The old Garden Island Motors building on Kuhio Highway in Lihu‘e was home to Kaua‘i’s Ford dealership from 1923 to 1965, when the business moved to the Lihu‘e Industrial Center.
Prior to 1923, the company had been located in Nawiliwili, where it began in 1908 as Nawiliwili Garage Ltd., a rent service business.
Ten years later, in 1918, car sales totaled almost 100, and about five times as many were sold in 1923, when the move to Kuhio Highway (then called Isenberg Street) was made and the company was renamed Garden Island Motors Ltd.
The Model T, “Tin Lizzie,” was the only car Ford made from 1909 until 1927, when the Model A was introduced, and from 1914 through 1925, it came in only one color — black.
But it was simple, durable and cheap. By 1924, a Model T cost just $290 — inexpensive enough for many Kaua‘i families to purchase.
By the way, until the breakwater was built at Nawiliwili in 1921, ships would anchor off Kukii Point and whaleboats would carry lighter goods to and from ships and the pier. To transport cars, two whaleboats would be lashed together and the car secured atop them.
Kaua‘i businessman Charles W. Spitz was one of the founders of Nawiliwili Garage. Earlier, in 1886, he’d opened a store in Nawiliwili and in 1890, he became proprietor of Kaua‘i’s first hotel, the Fairview in Nawiliwili.
In 1919, Charles A. Baggott became manager of Nawiliwili Garage and by the time of his death in 1930, he’d acquired controlling interest in Garden Island Motors.
A year later, rancher and politician Charles A. Rice obtained ownership.
In 1958, Rice sold the business to his grandson, Holbrook Goodale.
Forty years later, Goodale sold the 90-year old kama‘aina company to Midpac Auto Center.
