Part Classic Car, Part Rolling History Lesson
The life of a traveling salesman could be a harsh and lonely existence—especially during the depths of the Great Depression—but hitting the road with a well-appointed house trailer, mobile office, and showroom surely made things a bit more palatable. This past October, RM Sotheby’s offered up a fascinating time capsule of 1930s American history at its Hershey, Pennsylvania sale: a 1931 Ford Model A De Luxe Coupe and custom trailer that once served as fishing and marine supply salesman J.M. Keely’s rolling base of operations.
From its headquarters in Miami, Florida, the J.M. Keely Sales Company sold nearly everything an active fisherman or boater might need—rods, reels, tackle, outboard motors, and even portable generators. While it’s unclear exactly when the business was founded—or whether the Model A and trailer combination offered was Keely’s first mobile showroom—the company employed traveling salesmen (later using step vans) well into the 1950s.
A J.M. Keely Sales Company, likely related to the Miami-based original, was registered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1958, though it is now listed as inactive. The once-grand J.M. Keely showroom in Miami has since been razed, and today the corner property is little more than a vacant lot.
It’s clear that considerable thought went into the design and construction of both the Model A tow rig and the custom-built trailer. The trailer itself was crafted using numerous components sourced from Model A parts. Like the De Luxe Coupe it was paired with, the trailer features a Ford AA truck rear axle, heavy-duty hubs, and vacuum-operated brakes—evidence of its robust and carefully engineered design.
Contributed by By Kurt Ernst
