Update: “Light Dodger” Sculpture Project by Tj Aitken
“Light Dodger” is close to completion. Here are shots from the lighting tests. The large glass pieces should go in next week (shown with surrogate panels). For scale, note Sculptor, Tj Aitken’s face in the smaller opening!
Street Hemi Lamps are complete and ready to go to the east coast for installation. The lamps are 8 feet high with concrete cam bases case with a custom formula that should not be taken for granite. The rods are powder coated steel. The aluminum clad, 1/2 inch thick, glass globes on top have been re-purposed from an old manufacturing facility. A row of these will grace the promenade near the Light Dodger sculpture. This grouping of 6 is 18ft x 4ft x 8ft high.
Featured Photos: Reed Brothers Service Dept circa 1960
Service Area
This photo of the inside of Reed Brothers Dodge service area was taken circa 1960. At the time this photo was taken, the dealership was located at the intersection of Veirs Mill Road and Rockville Pike.
Along the back wall inside the service area is the entrance to the new car showroom, parts counter and the cashier’s window. The new car showroom and service department were connected by large double doors, which was how new cars were moved in and out of the showroom. Above the cashier’s window is a small door that opened into the parts department storage area for the stock of tires. Reed Brothers was also a Goodyear tire retailer.
The roof is supported by steel trusses, which keep the entire floor free of pillars and makes the movement of cars easier. Also, most of the light for the area is provided by skylights and windows.
Rear entrance to the Service Department on what is now known as “Dodge Street”
Sales and Service Departments on the corner of Rockville Pike and Dodge Street
Update: “Light Dodger” Sculpture Project by Tj Aitken
Titled “Light Dodger,” the sculpture by Tj Aitken will stand 20 feet high and will have stained glass lens components over 6 feet in diameter. Currently being fabricated in Holland, Michigan – the home of its accomplished sculpture, Tj Aitken – it is slated to be installed March 2015 at Bainbridge Shady Grove Apartments at the entrance to the Shady Grove Metro Station on the Red Line to Washington, DC. Reed Brothers Dodge stood at this location for more than 40 years.
It is part of a project that commemorates the dealership that received the #8 Dodge from Detroit in 1915. The site will also include Tj’s “Hemi Piston Street Lamps”. (click on images to enlarge)
44 Years Ago Today: New Facility Grand Opening
Today marks forty four years since the Grand Opening of Reed Brothers Dodge new showroom and service facility.
When the state widened the roads in 1970, Reed Brothers Dodge relocated from its original 1800 square foot facility at the intersection of Veirs Mill Road and Rockville Pike to a state-of-the-art 26,000 square foot showroom and Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep service complex on Route 355 at 15955 Frederick Road Rockville, Maryland. The new building, a complete automotive sales and service facility also marked their 55th year of selling Dodge’s.
The new dealership provided a modern new vehicle showroom, 30 service bays, a comprehensive detail and car wash area, Parts Department, Body Shop, the newest technologies to service customer’s vehicles and provided customers with a convenient location to purchase and service their vehicle needs.
Design and construction of the new dealership was managed by the Glen Construction Company.
Winner – 1931 Reed Brothers Third Annual Goodyear Dealers Zeppelin Race
MARGARET BOURKE-WHITE, 1931 REED BROTHERS THIRD ANNUAL GOODYEAR DEALERS ZEPPELIN RACE WINNER
In the early 1930’s, the Goodyear Zeppelin Company produced a series of framed prints as rewards for Goodyear dealers as prizes for high sales. Sales was based on a two months quota, and participated in by thousands of dealers all over the country. The print shows USS Akron on a mobile mast, leaving her hanger. The frame is made of the sheet metal and rivets used in dirigible construction, and each frame has an engraved duralumin plaque at bottom center of the frame.
The inscription plaque reads:
-WINNER-
Reed Brothers
Third Annual Goodyear Dealers Zeppelin Race
July-August 1931
THIS FRAME IS MADE OF DURALUMIN USED IN THE GIRDER CONSTRUCTION OF THE UNITED STATES AIRSHIP “AKRON” BUILT BY THE GOODYEAR ZEPPELIN CORPORATION
Inscription plaque
This original Margaret Bourke-White photograph of the United States Airship “Akron” is SIGNED in the lower right hand corner by the famed 20th Century photographer.
Photo is signed by the photographer, Margaret Bourke White
The USS Akron, first of a class of two 6,500,000 cubic foot rigid airships, was built at Akron, Ohio. Commissioned in late October 1931, she spent virtually all of her short career on technical and operational development tasks, exploring the potential of the rigid airship as an Naval weapons system. During the remainder of 1931 and the early part of 1932, the Akron made flights around the eastern United States and over the western Atlantic, including one trial of her capabilities as a scouting unit of the fleet. While beginning a trip to the New England area, Akron encountered a violent storm over the New Jersey coast and, shortly after midnight on 4 April 1933, crashed tail-first into the sea. Only three of the seventy-six men on board survived this tragic accident. During the search for other possible survivors, the Navy non-rigid airship J-3 also crashed, killing two more men.
Note: Margaret Bourke-White (1904 1971) is best known as the first foreign correspondent to be permitted to take photographs of Soviet industry, the first female war correspondent, and the first female correspondent permitted to work in war zones.
40th Anniversary with Goodyear
Lewis Reed was recognized by Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. for reaching his 40th year as a Goodyear dealer. Reed Brothers Dodge began selling Goodyear tires in the 1920s. Below is a letter from Russell DeYoung thanking Lewis Reed for his 40 years “in business together”.
Please see Margaret Bourke-White: The Photography of Design, 1927 – 1936 for more information
Books
Related Resources
Copyright Notice
Reed Brothers Dodge History (1915-2012) by Jeanne Gartner is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Reed Brothers Dodge History 1915 – 2012 
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