A-1 Used Cub For Sale
How did an airplane end up on a car dealer’s lot?
A Piper Cub seems out of place among the used cars at a New Jersey-based Ford dealer in the 1950s. (Unknown)
At the end of World War II, the forecast of an unprecedented demand for personal aircraft by thousands of former military pilots spurred a number of non-aviation businesses to become aircraft distributors in the immediate postwar years. When it was soon recognized that the anticipated aviation boom was not going to happen, the vast majority of untraditional aircraft sellers, including automotive dealers, returned to focusing on marketing their core products.
By the mid-1950s, an airplane on an automotive dealer’s lot that was not solely a publicity stunt was a very unusual occurrence. Against this backdrop, a fine example of one of the most popular personal airplanes ever made, a 65-horsepower 1947 Piper J-3C-65 Cub registered N356N, is seen in the image above at ACE Motor Sales in Woodbury, NJ. ACE Motor Sales became a Ford dealer in 1920, its name formed from the initials of Allen Clark Eastlack, one of its founders. ACE Motor Sales is still a top Ford dealer in 2025.
Cub N356N was one of the last of over 19,000 of its type that were produced by Piper Aircraft in Lock Haven, PA from 1938-1947, with over 3,100 still carrying active registrations in 2025. In the photo it shares space with a number of “A-1” Ford-sloganed used cars that include a 1954-1956 Ford Fairlane Crown Victoria at right and a 1950 Mercury Eight Coupe to the left of the Cub’s tail. Also, the rear of a 1951-1952 Chevrolet Belair is visible on the street in the foreground at left.
With further regard to the Cub, the reason for its presence is that it was accepted as a trade-in during ACE Motor Sales’ record-breaking period in which 165 new vehicles were sold in May-June 1956. While no information has been found concerning the identity of the Cub’s owner and the vehicle for which the airplane was traded, FAA records show that N356N was subsequently registered to a Pennsylvania man in May 1959. Whether the new owner purchased the Cub from ACE Motor Sales or from another entity is also unknown, but the Cub apparently remained with the purchaser until the registration was cancelled on December 7, 1977.
Pilots are generally fervent about aviation to such an extent that they usually sell an aircraft to an entity within the flying community. In the case of N356N being traded toward a new car, it is safe to say that passion was overruled by a greater need. For ACE Motor Sales, taking advantage of an opportunity to demonstrate the practice of taking anything in trade, as commonly espoused within the industry, possibly contributed to more sales and benefits beyond the record sales period. 
– Andre Swygert