Putnam Dodge, Burlingame, CA.
Henri Fortin Auto Inc., Chicoutimi, Quebec.
Pistoresi Motor Sales, Madera, CA.
Winter Park Dodge, Winter Park, FL.
Carleton Motors, Ontario.
Northridge Plymouth, North Vancouver, British Columbia.
Vintage Dealer Postcards: Dodge Dealers 1960s-1970s
– Posted on October 26, 2024
Henri Fortin Dodge almost sounds like Henry Ford Dodge!
I bet Henri never heard that one before……
Back when I was a kid, in a city of about 15,000 we had Dodge Plymouth, DeSoto Plymouth, and Chrysler Plymouth Imperial dealerships. Ironically the last one to close was BOWMAN MOTORS DeSoto Plymouth which managed to survive for several years as a Plymouth only agency. Parents bought our 55 DeSoto Firedome there and turned down the last 61 DeSoto! The following June (62) they bought (much to my disappointment) the very last car ( a 62 Belvedere) from BOWMAN, when he retired. Now at well over 60,000 we have only one Dodge, Ram and Jeep agency. We don’t even have a Cadillac dealer! Oh how times have changed. Those WERE the days! I don’t recall postcards, but I have a four drawer file cabinet filled with then free advertising brochures.
Putnam Dodge, in the first photo, still sells Dodge plus 16 other brands, at various Bay Area (San Francisco) stores.
The Putnam Dodge building is largely intact, repurposed as a body shop. The white building to the right is Putnam Toyota. Love Pistoresi Motor’s A-100 pickup parts truck! .
Throughout the West (and presumably further east) there are still multi-marque dealerships. For example, Chrysler/Ram/Dodge/Jeep on one side of the building and Ford cars and trucks on the other. Can you imagine how difficult it would be to find and train mechanics, service and parts, in say, Libby, MT?!
Completely random. Madonna’s mother was a Fortin of French-Canadian descent. I wonder if there’s any connection with Henri Fortin. Her father was also a Chrysler engineer at one point. (Ask me if I’m a fan.)
I’m not positive about this, but there’s a possibility that Carleton Motors was located in New Brunswick, rather than Ontario. There appear to have been businesses by that name in both provinces, but it looks to me that this could have been the location – in the town of Woodstock, about 60 mi. east of Fredericton.
If so, the building has been heavily modified over the years, but there are some things that are consistent between the two images below. For example, the two high bay doors next to the building, and the door and window patterns on the first floor. Also the topography is similar (the land rises steeply behind the building. So, I’m not positive about this one, but to me it looks like this may be the location.
Google StreetView link:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/h7H65qMs67JJmDuQ8