Fergus Motors part 2
After JB’s radio work evaporated in 1929 he borrowed money, relocated to New York City, and returned wholly to the motor trade. Early in 1931 he took over a six-storey garage at 444 West 55th Street in Manhattan and two years later opened the Fergus Auto Club at 247 West 54th Street. The Auto Club had serious labour problems and JB closed it at a considerable loss in 1937. Fortunately, by 1934 he had leased a showroom almost next door on the corner with Broadway’s ‘Auto-mobile Mile’ just five blocks below Central Park. From there he sold the British cars he considered superior to American vehicles, principally Austins, Hillmans, and Daimlers importing them as he could finance them. He also sold Crossleys and a Lagonda exhibited in the 1936 London Motor Show. On a rare trip to the UK in 1938 (to deal with his father’s estate) JB attended the London Motor Show and talked with H.F.S. Morgan, and by early 1939 had imported his first few Morgans.
The showroom business incorporated in 1940 as Fergus Motors Inc. with JB president and sole owner. With new British vehicles unobtainable because of the European war, JB sold used cars. He also ran a Plymouth and DeSoto dealership at 251 West 54th Street from c.1941-45. His business reportedly doubled during the war, and with substantial mortgages he was able to buy three of his leased properties between 1943 and 1946 – the Broadway showroom, 251 West 54th Street, and 444 West 55th Street. When JB’s son Joe joined Fergus Motors as a salesman after five years with the U.S. Army Air Corps he freed JB to concentrate on finances and auto development projects. JB restyled an Austin A40 for the American market in 1949, for example, but it never went into production. And in 1952 he persuaded Panhard to develop a small sports car for the American market with his financial support (produced as the Dayna) but pulled out of the project. When he died seated at his drawing board in 1967, he was working on a car with compressed air – and steam-assisted systems!
This Fergus saloon was probably the car shown in New York in 1921.
Once they became available again in 1946 British cars were retailed in Manhattan and some were distributed to dealers in eastern states. Fergus Motors initially focused once more on Austins, Hillmans, and Daimlers, but imported other models too, including a handful of Healey Westlakes (Joe snagged one of those). The showroom’s upper floor had been remodelled for small car sales in 1944 but Jaguar withdrew in 1949 because the lower level had become so dilapidated. JB was told he’d get other dealerships if it was upgraded; the refurbishment that followed included a modern façade for both levels and cost a whopping $13,500. In the 1950’s a wide range of European marques was imported, including Alvis, Armstrong-Siddeley, Borgward, Cisitalia, Crossley, Jaguar, Jowett, MG, Morgan, Panhard, Renault, Saab, Simca, Singer, Standard, and Triumph vehicles. Studebakers, which J.B. Ferguson Ltd. had sold in Belfast before World War One, were also stocked.
In about 1948 444 West 55th Street was reoccupied after it had been leased to the government during the war and this is where used cars were sold. The ground level also contained the Service Department, the first floor housed the Parts Department, and there was a machine shop on the second floor; the uppermost levels were storage. In the late 1940’s Fergus Motors also rented a branch showroom in Bridgehampton on Long Island and another at 290 Park Avenue referred to pretentiously as the ‘Salon’. These were opened at Joe’s urging, but neither made money; Bridgehampton was short-lived, but the Salon was taken on an inescapable lease and lost substantial sums for a decade. JB kept a tight grip on finances, but Joe had big and expensive ideas. He enjoyed racing in his spare time and participated in the first 12-hour race at Sebring in 1952 and many other events. Joe felt strongly that racing helped sales and after his father’s retirement had Fergus support and sponsor race cars–largely a series of Morgans that appeared at Sebring most years between 1955 and 1966 and a Turner raced in 1963. These were set up for racing by Fergus and some were also lent to drivers for east coast events before they were sold on to customers.
Fergus Imported Cars
Fergus Motors Inc. made a profit from 1945 to 1947, broke even in 1948, and then lost money. In 1955 JB retired and struck a sweet deal with his managers. They took over as Fergus Imported Cars but kept Joe on the payroll. JB secured a consultant’s salary and free use of the machine shop at 444 West 55th Street for his auto development work. He later got into serious trouble for failing to report income received through this ‘Experimental Department’, which clearly operated as a business with employees selling, repairing, and renting cars.
Harry Ferguson and JB in the late 1950’s. Morgan Motor Company
Fergus Imported Cars was successful and had a boom year in 1959, but by the early 1960’s manufacturers had withdrawn most of its dealerships. It became dependent on Borgward sales–1,200-1,500 cars per month accounting for up to 90% of its business. Then in 1961 sales of imported cars slumped as the U.S. went into recession. More seriously, Borgward was forced into
bankruptcy and began an extended liquidation. Shortly after April 30, 1962, Fergus Imported Cars was dissolved, and on May 3 the business was sold back to JB.
Fergus-Fine Cars
In September 1963, after lengthy negotiations, Joe organized a new corporation to continue the Broadway showroom as Fergus Imported Cars merged with nearby Fine Cars Inc., to form Fergus-Fine Cars. Desperate to find a replacement for the Borgward cash cow, Joe invested heavily in the DAF Daffodil hoping that it would compete with the Volkswagen beetle. Nationwide DAF distributorship was taken on in 1964 and dealerships were cut from 69 to 25 to streamline operations. Joe continued to take as many Morgans as he could get (about 20 per month) and began importing Jensens and Turners. Unfortunately, the Jensen proved too expensive for the American market and Turners, which were built in small numbers, ceased production in 1966.
Deluxe Auto Sales
Fergus-Fine Cars appears to have folded around this time because Joe began trading from the Broadway showroom as Deluxe Auto Sales Ltd. in partnership with his brother Bruce. Deluxe Auto Sales continued to sell Morgans and—until safety issues led to an import ban in 1967–DAFs.
By then it was apparent that impending safety and impending regulations would likely bar Morgans from the U.S. market too. When JB died in December 1967 Joe had to deal with his complex estate and serious ‘problems with the tax people’ (he owed $300,000). This diverted Joe from the dealership and its history becomes even more obscure. An Automobile Mile ‘megadealer’ known as Charlie Chrysler reportedly bought the business and closed the Broadway showroom in 1968.
Joe tried to get ‘something worthwhile’ going for Morgan in the late sixties and early seventies and had an American-built V8 Morgan prototyped. Eventually, however, he left New York City for Dadeville, a tiny town in his wife’s home state of Alabama, where he died in 1995. Bruce, who was reportedly impaired by a brain injury incurred when he fell down a lift shaft at some time, had died in New York in 1993.
Published in Journal No. 111 : Winter 2024/25
Jonathan Kinghorn
