Category:Lehigh Motor Company, Allentown, Pennsylvania

The Lehigh Motor Company originated as the Lehigh Valley Motor Company in 1913. Located at 17-19 Church Street, the company sold Studebaker cars. By 1915, the firm had moved to a larger facility at 635-636 Linden. In 1918, the company began selling National Cars, and in 1926 it became a General Motors Chevrolet dealership. The dealership moved to 625 Linden Street in 1930.

The firm merged with the Klein Motor Car company in 1932, and it became a Chrysler dealership. It also moved into Klein's dealership building at 723 Chew Street. It also took over Kelin's used car lot on the southeast corner of Seventeenth and Tilghman Streets. The Chevrolet franchise was taken over by the . Shadt brothers and became Town Motor Company, which remained at the 625 Linden Street location. In 1936, it moved its used car lot to 1610 Union Boulevard.

The city of Allentown bought the dealership building on Chew Street in March 1955 and converted it to the Allentown Fire Department Central Fire Station. Lehigh Motors moved its dealership to a new lot at 718 North Seventh Street, just north of Tilghman Street. It also moved its used car lot to the Seventeenth and Tilghman Street Location it had leased out since 1936.

Most notibly in August 1957, Lehigh Motors dropped it's affiliation with Chrysler and joined the Ford Motor Company. It became a Ford Edsel division dealership and also sold English Fords that were imported into the United States. The company also consolidated its dealership at the Seventeenth and Tilghman Street location.

That, in hindsight was a disastrous business mistake for the firm. In 1960, when the Edsel Motor Division of Ford was shut down, it left the firm without a new car affiliation, and it became a used car dealership. With the end of Studebaker production in Indiana in 1963, the Fenstermacher & Rems dealership in Allentown declared bankruptcy. The dealership was transferred however to Lehigh Motors for the Canadian-built Studebakers that were manufactured until 1966 when Studebaker completely shut down and ended production. In a series of lawsuits in the early 1960s, the partners in the dealership sued for a dissolution of the company which occurred in 1965. A sale of the capital equipment was held in August 1965. With the shutdown of Studebaker production in 1966, the new car sales of Lehigh Motors ended.

The name Lehigh Motors, however was purchased by one of the partners who changed the dealership at the 17th Street location as a Yamaha motorcycle dealership. In September 1967 it moved it's office to the building on 17th Street which formerly was its automotive garage; sold off the Tilghman Street building which was its salesroom, and became Travel Town, a travel trailer and RV dealership. It also stopped selling motorcycles, although it had started to sell RVs in 1966.

This effectively ended Lehigh Motor company. Travel Town went out of business in 1973.

• 17-19 Church Street Location

Camera location	40° 36′ 10″ N, 75° 28′ 13″ W	View all coordinates using: OpenStreetMap	40.602778; -75.470278

• 635-636 Linden Street Location

Camera location	40° 36′ 13″ N, 75° 28′ 16″ W	View all coordinates using: OpenStreetMap	40.603611; -75.471111

• 723 Chew Street Street Location

Camera location	40° 36′ 22″ N, 75° 28′ 29″ W	View all coordinates using: OpenStreetMap	40.606111; -75.474722

• 718 North Seventh Street Location

Camera location	40° 36′ 43″ N, 75° 28′ 46″ W	View all coordinates using: OpenStreetMap	40.611944; -75.479444

• Seventeenth and Tilghman Location

Camera location	40° 36′ 21″ N, 75° 29′ 46″ W	View all coordinates using: OpenStreetMap	40.605833; -75.496111

• 1610 Union Boulevard Location

Camera location	40° 37′ 29″ N, 75° 25′ 55″ W	View all coordinates using: OpenStreetMap	40.624722; -75.431944