Petty Ford

This is the Petty Ford dealership which used to be on 2100 South and 9th East in Sugarhouse. Of course it no longer exists and now sadly a Walgreen's stands in its place. My grandpa got a job working for Petty Ford after returning from his Merchant Marine service during WWII. He worked for the Petty's for nearly 18 years before purchasing his first service station which would later become the Glover Oil Co.

After several years of working at the Ford dealership he was asked by old man Petty to manage their newest lot down on 6th South and Main St. This was the Salt Lake Sports Car Center and was a dealership for MG, Austin Healy and Morris Minor. This is also where my Dad got a lot of his automobile education against the wishes of my Grandpa. My dad says that all the mechanics at the shop were threatened with their jobs if he found any of them showing my dad how to work on anything. My Grandpa had higher hopes for my dad than to be a mechanic.

The best story is the day my dad turned 16 and got his drivers lisence and was so excited he showed up to the shop to let everyone know. When the manager heard this his jaw dropped to the floor as my dad had been driving and delivering cars for the dealership for over a year, all without a lisence.

So far I haven't been able to find any other pictures of these places but I'm still on the hunt. It's pretty sad that much of this great Salt Lake history is all but gone now.