East Point Ford
Updated: April 2014 and January 2023
East Point Ford was located at 2139 Main Street in East Point, Georgia. East Point is a suburb of Atlanta. The dealership was started in 1936 and had a long history with high performance Fords.
East Point's "Performance Corner". The Performance Corner was a Ford advertising campaign.
The photograph above was probably taken at the end of 1968 or very early 1969. A 1968 and a 1969 Shelby fastback are visible in this picture. It was not unusual for Shelbys to sit for
a year or more before being sold. East Point only sold three 1968 Shelby fastbacks. The 1968 in this picture is likely serial number 8T02R216098-04329. East Point did not start selling Shelbys until 1968 and most of the 1968s they sold were
GT500 KR convertibles.
Bill and Gene Paris owned the dealership in the late 1960s. Here Bill Paris shows off a display motor as part of the Performance Corner.
Here is Bill's business card fresh from 1968.
Like many other dealers East Point used special promotions to attract customers. The "California styled mod machines" featured groovy colored vinyl tops, pinstripes and Cobra dress up kits. I don't know about you, but I could use a free vacation!
Thanks to Hilda for this note: Her Dad's car is a Lime Green, GT500 KR, 4 speed with air conditioning. "
Here are a few pictures of my Dad's 1968 GT500 KR. This picture was taken in our back yard. My father purchased this car from East Point in March of 1969.
He only drove it for a short while before we were transferred overseas. While we were in Izmir, Turkey my brother who was 18 at the time took the car out for a drive
and was hit by a drunk driver. The car was parked until we could return to the states. When we returned my father spent 2 years rounding up the parts to put it back
together. He wanted all original Ford parts. They were also stored along with the car. By that time, he had three kids in college. To make a long story short the car
repairs got put on the back burner.
...Last year my husband and I decided to have the car restored. It was the first new car that my dad ever bought just for himself. He and both of my brothers spent many
weekends at the East Point Ford dealership. He tells us that this dealership had many to pick from. He finally decided on the green convertible. He bought it for his
birthday in March of 1969. We surprised my dad on his 81st birthday March 2014. We had a ground up restoration done. We have all three original documents for the car.
They are very brittle but they are legible. We are learning daily about how rare these cars are. We will be taking the car now for the next few years to car shows and
letting the people around us see the beauty of the 1968 GT500 KR. My father says we will not be adding many miles to the car. It's a show piece that will never leave our family!
I love your website. In the newest picture all the emblems were not in place. The restoration was not quite complete for the birthday party. I will share this website with my dad.
It was shared with us by a friend who read and article you wrote about the East Point Ford dealership and the Shelby's."
1968 # 3664 recently came up for auction. It's an original East Point car. It looks to be very well done.
Paul's yellow GT500 KR is number 4269. Looking good and representing Georgia!
The GT40 was a popular promotion. The cars toured dealerships nationwide to promote Ford racing and help sell cars.
I found this picture of Harold Dutton's 1967 Mustang drag car on the internet. The photo was taken by Joe Stevens, a professional Sports Photographer. Courtesy of www.JoeStevensPhotos.Com from the 1959-71 Detroit Dragway Gallery.
Please visit the website for more vintage photographs.
This picture was graciously shared by Bobby Chester. Bobby's Falcon still sports the "East Point Ford" script.
If you have anything from East Point Ford you would like to share, pleased drop me an email.
