An interesting contribution from Dr. Ed Garten!!
After some research I’ve located the name of what would have been the first Ford dealership in Hinton, West Virginia and the forerunner to Garten Motors Ford. This from the History of West Virginia, Old and New, published 1929, The American Historical Society, Inc. Chicago, and New York, Volume III, p. 597.
“W. Shad Peck, has been for the past ten years the progressive and successful local agent for the Ford automobiles at Hinton, the judicial center of Summers County, West Virginia, and here, in 1918, he erected his modern garage, with an attractive sales and display room and well equipped repair department, this building occupying the site of the home in which Mr. Peck was born, the date of his nativity havng been June 1, 1892.”
A photo of the side yard of the dealership is attached and, among with a few new Ford cars and trucks, is shown the dealership’s tow truck.
I have learned that the dealership existed from 1918 until the beginning of World War II when it ceased operation. My grandfather Garten then revived the Ford franchise in Hinton in 1946.
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