By Mel Frizzell, Special Collections Assistant
One of the most memorable collections I’ve worked on since I’ve worked in ODU Special Collections has to be the George Conoly Phillips Papers. It was one of my early collections and may have even been the very first archival collection I ever organized.
Conoly Phillips was extremely active in politics, religion, and civic organizations in Norfolk, the Tidewater region, and Virginia, but in my opinion, those aren’t the most interesting parts of his collection. To me the most interesting parts of his collection relate to Conoly Phillips’ car dealership.
In 1956, Conoly and his brother Tench opened the Phillips Brothers Automoville used car dealership in Norfolk. The following year they entered into an agreement with Ford Motor Company to sell imported Ford vehicles. By 1960, the brothers had also acquired a franchise with Rambler and formed “Phillips Brothers Rambler.” After much business success, Tench negotiated with the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors to open an Oldsmobile franchise in Norfolk. The franchise was awarded under the condition that Tench divest of his interests in Phillips Brothers Rambler, and his separate Oldsmobile franchise was begun in early 1965. For his part, Conoly moved on from the Rambler business and became an authorized dealer for Ford Lincoln’s and Mercury’s in 1967. The dealership initially held the name “Tench Brother’s Lincoln-Mercury.” By the 1970s, the business became known as “Conoly Phillips Lincoln-Mercury.” Conoly retired from the daily management of the business in 1999. At that time, his company merged with Freedom Automotive, and Conoly Phillips remained a partner in the company.
The materials in Conoly Phillips papers relating to the car dealership include contracts, financial statements, correspondence, board minutes, policy and procedure manuals, and a host of other business materials. They also contain advertising and marketing materials, artifacts, and scrapbooks from the dealership.
Among the marketing and advertising materials are newspaper advertisements; yellow pages ads; press releases; and scripts for radio and television commercials. Phillips also took part in promotional events such as the 1972 Mid-Atlantic Auto Show at the Norfolk Scope. The collection contains information on several models of cars including the Rambler, Capri, Cougar, Fiat, Daimler, Lincoln, and Mercury. There’s even a children’s coloring book with pictures of 1969 Ford car models to color in.
Artifacts include Phillips Brothers emblems and stickers, some promotional pens for the business, an auto show emblem, aerial photos of the Lincoln-Mercury dealership, a license plate, and a set of Phillips-Lincoln Mercury keys.
Scrapbooks feature newspaper clippings about the dealership, advertisements, an overview of the business for the 1964 Rambler Retailer of the Year contest, and a plan for a Women’s Automotive Resource Center.
Conoly Phillips graduated Maury High School in Norfolk with honors in 1949 and received his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Georgia in 1953. He also served for two years as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. Later, Phillips earned his MBA from Old Dominion University in 1976. Conoly married Charlotte Baird Ferebee and the two had three children together.
Conoly was involved in a number of civic and community organizations for business, personal, religious, and philanthropic reasons. These included the Better Business Bureau, Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, the Norfolk Symphony, the Norfolk Rotary Club, the United Community Fund, the Union Mission, the United Drug Abuse Council, and many others.
Phillips was a religious person belonging to First Presbyterian Churches in Norfolk. Phillips served on the Norfolk City Council from 1976 to 1980 and was reelected to the Norfolk City Council in 1986. In 1978, he ran unsuccessfully for a U.S. Senate seat.
George Conoly Phillips passed away, April 22, 2020, at the age of 88.
Collection Guide for the George Conoly Phillips Papers: https://archivesguides.lib.odu.edu/repositories/5/resources/307.
Photo Captions:
- Phillips Brothers Automoville, 1st Military Highway location at corner of Johnston Road, 1961 (MG 15, Box 33, Folder 8)
- 1971 Billboard. “A very simple business” was the dealership’s advertising slogan in the early 1970s. (MG 15, Box 1, Folder 4)
- Phillip Bros Cougar Girl Coloring Book from the early 1970s. (MG 15, Box 1, Folder 1)
I worked at Phillips from 1968 to 1975. I started sweeping floors and emptying trashcans, then sanding and priming cars in the paint shop to working in the body shop repairing Cougars, Lincolns, Capris, and everything Phillips sold. After a few years in the Army I returned to running the body and paint shop when the Body Shop manager wasn’t there.
Conoly was always open and supportive. He took me to the prayer breakfasts, his meetings upstairs in the offices and anything that exposed me to the workings of the dealership. His ethics and thoughtfulness has always stayed with me through out my life.
Quite frankly, I was so inspired to read such an informative and interesting article which was able to enlighten me about so many important things that I hadn’t even suspected before. The fact that Phillips was a religious person belonging to First Presbyterian Churches in Norfolk amazed me because I hadn’t been aware of his personality to a huge extent, but I couldn’t Imagine that he had such a close connection with religion. From my point of view, it characterizes Philips on the bright side and indicates his positive personal traits. Also, it makes him a complex and interesting personality which desired to get closer to God. I can say that all these facts about Conoly Phillips are not so obvious and you were able to discover the facets of his personality for us because I was able to realize that he was a really versatile person with a rich life experience.