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.
After studying a large scale photo of the truck and its cargo being shipped in knocked-down or partially assembled form, we have been able to determine
just what was loaded on it. At least two Ford Model TT Truck and possibly three Model T Car chassis’ minus wheels are loaded vertically on the sides of
the truck and on the bed in the center.
Crates containing front and rear fenders are mounted on a rack above the cab and the front of the truck. In the middle between the stacked chassis’ can be
seen the wheels and tires and other parts. The bed and the rack on the rear are carrying both roadster and touring car bodies. The photo appears to date
from the 1917 to 1924 period.
Learn more and see three enlargements of the photo@ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=121819
Wow! What a neat picture. That is TOO COOL! I wonder how they managed to keep the stacked fenders from scratching themselves to death bouncing down the highway. Looks like solid tires on the deliver truck...gotta be a rough ride.
I suspect that's the dealer secretary standing on the front wheel of the truck.
Thanks for sharing
Tim
Tim,
The front fenders are all spaced slightly apart from each other by pieces of wood in the end of the crate.
Ahhh, now I see that! Thanks. Can't see the forrest for the trees.
Looks like under axle wishbones so, it must be 1919 or later.
David Greenlees:
thanks for a fantastic picture. It take some study to see different things.
AWESOME PHOTO! THANKS DAVID!
Really neat photo, David. Thanks for posting it. However, it looks more like a kit to make a dealership than a dealership to me.
Definitely "off the shelf"! No low overpasses back then? Engines are awfully heavy, wonder why they put the frames that way- would seem very top heavy and ready to fall over on turns.
Wonder if that was their own rig to bring the cars & trucks from the train station? I have seen the Ford way of shipping in a box car. I have never seen this way. How far is this town from a rail station? Dan
stamped running board brackets and low cowls would put it somewhere between 1921 and 1923.
Hillsborough, NH had a rail station.
I always thought the engine pans were glossy black. Apparently, only the access pans. The engine pan doesn't look very shiny. Looks more like the "slushing" Gilsonite. Note how dull this coating gets after a short time.
Since I posted this in the morning, I have now found that Ford had an assembly plant between 1914 and 1926
that is shown above, and it was only 87 miles away from Hillsborough, NH in Cambridge, Massachusetts
http://thecambridgeroom.wordpress.com/2011/03/23/a-ford-manufacturing-plant-in-cambridge/
I think they may have been delivered on this truck from the plant. I can see no reason to unload them at
the depot, load them on this truck and unload them yet again after a short drive to the dealer.
I have also seen photos were many dealers just assembled knocked-down or partially assembled cars right
at the siding at the train station and drove them to the dealership.
David: That seems like what is going on in the picture. I too have seen the siding pictures. Dan
The truck looks like it belongs to a mechanic that does house-calls. Don
David,
I own a '26 Touring that was sold new at Fortner and Loud Ford in Pasadena CA. It still retains the dealer-installed dash tag from there.
About 15 years ago, a member of the Orange County Model T Club who has since passed away, saw the tag and proceeded to tell me that either his father or uncle had driven my car when it was brand new.
It seems that both his father and uncle worked for Fortner and Loud Ford and part of their job was to work as drivers. They would drive the cars from the assembly plant in Los Angeles to the dealership as it was only a few miles away.
Thank goodness for dealer-installed speedometers.
Mike.
What truck? It looks like two (tandem) trailers?
The TT (wooden?, not Ford?) cab is sitting on the (rear?) trailer facing backwards next to the young lady.
The other (front) trailer has the other car bodies.
(Both?) the trailers have solid rubber tires.
It looks like a Touring is hooked up as a tow vehicle to pull both trailers? It outta roll ok on a flat road?
Those solid rubber tires and wheels under the young lady are not the front wheels of a TT.
All the weight is on the back trailer. The other trailer has the lighter weight bodies to keep the tongue weight low on the Touring hitch.
Anthony;
I guess I'm not seeing it all, but I only see 2 axles on the ground. No trailer. Long overhang.
One axle behind the sign and one axle below the lady.
Any idea what the signs hanging on the frames say? Dan
A little more digging and we now have a photo of the building that has survived. It is at 12 River St. and used to be the location on Dick Kemps' collection of
trucks that were auctioned off a number of years ago. Google Street View link below.
Google 12 River St. Hillsborough, NH to see it on Google Street View.
That's it, it was the Kemp collection we had talked of before. Glad they didn't get scrapped. I wonder if there are any aerial views of his trucks? Amazing how little changes in small town America.
Good article and link to the photos here: http://blog.timesunion.com/chuckmiller/photo-essay-dick-kemps-truck-museum/337/
Looks like all those houses/buildings behind the garage were torn down?
Shame, glad it survived.
I'm with Richard, the first pic is almost certainly just one very long truck. Something that interesting surely lives on some guy's HO scale railroad layout somewhere.
Looks like broken windows have been a problem at that building for a long time.
Anthony, look at the picture again. The young lady is standing on the right front fender above the single front tire of the truck, note the heavy cast iron spokes of the wheel. You can see the hood behind her. The rear wheels are dual wheels. The touring in the background is just setting there behind the truck. No one said the truck is a TT, it's a much larger truck than that. The TT's are loaded on the truck standing vertically. Dave
Okay it's a long truck.
Maybe that's why the four guys and the young lady are hiding the truck because it's not a Ford?
This has to be a related picture.
Man I wonder how they lowered the chassis complete with the engine to the ground! Talk about top heavy.
That sure ain't safe!
Funny thing about that picture, I have seen that cab before!
Bob you did a wonderful job on your truck
Wow Bob I think you are right.
Is that really Orphan Annie standing on that fender?