good source of information. Dunno when they stopped putting them out. Dunno if there was similar in eastern Canada and/or the USA. Maybe check w/your local library.
https://www.tbpl.ca/blogs/post/what-...research-blog/

[Model A Canuck]

Another thing i have noticed is that some model A dealers from the period were also selling other makes of cars besides A's.Today this would have been unheard of.Anybody else notice this in their area with their Ford dealers?

[nkaminar]

The Ford dealer here in Wilkesboro that opened in 1915 is still in business, run by the grandson of the original owner. They have one of the 1915 Model T's in their showroom along with a Model A that they sold. Both are restored. The showroom is really a museum with some early V8's and other early Ford cars. Worth a visit if you are ever in Wilkesboro.

[Bob Bidonde]

Steve Plucker did lots of research about Ford dealers, so he is the go to guy in my opinion.

[Bick in New Zealand]

We are lucky here in New Zealand, as all the dealerships were listed in the Parts Books.