Photographs posted on our club’s website recently caught my eye and my imagination. The pictures showed early dealers selling some of the wonderful old cars I so admire. Tallahassee has had its Cadillac dealership since the early 1900s, and stickers on the trunks of new Fords boast that their seller has survived, “since 1926.” But where could one buy a Chevy in the ’30s, a Hudson in the ’40s, a Nash in the ’50s? Curiosity got the better of me when I saw on the website a snapshot of Cordell-Turvaville Motors, a dual dealership, selling Packards and Hudsons.

Outside curb-shot of 1200 N. Monroe St., 1946

I was particularly interested in Packards, having recently purchased a 1954 model. Turvaville seemed an unusual name—anyone with this surname would surely be a relative of the former Packard-Hudson dealer. I grabbed the phonebook and called the first listing to catch my eye: J.D. Turvaville. I told the gentleman who answered that I was looking to find out who the local Packard dealer was in the 1950s. “That was me,” he said, and agreed to let me come pay him a visit. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Turvaville the next Saturday. The spry 87-year-old was a virtual history book, recalling a myriad of names and dates long-gone. J.D., as he prefers to be called, moved to Tallahassee in 1936—October 12th to be exact. His older brother, Roy, had an opportunity to become the regional wholesale distributor for Hudson automobiles for North Florida, and asked J.D. to help him find financing and become a partner. The two moved to Tallahassee from Tampa, and arranged to lease a gas station/flower shop at 1200 N. Monroe Street. From this location they would sell gasoline and Hudsons. The first shipment of cars arrived in two boxcars—two autos on the floor of each boxcar and two above them. The brothers worked through most of the night unloading the eight Hudsons and Terraplanes. Then they had to negotiate early possession of their new location, because the cars had arrived two weeks early. They agreed to pay the occupant two weeks rent, plus the two weeks profit she would have made on her flower/gas business, and moved in. The Turvaville’s hired J.C. Newberry, who had been operating the station for the previous occupant, to keep the gas business running. Newberry would later work for them as a car salesman. The brothers had to guarantee loans in order to sell cars on credit. Times were tough, and they found themselves having to repossess numerous cars and pay the bank for them out of their own pockets. By 1939, cash had run low and Roy had had enough. He gave his half of the business to younger brother J.D. and moved with his wife and four children back to Tampa, where he still owned his home. In September 1945, J.D. sold a half-interest in the business to Joe Cordell. Cordell, described by J.D. as a “natural-born salesman,” would be in charge of sales, while Turvaville would run the Service and Parts departments.

J.D. Turvaville (left) and Joe Cordell 1949

Tallahassee’s Packard dealer had no public location at the time. The local dealer, Leo Hoffman, was leaving town due to a divorce and abandoning his dealership. Joe Cordell, whose brother was the Packard dealer in Dublin, Georgia, had long wanted to sell new Packards. The partners seized the opportunity to add the Packard line, got permission from Hudson, and became a dual dealership. They had a glass showroom built in place of the gas pumps and prepared to receive Tallahassee’s first postwar autos. Cordell-Turvaville Motors had its grand opening in 1946 with one Packard and one Hudson.

The New 1947 Hudson and Packard Clipper

Parts and Accessories on display, 1946

New cars were so scarce at the time, that the streets were packed, and Tallahassee Police were called in to direct traffic. In 1948, the Hudson factory representative informed the partners that his company was requiring multiple-line dealerships to have a separate showroom for its cars. They protested, but did not want to lose Hudson (or Packard), and purchased property at 1175 N. Monroe St. (caddy-corner to their business). They prepared to erect a second showroom. Before the new showroom could be built, the property’s seller, Alma Ott, had to have her home moved to adjacent property. The new land was cleared without charge by the Department of Transportation, which used much of the dirt to help raise US 27 by Lake Jackson. Hudson’s factory did finally allow Cordell-Turvaville to show its cars in the same showroom with Packard’s, and the new land became a used car lot for the growing dealership.

A salesman awaits prospects under the umbrella at left.

In February 1950, Turvaville sold his interest to Cordell and went into semi-retirement. He was persuaded to return on several occasions to run and/or “straighten out” the parts department, working for six months to a year at a time before again retiring. By 1955, Hudson had merged with Nash to become American Motors. Packard had melded with Studebaker and was in its final downslide. Joe Cordell was approached by the Mercury representative about taking over the floundering Capital Lincoln Mercury, then on South Monroe. Cordell agreed, and moved the Lincoln-Mercury dealership to his North Monroe property. He dropped all other car lines, but continued to service Hudsons and Packards for a few more years. He controlled Capital LM until the mid 1980s, and died in 2002. J.D. Turvaville is an avid sports fan and sportsman. At age 87 he is active in church, as well as several clubs and organizations. He regularly hunts, fishes and drives his Jeep on trips around the country. Chatting with J.D. was a pleasure, and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to share his fond and detailed memories of the auto business in Tallahassee in the 30s, 40s and 50s.

The New Hudson on display, September 26, 1946.

All photos are courtesy of J.D. Turvaville. Blossoms Florist now occupies the building that once housed Cordell-Turvaville Motors on the corner of 5th and N. Monroe St. If you drive in the right-most lane, and pass the building while traveling South, you will be driving right through the former location of the showroom (because Monroe St. has been widened to four lanes). Across the intersection (on the Southeast corner, or caddy-corner to Blossoms Florist) is the old Capital Lincoln-Mercury building, now occupied by Quality Collision Center.