defunct car dealers

T

tom1948

Senior Member
Oh no, I'm back. Does anyone on here know how to research old car dealers? I have a dealer that I believe was a Lincoln-Mercury dealership in Gulfport, Miss. named Foley-Crain. It came off a 1947 Merc coupe parts car I had, I'm just curious. :confused:
 
1. The local (Gulfport) library. Old phone books, old business directories.
2. The Gulfport City Hall. Old tax records (expect to pay them to research that).
3. Newspaper archives. Look for advertisements and news articles. Depending on who has them (newspaper, library, historical society) there may be a charge for research or copies and they may be searchable/viewable on-line.
4. Sanborn Fire Insurance maps. Library of Congress online. May show a sketch of the lot and/or buildings.
Good luck. Post a picture of the tag you have and results of any research.
 
My Mercury book at home "might" list them as they could have been a Lincoln/Mercury dealer, it lists ALL (or the "original" Mercury dealers form the start in 1939) Dealers through like 1972 (??) I will try and look when I get home.
 
So sorry but I just remembered to look in my Clymer’s Mercury book…the dealer you asked about was not in the list of Mercury dealers from 1939-1964 SO they didn’t sell Mercury at least!!!
 

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tom1948 said:
Oh no, I'm back. Does anyone on here know how to research old car dealers? I have a dealer that I believe was a Lincoln-Mercury dealership in Gulfport, Miss. named Foley-Crain. It came off a 1947 Merc coupe parts car I had, I'm just curious. :confused:
Click to expand...
After thinking about your question and being quite familiar with Gulfport MS, I cannot imagine a Mercury dealer being there MUCH less a Lincoln dealer in 1947…..I would imagine Gulfport was slightly more than a spot In the road most likely a blinking light and at most one to two traffic lights at best!!! I would imagine one in Gulfport would have to go to Mobile AL (the closest “somewhat” big city) Or head an hour or so west to New Orleans to find a Lincoln-Mercury dealer.
 
tom1948 said:
Oh no, I'm back. Does anyone on here know how to research old car dealers? I have a dealer that I believe was a Lincoln-Mercury dealership in Gulfport, Miss. named Foley-Crain. It came off a 1947 Merc coupe parts car I had, I'm just curious. :confused:
Click to expand...


A long-shot but there's a Turan-Foley dealership (GM products) in Gulfport. Foley isn't an uncommon name but maybe a descendant of Foley-Crain? Might be worth a phone call to find out.

https://www.turanfoley.com/
 
I would take that list as being the folks that had been Mercury dealers from the inception of Mercury to the silver anniversary (1964). My hometown (Albion, PA.) did not get the Mercury franchise until 1955 although they had Ford from 1907. The dealership I owned in Iowa also got Mercury in 1955. The first Mercury they sold was a yellow and black Montclair hardtop and it was still about 5 miles from us in the same family. We worked on it a couple of times.
 
1942 delux,being from iowa myself i have wondered where my '37 started its journey. pretty sure at an iowa dealership. i'm the third owner.the prev.owner had since 1956. Tom.
 
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