Clearwater Fl. Ford Dealerships in 1966

[MARYAVID]

Walker ford was established in 1957 first dealership was on treasure island they moved to the first location on us 19 in 1968 that location is south of where they are now. They then bought the property where they are now in 1986 and built the existing building thereafter. They were originally in the city of clearwater and recently annexed into largo.
It was either walker or chic smith

[louisf50]

My family owned the ford dealership in Clearwater, kennedy and Strickland Ford. The dealership was sold to Chic Smith in 1969... and later was sold to Ken Marks Ford and relocated to its current location at Countryside area.

[xlabel]

Some of you are going back now to the good old days of Clearwater. I remember the Chick Smith dealership. Here's some more

McCroreys
Orange peel disco
Ritz theater-not a good place
used to have a Ponderosa downtown
Capitol theater? I think that was the name of it.
Mass Brothers

[dinowanabe]

Chick Smith's son was named Chuck, I went to school with him at Oak Grove Jr. High - his sister's name was Kim and used to to do Pinto ads for the dealership. The gentleman was correct in the dealership lineage - Kennedy-Strickland, then Chick Smith, then Ken Marks Ford (all located at the corner of Cleveland Street and Myrtle Avenue in Clearwater). Ken Marks built a new facility at 24825 US Highway 19 North, Clearwater in 1981, which was sold to Sonic Automotive out of Charlotte (Bruton Smith owner of numerous NASCAR tracks) who changed the name to Freedom Ford in 1996. They in turn sold out to a smaller automotive group out of Jacksonville in 2007 and changed the name to the current one - Countryside Ford. I had the pleasure of working at the dealership from 1994 until 2005. If you google Chuck Smith you might find some more info about him in Texas in the 1980's which I won't get into here.... Hope this helps.

[sbr4life]

This is really interesting. I restored a '68 Mustang 12 years ago that was also sold new from Chick Smith Ford. It'd be really nice to find the original owner, pictures of the car, or more history, etc. Any ideas on how to go about this (remotely) from NY? Think the dealship would have records? Probably wouldn't hand them out though...?

[Jim G]

Chick Smith Ford

[ApolloBeachRetiree]

Originally Posted by stischer

Hi-
I am researching information about the history of my 1967 Mustang. I contacted the original owner from 40 years ago and she said she bought the car from a Ford Dealership in Clearwater, FL on Christmas Eve of 1966. Does anyone know what the name of this dealership was called? I looked at Freedom and Walker were both established in the 80's. So, if anyone know it would greatly help me, I'm writing a book on the story of my '67

Thanks,
Steph

Have you tried a title search through the DMV? I've done that in Georgia and it will tell you the history of ownership. All they needed was the VIN on a form.

[jsun556]

It's been 6 1/2 years, I think he found the info he needs.

[rdurost]

I'm adding to this old thread because my question is similar to the OP's.


In 1967, when I was seven or eight, I went with my parents and my six year old sister to pick out new cars for both of them. I must have been very excited about this, because I remember parts of it very clearly 55 years later.

We first looked at Olds Vista Cruiser wagons, but my mother rejected those because the upper windows in the roof would heat up the interior too much in a tropical climate.


We headed east on what I think would have been Gulf to Bay Blvd. and ended up at a Mercury dealer. I got into the very hardtop they ended up buying, a loaded 1967 Park Lane Brougham with the 410 V8 in "Sage Gold", and got admonished for climbing back and forth over the front seat back in my sneakers. My mom ended up with a 1967 Colony Park wagon in a sort of robin's egg blue with the "woodgrain" panels on the sides that was otherwise pretty much Identical to the hardtop.

Long story short, I ended up having the hardtop handed down to me in ten years time. I never ever saw another car like mine or the wagon (which was totaled along with our Airstream trailer in 1972 by a family friend) but there's a guy on YouTube right now who has one exactly like mine, and I'm having an official nostalgia trip.

I'm wracking my brain to try to remember the name of the dealer. I remember that there was a dealership sticker on it, so I'd probably remember the name as soon as I heard it.


Any ideas?

[LKJ1988]

Originally Posted by thomterriffic

The Dealer you are looking for is most likely Chick Smith Ford, It was the only ford dealer in Clearwater around 1972. It was located in downtown Clearwater,near the old Post office.Along the gateway to Clearwater Beach through downtown. Hope this helps, please let me know if this Moderator cut: email address

I remember chick smith on TV all the time slime.