Dodge Dealer Letters Brooklyn , NY 1917-1921

[Walt G]

I have way to much material in my archives which primarily focus's  on coach work BUT I also really love the history of long island based car dealers. The letters I have are for Bishop, McCormick & Bishop , Inc. they started out in Brooklyn, NY and also expanded to a building on Jericho Turnpike in Mineola, New York which is further east of Brooklyn by about 20-25 miles . Mineola is the town that Nassau County has its headquarter office buildings in. The Dodge dealer was one of the first on long island to sell and service Dodge cars before Dodge became part of Chrysler Corp. ( in fact Walter Chrysler lived on long island about 30 miles NW of the Dodge dealer in Mineola. )

In pencil you will see a note by Burton J. Bishop that this letter was sent to 2,144 physicians in the borough of Brooklyn ! Note what the text of the letter here is promoting to physicians a reason to purchase a new Dodge.   Just as a matter of historical interest at the top in small print it notes that the Dodge dealer listed is on a street near Bedford Avenue. Bedford Avenue was "automobile row" for decades , had all kinds of car dealers selling many many assorted makes. In October 1917 Dodge was " the new kid on the block".

Hope this is of interest , and I will try scanning and posting some of the other letters ( all showing a new current Dodge) as time allows from my on going research and writing of articles. I like to share what I have in my archives and hope you Dodge collectors find this a bit different and something you haven't seen or known about before. It puts a great perspective on how sales were made in that era. No phone solicitation ( most people didn't have phones or if they did it was a party line - shared phone service), no tv, radio sales pitch, computers etc it was direct mail or newspaper advertisements.

Walt

[nearchoclatetown]

Cool beans. The Dodge Brothers company used this type of letter for all trades. I think in the Production Information section on the DBC website is where they are. I scanned them from our collection of literature a few years ago. They would have one, for example, for bakers and tell them how important it was for all bakers to drive a Dodge Brothers delivery truck. Then they listed large bakeries across the country that used DBs exclusively. I love reading this kind of stuff. The coupe that is pictured is a wood bodied coupe, called a convertible coupe. They also made a convertible sedan which is what I think they are referring to for four passengers. On both the coupe and sedan the door pillars were removable. You can see they are removed in this picture. This coupe and sedan were a movement away from Budd. They were the first bodies built by DB and also the first DBs to not be black all over. Thanks for sharing.