E. GRAY SMITH AND HIS EARLY CAR DEALERSHIPS

BY RIDLEY WILLS II

In 1910, when he was 18 years old, E. Gray Smith sold his first car. He sold it to the city’s engineering department for $3,000, “without the top and without the windshield.”

From 1910 to 1922, Smith handled the Winton line of automobiles. In 1924, after Winton quit manufacturing cars, Smith got the prestigious Packard automobile franchise in Nashville.

In 1957, when ref lecting on the early days of automobiles in Nashville, Smith said, “we had auto shows a lot like the horse shows of today. We showed the cars in a ring at the state fair and at all the surrounding county fairs, too. Each car was graded on three points-the skill of the driver, the looks of the driver and the car itself. We took special care to pick out a pretty gal who could drive well.”

In early 1928, Smith employed Carlton Brush Architects of Nashville to design a handsome building in the 2400 block of West End Avenue, in the middle of an exclusive Nashville residential neighborhood.

In addition to the showroom that faced West End, Smith had offices with glass partitions looking over the showroom, a large parts department and a large service area. A second showroom, with large glass windows, faced Elliston Place. It was for used cars.

The new dealership’s Grand Opening was on Sept. 2, 1929. For the next two and one-half decades, Smith sold Packards from this location to many, perhaps most, of Nashville’s wealthiest people. E. Gray Smith moved out of its 2400 West End Avenue Building early in 1956 when Rich, Schwartz & Joseph relocated there. In October 1955, Smith said he would open a new Packard agency, but that he would not announce his plans at that time.

Instead, he closed his Packard dealership in 1956 and became Nashville’s Rolls Royce and Bentley dealer with his showroom and service department on Broadway. After being in the business for 69 years, the E. Gray Smith business closed in 1979.

After serving multiple uses, including that of a record store, the E. Gray Smith Building on West End was torn down in 2012 to make way for the seven-story Homewood Suites Hotel. In their lobby, the hotel displays some of the handsome elements from the E. Gray Smith Dealership that stood there for 28 years.