Fort Lee emblem

[Guest]

I have this ”Fort Lee” emblem on the trunk lid. I haven’t seen such emblem on other T-birds. Is it something a local dealer has attached to the car? Was it common? Perhaps you can’t read it, but in the middle of the emblem is “Motors NJ” written. The emblem is glued to the lid.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you

http://hem.fyristorg.com/ej/fortlee2.gif

[Alexander]

RE: Fort Lee emblem

Fort Lee is in New Jersey. I am not sure if that dealership still exists. I got no relevant results doing a search on the Internet for "Fort Lee Ford." On American cars of that era it was common for dealers to attach cast pot metal nameplates. My 1960 Golde Top has the holes and rivets for a nameplate on the trunk similar to yours, but the nameplate is long gone.

Nameplates from dealers of that era are hard to find now since most restorers take them off when restoring a car. Recently, because of their rarity and historical significance, people are replating and attaching them on their cars during restoration.


Alexander
1959 Hardtop
1960 Golde Top

[SandyBoy]

RE: Fort Lee emblem

Fort Lee Ford is looooong out of business. There are no longer any car dealers in Ft. Lee. There are 2 Ford dealers in 2 neighboring towns that boarder Ft. Lee.

Park Avenue Ford in Tenefly (pronounced Ten-O-Fly) New Jersey
Englewood Ford in Englewood New Jersey.

I cannot tell you when Ft Lee Ford went out, except to say that I have been in the car business here in NJ since 1968, and I never heard of them !! I think it's neat to have an emblem from the dealer on the car's back, IF that dealer is long gone. Like the car itself, the name tag can bring back memories.

Some memories and sometimes :-( memories - but none-the-less, memories

[Guest]

RE: Fort Lee emblem

Thanks for the information about the nameplate. It’s interesting to know the history behind the nameplate. Without this forum the plate had been more or less anonymous to me.

[Alexander]

RE: Fort Lee emblem

Eric,

What is the center to center hole spacing on that dealer nameplate? I will check the measurements of the holes I have on the trucnk of 1960 Thunderbird. Maybe there is some standardization in the nameplates of that period.

Alexander
1959 Hardtop
1960 Golde Top

[Guest]

RE: Fort Lee emblem

Hi Alex,

Center to center hole spacing is 115 millimetres. I don’t know exactly what that is in inch. It’s just little over 4½ inch, perhaps it’s 4 17/32 inch.

[Alexander]

RE: Fort Lee emblem

I have added a new page for dealer nameplates on the Squarebirds Technical page at http://www.squarebirds.org/dealer_nameplates.htm .

Thanks to Eric and Sandy for their information on this subject.

Alexander
1959 Hardtop
1960 Golde Top