This Day in Norwood History-May 2, 1963-Ground Broken Here For Thompson Pontiac Agency

Official ground-breaking exercises took place Tuesday at 70 Providence Highway, Norwood, marking the start of construction of showroom and garage facilities for Thompson Pontiac, Inc.

Heading up the new firm is Leslie E. Thompson, Jr. a West Point graduate and a veteran of 12 years in the automobile business. Assisting him at the ground-breaking were Carl Michael, Pontiac Zone Manager; James Gablehart, Pontiac District Manager, and F. O. Sundberg, Branch Manager, Motor Holding Division, General Motors.

The new facility, located on Route 1 at Everett street, will offer complete sales and service for Pontiac and Tempest cars.

There will be 13,000 square feet of floor space contained in a 70×182 ft. Stran-Steel building. One of the interesting features about the new building is the fact that it will include ,18. service. stalls for greater customer convenience.

Some 25 people will be employed at the new agency, which will serve Norwood, Dedham, Needham, West Roxbury, Westwood, Sharon and Walpole.

The owner of the new Pontiac agency saw Army service, including four years in Japan, before entering the automobile business. He has been for five years sales manager of a large Chevrolet agency in New York City, and for seven years before that was with General Motors. He is 39 years of age and is married to the former Frances Buckley of Chestnut Hill. The couple have nine children and make their home in Canton.

At Tuesday’s ground-breaking, it was evident that the new agency will emphasize service, said Mr. Thompson.

“We have designed the building so that we can utilize all the latest equipment with the intention of speeding up the service that can be rendered to the people without sacrificing any quality.”

(All articles were originally published in the Norwood Messenger unless otherwise noted)