The Most Interesting Ford Dealership Photo Ever Seen?

[t-head]

This is not Model "A" but I thought you would find it of interest.

Frank Boyd Ford Sales and Service – Hillsborough, New Hampshire: This photo is perhaps one of the most entertaining and interesting pre-1930 car dealership images we have ever seen. The photo was staged to show the latest shipment of Fords to arrive at Frank Boyd Ford Sales and Service, a small town agency located in Hillsborough, New Hampshire.

Learn all the details and see three enlargements of the photo on The Old Motor.

[Kevin in NJ]

Anyone live in Hillborough, NH take can take the same picture today to see how the street has changed?

[Stretch Cab]

I wonder if the fenders would be repainted as there would have to be scratches from being stacked. Or did it matter?

[t-head]

Originally Posted by Stretch Cab

I wonder if the fenders would be repainted as there would have to be scratches from being stacked. Or did it matter?

Check the photo again, you can see pieces of wood that they used to space the fenders apart from each other.

But regardless, all of the cargo must have taken a beating.

[Bob/Kansas City]

Great picture ! Thanks for sharing. That reminds me of the stories told by an old parts man at a small Ford dealership in western Iowa where I worked as a mechanic back in the mid 60's.
He had been there since the Model T days and could recall when the new Model T's ordered by the dealership were sent by rail knocked down in crates to the terminal in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
When they got notice that cars had arrived he and some of the other employees would take a truck and tools to drive to the rail terminal where they had to uncrate and assemble the new cars so they could be driven over 60 miles back to the dealer.
He recalled that they always loaded the crate lumber on the truck to take back where it was used for fuel in the old wood burning stove that heated the shop and showroom in the winter. Waste not, want not !

[newshirt]

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Originally Posted by Bob/Kansas City

Model T's ordered by the dealership were sent by rail knocked down in crates

Was it cheaper to order knocked-down cars rather than fully assembled?

[t-head]

Originally Posted by newshirt

Was it cheaper to order knocked-down cars rather than fully assembled?

The dealers were able to get the cars at a reduced price in this form and shipping this way was cheaper.

Many were also sent to the closest RR depot assembled on the spot and then driven to the dealership.

Does anyone know if this was ever done with the Model "A"?

[Joe K]

Originally Posted by Kevin in NJ

Anyone live in Hillborough, NH take can take the same picture today to see how the street has changed?

I googled the dealer name to see if I could come up with a location of the dealership. No find.

Hillborough has not grown that much since the pix was taken and the spot is likely to be recognizable using Google Street View.

Joe K

[DUNN1929]

What a great picture.
Anyone know the year of the truck that is doing all the work in the picture. Looks like the front tires are about to give up. I would say that this picture is worth a lot more than 1000 words. WOW

[1930artdeco]

The tires look like they are the solid style. But that truck is going to get worn real quick being loaded like that constantly.

Mike

[Joe K]

Originally Posted by Kevin in NJ

Anyone live in Hillborough, NH take can take the same picture today to see how the street has changed?

Does the pix below look at all familiar?

I would say things have become a bit more "country" in a hundred years in Hillsborough.

Joe K in NH - about 2 hours from Hillsborough.

[leo]

Joe K, what happened to all the buildings around this one? It's hard to believe it would be less built up today than 90 years ago???

[Joe K]

Joe K, what happened to all the buildings around this one? It's hard to believe it would be less built up today than 90 years ago???

IIRC, the population of New England has been pretty stagnant for at least the years since WWII.

And Hillsborough ain't exactly on the beaten path.

Talk about NH Conway, or Sunapee, or the Seacoast Area where I live and you're talking a different story. Conway and Sunapee survive because of the influx of "vacationers" - and the Seacoast survives as a no-income tax bedroom town for metropolitan Boston.

Most don't realize the changes that have occurred in America since WWII. It used to be that EVERY town had a major "industry" which they called their own - and some towns MORE THAN ONE. There was active and continuing trade as things were made and sold and the wealth of our nation was transferred into the wealth of ourselves by our own labors.

Today, it's most common that the largest employment in any town is connected with retailing - and service industries. We don't make things anymore in the US. We service each other and buy what we need from overseas.

The part of town you're seeing above was likely the "industry center" of Hillsborough in 1920. Today that industry is now gone, leaving in it's wake empty buildings (I'll wager you a Boston Creme donut that the barn roofed building shown above is empty.)

And the truth be known, servicing can only go as far as there is affordable goods AND PEOPLE WITH THE MONEY TO BUY THEM. And what we're seeing here is the slide down in the changes in our towns - and employment - and national wealth.

Already I'm seeing a scramble beginning "to determine what to do with our abandoned shopping malls and plazas." I think it was over at Practical Machinist where someone had provided links to picturesets of abandoned derelict retail buildings built within our generation which are now going to ruin because of lack of market? A most depressing sight.

So what you're seeing here in an "industrial" setting - you may be seeing soon in a "retail" setting.

Sorry to be a downer. I truly wonder what my children will be doing for a living.

And we're getting into thread drift.

Joe K

[Keith True]

In that picture of Joe's,that building is where the collection of trucks was that belonged to Dick Kemp was stored.I think there was somebody in there making some signs? Some iron work maybe?Some kind of craftsman or artist type of person.If you have your back to that door,you would be looking across the street and the river.There is a huge old factory building on the other side,The old trucks,half tracks,dozers,shovels,rollers,and all kinds of equipment were stored on both sides of the road there.Everybody was welcome to look,climb all around,they only asked that you close all hoods and doors when you were done looking.It was all auctioned off about five years ago,still quite a while after his death.I think if you search the Dick Kemp auction you will find a lot of pictures of the stuff.It is actually right in the middle of town.The collection of equipment was impressive,but what always impressed me was that old mill building on the other side of the river with the clapboards going right down to the water.There is still quite a lot of industry going on in that area,if you go about a mile from that building pictured out to route 202 there a few factories and such tucked out in the woods.They just had no need to be near the water anymore,and had to be near a major highway for ease of transportation.Most of those in-town buildings don't even have room for a parking lot,much less room for trucks.

[Bill in SoCal]

Originally Posted by Joe K

Does the pix below look at all familiar?

I would say things have become a bit more "country" in a hundred years in Hillsborough.

Joe K in NH - about 2 hours from Hillsborough.

Joe

Wow, looks like the same building to me. Still standing, but some of the other building were not so lucky. Thanks for showing it to us.

Bill

[[email protected]]

I remember around 20 some years ago getting into the old Ford dealership in downtown Clinton, WI before they closed it down to move to another location. The basement of this building was a fully equipped machine shop with the overhead belt system to operate all of these machines. The story was that in the winter months they would get their inventory as knocked down Model T's and also some farm equipment all in crates. They would haul it off of the railroad line depot a 1/2 block away. They would then put it into a freight elevator and take it down into the basement for final assembly. We were amazed at that time about the grunt work of just moving around all of the heavy crates, etc... Lots of strong backs in those days from hauling milk cans I guess.

Sure glad that I had a chance to see that snapshot back in time for viewing that belt driven machine shop. It was better then any museum display... I never heard of what ever happened to all of the belt driven machines they had in that shop other then the equipment was all removed.

[t-head]

This building later on was Dick Kemps' garage were he kept his collection of old trucks for many years. They were auctioned off in 2009 after he died and left it all to the town.

More photos and the story about it are here: http://blog.timesunion.com/chuckmiller/photo-essay-dick-kemps-truck-museum/337/

Another good story is here: Tears for a Bulldog - Road King Magazine

[Keith True]

I never knew it was a Ford dealership.Dick Kemp told me it had been a blacksmith shop.That was probably before it sold Fords.A lot of those mills there just petered out as products became obsolete.There were a lot of box factories,bobbin mills,wooden wheel factories,and excelcior mills.Now boxes are plastic ,bobbins are plastic,wheels are steel,and styrofoam peanuts are used for packing.Those businesses were also very prone to fire so a lot just never got rebuilt after they burned.I think I was told the big building across the river from that garage was a textile mill.