Long-Lewis Automotive Group
Long-Lewis Ford Lincoln (originally Long-Lewis Hardware Company) is a Ford automobile dealership located at 2551 John Hawkins Parkway in Hoover.
The company was founded by William J. Long in Bessemer and sold a wide variety of goods, including safety razors. In 1911, Bessemer merchants held a raffle for a Ford automobile. The winner, a farmer who did not want the car, sold it to Long, who used it to advertise his hardware business. In 1915 Henry Ford granted one of the first Ford franchises to Long-Lewis. Ford automobiles were first sold from the hardware store at 430 9th Street North. In 1921 a two-story addition was added to the hardware store for the Ford dealership.
In 1929 the company completed a new Long-Lewis Hardware Co. building on a combined 12 parcels in Smith Park, forming the southwest corner of 5th Avenue North and 9th Street. The limestone-trimmed brick building was expanded with additional warehouse space. It has since been redeveloped as Hardware Park.
Long-Lewis later moved its Ford dealership to 2014 2nd Avenue North in Bessemer. In 1965, the dealership moved to 4200 Bessemer Superhighway. The dealership moved to a new 84,000 square foot location on Highway 150 in Hoover in 1999. The former Bessemer Superhighway location is now Long-Lewis Sterling Western Star, a dealer of large trucks. Long-Lewis was granted a Lincoln dealership in 2009.
The dealership used a cartoon rebel colonel in their commercials, which ended with his catchphrase, "Ya'll come back now, y'heah." The cartoon rebel is still displayed on the windows of the Sterling Western Star dealership in Bessemer.
External links
- Long-Lewis Ford Lincoln history on longlewis.com