LOUDONVILLE — Weidner Motor Sales in Loudonville caused quite a stir in 1949 when the company added a well-known celebrity to its customer list.
Pete Weidner, owner, was a friend of Pulitzer prize winning novelist Louis Bromfield, who built and lived at Malabar Farm on the other side of Perrysville.
Weidner often visited Bromfield on social calls, and eventually Bromfield told him he was looking to buy a new car. The two settled on a 1949 Pontiac Streamliner to best fit Bromfield’s needs.
When Pontiac’s regional offices in Cleveland heard about the sale, officials there made sure to advertise that one of their smallest dealers was outfitting one of America’s biggest names.
The Cleveland office sent down a team of marketing and sales executives for a photo op with Bromfield and his new car. The executives made sure to stand right in front of Bromfield’s house, while Louis leaned against his new ride.
Pete, the man who made it all happen, was almost hidden in the photograph behind Bromfield and the car.
More information on the Cleo Redd Fisher Museum can be found at this link.
