Category:Ford Motor Company dealerships in Allentown, Pennsylvania

Haldeman Ford Lincoln 2443 Lehigh Street is the current Ford Motor Company dealership in Allentown. Owned by Paul Halderman, since 1982, Halerman has the territorial rights for Ford in Allentown and Lehigh County. Halderman also operates a Ford dealership in Kutztown.

The Ford Motor Company has had a franchise in Allentown since 1916 when the Lawfer Automobile Company at 1211 Hamilton Street began selling Henry Ford's automobiles along with the Chalmers brand. It was one of the first Ford dealerships in the United States. The Lawfer Automobile Company sold Fords until Dahl Motors, owned by Harry Dahl acquired the franchise in November 1938. Dahl moved to Allentown from Oshkosh, Wisconsin where he had a Ford dealership. Lawfer continued to sell used cars until 1942 when Dahl acquired his salesroom and service facilities at Twelfth and Hamilton and moved to that location. Dahl opened a second location at Eighteenth and Tilghman Streets in 1949 for truck sales and service.

In June, 1959 Dahl Motors decided to divest it's Allentown dealerships and concentrate on a series of dealerships it owned in the midwest. The Ford dealership was taken over by Alden MacLellan, who previously sold Dodge and Plymouths at Seventeenth and Tilshman. MacLellan was a long-time Chrysler dealer, having been in buisness in Allentown since 1935. He had moved his dealership to Seventeenth in 1950. MacLellan transferred the Ford dealership to his facility and moved the Dodge/Plymouth dealership to the former Dahl salesroom at Eighteenth and Tilshman. The Dodge/Plymouth dealership was subsequently sold as well as the now empty dealership at Twelfth and Hamilton which became a used car dealership run by another company. That building, the origional Ford franchise in Allentown, caught fire in 1968 in a multi-alarm blaze and was destroyed.

MacLellan held the Ford franchise in Allentown for only a brief period, as he left the automobile business in April 1967. Robert P Kelly had operated a Ford dealership in Conshohocken, near Philadelphia with his two brothers since 1963. Kelly took over the MacLellan dealership at 17th & Tilghman and renamed it Kelly Ford. Kelly successfully operated the dealership until September 1982 when he chose to drop his affiliation with Ford and become a Buick/AMC/Renault dealer in Emmaus, taking over C & G Motors.

With Kelly's departure, Paul Halderman took over the Ford Franchise and moved it to his existing dealership at Eighteenth and Tilshman, where he had taken over MacLellan's Dodge dealership in 1959. The Fords at 17th ant Tilghman were moved to Halderman's dealership a block down the street and the Dodges and Plymouths were sold off. At the same time, Outten Chevrolet at Nineteenth and Tilghman bought the old Kelly Ford dealership building and moved hid dealership to Seventeenth and Tilghman.

Halderman Ford operated successfully at Eighteenth and Tilghman Streets until deciding to build a new dealership at it's present location on Lehigh Street in 2011. On 1 April 2011, Halderman moved to 2443 Lehigh street and sold the dealership on Tilghman to another buyer.

• Ford

• Lincoln-Mercury

Lawfer Automobile Company (Lincoln) 1922-1938

Murray Auto Corporation (Lincoln) 1938

Dahl Motors (Lincoln-Mercury) 1938-1948

Twin City Motors (Lincoln-Mercury) 1948-1958

John Wood Motors (Lincoln-Mercury) 1958-1961

C & G Lincoln-Mercury 1961

Solomon Lincoln-Mercury 1961-1978

Kennedy-Haldeman Lincoln-Mercury 1978-1990

Haldeman Lincoln-Mercury 1990-2010

Haldeman Linoln 2010-Present

• Zephyr

Reliance Motor Company 1935-1938

Murray Auto Corporaton 1938

Dahl Motors 1938-1941

• Edsel

Lehigh Motor Company 1957-1958

John Wood Motors 1958-1959