Memphian Neal Schilling came up with an interesting idea — one of those that makes you wonder: why didn't I think of that? — that made him a fortune.
In the early days of automobiles, when cars rolled off the assembly line, the only way to deliver them to dealerships around the country was to drive them there, or load them, two at a time, onto railroad flatcars.
One of those drivers was Schilling, and the story goes that, working at his kitchen table with his wife, he drew up the plans for a special kind of truck that could haul a half-dozen cars of all shapes and sizes, using a system of adjustable ramps. Everybody has seen these trucks, and when Schilling opened his Dealers Transport Company, the money came rolling in.
In 1958, he purchased an older car dealership in Memphis, and then hired Roy Harrover — regarded as one of this city's most notable architects — to design it. Harrover would go on to design Memphis City Hall, Mud Island River Park, and the iconic Memphis International Airport, and the Schilling Lincoln-Mercury dealership he created on Union Avenue was a gleaming chrome and concrete temple to automobiles.
"His complex on Union is considered the show window of all Ford Motor Company dealerships by Ford's top executives," wrote the Memphis Press-Scimitar, "who send streams of dealers and would-be dealers to Memphis every year to study the operation."
Schilling would later open another dealership, Foxgate Lincoln-Mercury, on Mt. Moriah.
After his death, his sprawling estate on Poplar (Highway 72) outside Collierville was taken over by Memphian Harry Smith, who also operated his dealerships until they closed. The Schilling property for years operated as a Ford tractor demonstration and testing center. In more recent years, Boyle Investment Company has transformed all that land into a stunning mixed-use development called Schilling Farms.
And the lovely dealership on Union Avenue? As I have to say so often in my columns, it's now a parking lot.
PHOTO COURTESY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS LIBRARIES
