Yesterday: '40s Fords

Published 12:00 am Monday, December 5, 2011

Joan Barner of Salisbury submitted the old photograph of City Motor Co. employees, which she believes was taken in the 1940s, when the Ford dealership was located at the corner of North Main and Liberty streets, next to the Rowan County Courthouse. Her grandfather, James M. ‘Bud’ Reid, is standing, second from the right in the back row. ‘I sure would like to know who the other people were,’ Barner said. Bud Reid was a mechanic for the dealership and father of Elizabeth Reid Garnett, who still lives here. Barner says her grandfather also served as a volunteer deputy for Sheriff Arthur Shuping. Bud Reid died in August 1973. Also included is a Post file photo of the City Motor Co. dealership taken July 31, 1945, when it was at North Main and Liberty streets. City Motor Co. moved to 419 S. Main St. in 1946 and eventually became Cloninger Ford in 1985. The dealership is now on Jake Alexander Boulevard.