Pardo’s part in Ford history

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You know where to find us, here in this little corner of the worldwide web devoted to old cars. You know that through us, you’ll be able to find a lot more, too. Let us tell you a bit about the joy of internet sleuthing with this lovely picture to illustrate our point.

We found it in the Detroit Public Library with the following information: ‘View of a tow truck and Ford automobile in front of Pardo Auto Sales at Wyandotte, Michigan. Painted on side of truck: “Pardo, 126 Biddle Ave., Ford sales & service.” Handwritten on back: “Ford, ca. 1923-25.”'

That’s more than we bargained for, but there’s still plenty to discover. Biddle Avenue in Wyandotte is easy to find on Google Maps these days, but the Pardo building must have been gone for a long time. There are some pretty houses on the spot now, which seem to date back to the 1930s. It’s nice to see that, even now, two Ford pick-up trucks are parked in front of number 126.

Let’s see what we can find out about Pardo’s Ford agency. Mr. Pardo turns out to be William Austin Pardo, born in 1879, who ran the dealership between 1913 and 1931. That year the Ford Motor Company cancelled his agency and it later became clear why. In 1951 Pardo was heard in the infamous Kefauver Commission crime investigation – as seen in The Godfather Part II. It turns out that Pardo was pressured into going into business with a member of the mafia crime syndicate. There’s a picture of Pardo swearing his oath at the commission here.

What’s more, a manuscript entitled Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce shows hundreds of pages with the typed-out hearing and can be found online, with Pardo’s testimony in it, telling the counsel Mr. Burling that he went into business with a Mr. Anthony d’Anna after Ford took his agency.
Mr. Burling: What did he tell you?
Mr. Pardo: That he could get the Ford agency and wanted to know if I would get in with him so they could get my building.
Mr. Burling: You knew d’Anna at that time from having lived in Wyandotte? You knew his reputation as that of a bootlegger?
Mr. Pardo: That was my supposition.
Mr. Burling: His reputation was that, was it not?
Mr. Pardo: Yes.

Words: Jeroen Booij; picture: Detroit Public Library
 

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