Camden Car Dealers

Camden NJ was the economic center of South Jersey for much of the first part of the 20th century. Besides the many factories that called Camden home, there were many other interesting businesses that people from all over the Delaware Valley patronized. Camden was the home of new car dealers up until the 1980s, when the last of the original family-owned new car dealers either shut down or moved out.

Today, the only physical remembrances of the many auto-dealerships are in buildings that have found other uses, and in the names of new car dealerships who have moved out, but have remained in business elsewhere.

Car dealerships came to Camden before 1910. By 1908 J.R. Mick and Hugh Morgan Hatch founded N.J. Auto & Supply Buick, originally at Delaware Avenue and Market Street, across from the Pennsylvania Railroad Ferry Terminal, later at Wright and Federal Streets. In 1908 this business was the exclusive Camden County dealer for Buick, Cadillac, Hupmobile, and Ford automobiles, and they sold Pontiacs as well in later years. V. McClellan Fulton’s MacFulton Studebaker dealership was established in 1909, and Samuel Mackintosh sold Willys-Knight and Overland automobiles for nine years in Camden, beginning in 1914. There was a Chevrolet franchise in town before 1920 that was to become Rohrer Chevrolet. By 1926 a car dealership had been established at 1388 Haddon Avenue selling Hupmobile and Stutz automobiles. Another dealership active in 1920 was Edward Roberts Garage at 323 Main Street in North Camden, selling the National Sextet brand, built by the National Motor Car & Vehicle Company of Indianapolis IN.

Camden Nash was located at 2115 Federal Street. Barton Muir operated a Pontiac and Oakland dealership at 2010 Federal Street in East Camden; that site became the home of Ingram Oldsmobile in the 1930s.

Tom Shallcross’ father, Watson Shallcross, sold “Dodge Brothers Motor Cars” and “Plymouth Automobiles” at 1721 Haddon Avenue, and operated a used car lot at Federal Street and State Streets — this location is still a used car lot in 2002.

The Watson Shallcross dealership was later sold to Morris Puro, who operated under the name Haddon Motors, selling DeSoto automobiles. Camden Cadillac was selling Pontiacs, Cadillacs, and LaSalle automobiles in the early 1930s at 1861 Haddon Avenue. The Federal Motor Company was also an “Authorized Dodge & Plymouth dealer,” and operated at 4111 Federal Street beginning in the 1930s.

By 1930 the Cramer & Myers Ford dealership was located at Federal Street and Bridge Boulevard. This building later housed Rohrer Chevrolet. Walter Viegel was operating a Chrysler-Plymouth Agency near Federal Street and Bridge Boulevard by 1935; this dealership had become Harley Motors by 1941. L.L. Schroedel also sold Fords at 2201–07 Federal Street in the early 1920s. This building became Walter’s Auto Body, and remained in that capacity into the 1980s.

Also active in Camden in 1934 was Williams Motors Inc. at Admiral Wilson Boulevard and Federal Street, a dealer of Hudson-Terraplane automobiles. The Terraplane was a preferred ride of famous bank robber John Dillinger, who was then at his peak of notoriety.

Barnes & Frutchey saw the potential of the traffic on the Admiral Wilson Boulevard, and opened a Pierce-Arrow franchise on the newly opened Boulevard by the spring of 1934 at Waldorf Avenue. Cooper Chevrolet, a Pennsauken-based dealership, later set up a used-car outlet just west of the Airport Circle.

By the 1940s there were several dealerships along and just off Haddon Avenue, including Airport Pontiac (which had occupied the building previously the home of Camden Cadillac), Haddon Motors DeSoto-Plymouth, Gomery-Schwartz Hudson, Colonial Motors Chrysler-Plymouth, Randolph Chevrolet (established 1931), and Henry J. Vollmer Packard, originally at 1621 Haddon and later on Atlantic Avenue.

MacFulton Inc. sold Studebakers at 1490 Haddon Avenue as late as 1939. Druck Motors sold Studebakers at 1601 Haddon Avenue during the war years and afterwards. Another Studebaker dealership was operated by Keats and Alexander on Crescent Boulevard near Central Airport.

In East Camden, Ingram Oldsmobile located itself at 2008 Federal Street. Garden State Motors, which sold Chrysler products, was across the road at Federal and State Streets. In the 1940s Dave Kerr and Nathan Potts operated as the CAW Corporation, originally at 1490 Broadway, selling Willys Jeeps, cars, and trucks, and later at 2101 Federal Street. There was the Needles Packard dealership at 22nd and Federal Street, in the building which once housed Camden Nash.

The Admiral Wilson Boulevard, fed after 1926 by the Delaware River (Ben Franklin) Bridge, was rapidly becoming Camden’s “Dealers Row.” Rohrer Chevrolet was located on the Boulevard opposite the Sears-Roebuck department store.

Further east on the Boulevard, Merlin Motors (established in 1937, selling Lincoln-Mercury & Studebaker), and Blanton Dunn DeSoto-Plymouth all set up shop. The International Harvester Company opened up a truck dealership on the north side of the Airport Circle.

Sometime after January of 1938, Ed Berglund, owner of Community Motors Ford dealership at Haddon Avenue and Crescent Boulevard in Collingswood, took over Stanley Bleakly’s Edstan Motors Ford Dealership at 330 North 7th Street, at the Bridge Plaza in Camden.

New car production was stopped during World War II. The car dealers depended on used car sales to remain in business.

Some of the dealerships did not survive; others changed hands. The end of the war saw new buildings being constructed, new cars being produced, and the introduction of imported cars into the market.

By 1942 Berglund Ford relocated to 17th and Admiral Wilson Boulevard. Berglund Ford built a new facility after World War II at 17th and Admiral Wilson Boulevard, which was its home until the 1980s. Also in early 1942 N.J. Auto & Supply Buick built a new showroom at Wright Avenue and Federal Street.

Scott Smith Cadillac was operating at 1105 Linden Street by the late 1940s. In East Camden, Federal Motors sold Dodge and Plymouth automobiles at 4111 Federal Street.

In June of 1949, the Rohrer Chevrolet building opposite Sears was obtained by the state of New Jersey in order to complete the “Camden Connection” overpass project. William G. Rohrer purchased a 500,000 square foot tract from the United Petroleum Co. and the transit company, Public Service, on Admiral Wilson Boulevard between 16th Street and the Cooper River. The property included the bus maintenance garage owned by Public Service. The dealership completed its move to the new location in the summer of 1950.

As time went by, N.J. Auto & Supply became Masson Buick, and with Airport Pontiac moved to the Boulevard. Gomery-Schwartz became Templin Motors. Templin sold a car called the Crosley, but eventually got Hudson back when Hudson and Nash merged to form American Motors, the parent corporation of Rambler. Jack Dunn opened a Hudson dealership at 1671 Haddon Avenue. Haddon Motors closed, and Admiral Motors emerged a few doors down at 1789 Haddon Avenue, selling Plymouth automobiles. Vollmer Packard moved off of Haddon Avenue to a building on Atlantic Avenue.

Dealerships crowded Admiral Wilson Boulevard, to the extent that in the 1950s and early to mid 1960s the “new car zone” extended a mile or so north on Route 130 into Pennsauken as far as Federal Street. The former Federal Motors became Merchantville Motors (Dodge & Rambler). Adam Pyzwara operated Pryzwara Motors, later known as Adam Motors, selling at various times Studebaker, Mercedes-Benz, English Ford, and D.K.W. automobiles at Route 130 and Drexel Avenue. Larry’s Borgward-Checker was located on Route 130 just south of Marlton Pike.

In the 1960s and 1970s Admiral Wilson Boulevard was still the place to buy a new car. On the Boulevard were Dave Cole Pontiac (which was actually in Pennsauken, but who knew!), Masson Buick, Merlin Motors, Rohrer Chevrolet, and Berglund Ford. Also well remembered was Art Sharp’s used car lot, with the sign “B Sharp, C Sharp.” Merlin Motors became part of the Holman Ford organization. Drexel Motors had Volkswagen and Simca import cars on the Boulevard; the Berglund group also had Renault & Simca on the Boulevard for a time.

Scott Smith Cadillac had become DeSimone Cadillac, and they were still on Linden Street as late as 1966. Change came to the Boulevard in the late 1960s and early 1970s. DeSimone Cadillac moved to Pennsauken. Dave Cole Pontiac and Merlin Motors simply closed their doors.

On Federal Street, Ingram Oldsmobile became Hale Oldsmobile in 1965. Hale Oldsmobile only stayed in business for about a year before going into trust. In June of 1966, Larry Chatzadakis took over the franchise and opened up as Dakis Olds, and operated successfully at this location until June of 1972, when he moved the business to a new location on Route 130 North in Cinnaminson, New Jersey, where it was a fixture until 1999. The new Dakis building replaced the old Olds-Community Inc. dealership which had been at 10 Broad Street in Riverton since 1914. The Oldsmobile dealership on Federal Street became Lenihan Oldsmobile, and Randolph Chevrolet, still on Haddon Avenue, became Distasio Chevrolet in the late 1970s.

As Camden went into economic decline, and as the suburbs grew, the fortunes of the new car dealerships declined.

Berglund Ford closed shop in the 1980s. One of the last to leave, the building was operated as a maintenance facility by the Trailways Bus corporation for a while. After Trailways went bankrupt, the building was razed. There still was a presence in Camden, as the Ford Motors engine business that was a part of the Berglund enterprise remained in business into the 2000s in East Camden, just off of Admiral Wilson Boulevard. By 2011 they too had left the city.

With Dave Cole Pontiac closing, Pontiac franchises existed in Haddon Township and Lindenwold in the 1970s and 1980s, but by the 1990s you would have to go to Burlington or Gloucester Counties to buy a Pontiac.

Garden State Motors moved to Collingswood NJ, where they were in business selling Chrysler and Plymouth automobiles at the intersection of the Black Horse Pike and Crescent Boulevard, Routes 168 and 130.

Distasio Chevrolet and Lenihan Oldsmobile moved almost simultaneously to side-by-side properties on Route 73, just south of Route 70, in Evesham Township NJ. Distasio Chevrolet was sold to another ownership group in the late 1990s. As of 2002, Lenihan Oldsmobile had become Lenihan Oldsmobile-AMC and later Lenihan Oldsmobile-Jeep. The Lenihan group bought out Garden State Motors in the late 1990s before selling the Collingswood dealership in 2001. The Chevrolet building on Haddon Avenue was for the most part vacant since the Distasios left Camden, and was razed in 2002. The Oldsmobile building on Federal Street has housed a 55 gallon drum business since the early 1980s, and was razed around 2006 to make way for the new Thomas Dudley Elementary School.

Merlin Motors sold Lincoln, Mercury, and Studebaker automobiles as part of the Holman Enterprises organization. Its descendant, as it were, is Holman Lincoln-Mercury in Maple Shade NJ. The Merlin Motors building has had a number of occupants, most recently housing a furniture store.

Masson Buick moved to Route 70 in Cherry Hill NJ around 1980. The Masson family later sold the business to the Classic Auto Group, owned by race car driver Thomas Hessert. The Massons briefly operated a used car business on Chapel Avenue in Cherry Hill. The building now houses a liquor store.

N.J. Auto, the Buick dealership of Camden’s early years, was housed in a building at 12th and Federal Street. This building was the home of Blackshear Trucking for many years. In 2006 it was vacant, and is still vacant in 2014.

Rohrer Chevrolet dated back to 1919, when the Rohrer family purchased the dealership, and closed its doors in 1983. The building still stands, and has been subdivided into warehouse space. A tractor-trailer driving school was sited there during the 1980s and 1990s.

The Templin Motors building at 1388 Haddon Avenue is now a retail store.

Vollmer Packard was located at 1139 Atlantic Avenue. Established by Henry Vollmer in 1923, the dealership in the mid 1940s advertised new Packards for sale in the sports section of the Camden Courier-Post. Vollmer Packard was still in business on Atlantic Avenue in the early 1950s. This building is also still standing, and is utilized by an engineering firm.

In 2002, some of the buildings that once housed Camden’s new car dealerships remained. All of these buildings once were new car showrooms.