Martin Pontiac Cadillac, Lancaster, CA.
Morton Cadillac, Charleston, WV.
Lone Star Cadillac Oldsmobile, Dallas, TX.
1960 Biarritz at Peter Fuller Cadillac/Oldsmobile showroom, Boston, MA.
Les Bierk, Cadillac, Elmhurst, IL.
Les Bierk, used car lot.
Mitchell Cadillac, Bay City, MI.
Heintz Pontiac Cadillac, Mankato, MN.
Coffey Cadillac, Ann Arbor, MI.
Heritage Cadillac, Lombard, IL.
Heritage Cadillac, Lombard, IL.
Don Lee Cadillac, San Francisco, CA.
Peter Fuller Cadillac was on car row on Commonwealth Ave in Boston. He was joined by Clark and White Lincoln Mercury and other dealerships back in the day.
Nice assortment of pictures. I enjoy looking at old photos such as these.
The picture taken at Fuller Cadillac reminds me of new car model introductions from 50s and 60s. I recall the media onslaught to get people into the showrooms on that “special day” to see the new…the beautiful,,,the restyled…(insert make, model here). A Who will be the first to drive home a new model car?
The past decades have produced way more than enough new car models without the new car hype. So many that are just the same model with a different division’s name on it. Meh.
Man, looking at those old pictures and seeing the stunning Cadillac cars instead of all these ugly boxes (SUV’s) today, makes me want to vomit.
I’ve loved Cadillac since I was 10 years old. I find the “offerings” of today to be pathetic and sad. The Escalade is the biggest grift known to man (at least in the auto world). IMO, it’s worse than the Cimarron. All they do is gussy up a Chevy Tahoe and charge a 25 grand premium. The sad thing is that people fall for it.
Bring back classy dealership showrooms and bring back some true Cadillac cars.
I’m old enough to remember the Lone Star dealer in Dallas as a kid.. Had miles of incredible neon of many colors. I”m fairly sure it was on Lemon Ave or Mockingbird Lane.
Likely torn down mid 70’s and Lone Star moved to the suburbs, and eventually closed as they couldn’t compete with Dallas’s Cadillac mega dealer Sewell Village.
The ironically named Lemon Ave was the address of many new car dealers in it’s haydsy from the 40’s to 70’s., even Rolls Royce was there. Then many BHPH’s into the early 2000’s as Lemon Ave declined, then disappeared as most of the buildings were torn down to make room for unaffordable luxury apartments, trendy restaurants and boutiques.
The Morton Cadillac building in Charleston is still standing. I think this building was used as a Packard dealership before Cadillac – it remained a Cadillac building (though under different names) until the 1980s, and afterwards served as a Volvo dealership for a while.
The address is 1311 Virginia St. E.
StreetView link:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/FuJUckLLXzycaWFt8
Don Lee Cadillac, San Francisco. Don Lee was not only the Cadillac dealer but the Cadillac distributor for the region. When he gave up the business, Cadillac Motor Car Division took it over. Later it contracted out its dealership to Kohlenberg Cadillac in this building, and Fazackerly Cadillac in a newer building in Stonestown, on the southwestern outskirts of The City. This building, from 1921, survives as a theater.
Image from a comment in an earlier CC post about Cadillac dealers.
Here’s what I could find:
Martin Pontiac Cadillac, Lancaster, CA. (I can’t tell which corner this existed on.)
https://maps.app.goo.gl/NXQ1FziqSBGk6HLB6
Morton Cadillac, Charleston, WV.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/bm2yXwoFcZtwS4Np6
Lone Star Cadillac Oldsmobile, Dallas, TX.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/3DSVB2og4LWMVVaB6
Les Bierk, Cadillac, Elmhurst, IL. (this is the used car lot)
https://maps.app.goo.gl/MaiXHGQcdcJNJGeG6
Coffey Cadillac, 502 E Washington St, Ann Arbor, Mi
https://maps.app.goo.gl/gnoKq2wWRw6krUJx9
Mitchell Cadillac was located at 1124 Washington Ave. in Bay City. The site is now a County bus station:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZC5tmF4gLVZnQiCc7
That dealership had an interesting history because it was founded in 1904 (as Bay City Auto Co.), and was Cadillac’s first independent dealership. It wasn’t always located at 1124 Washington – the earlier building was at 1007 Saginaw St. The dealership itself lasted until 1979.
I associate Don Lee with Harley Earl, Southern California, and cars for the stars, but Wiki says he was distributor for the whole west coast.
I have a one-foot replica of the blue “Cadillac Service” sign hanging in my kitchen.
I remember several Cad/Olds dealers, but there was probably less clientele overlap with Pontiac, which may or may not be a good thing.
Later Don Lee got into broadcasting as well as cars. He bought part of the Mutual Broadcasting System, and it was called Mutual-Don Lee for several years.
Can anyone identify the guy in the white cardigan – who seems to be the customer – in the Don Lee photo? I’m guessing he’s a celebrity of some sort (professional athlete?) since there is a camera man and seemingly reporters in the background.
I bought a 57 coupe de ville from Clark and White used 700 best car ever
By the 1960’s here in western New York the only stand-alone Cadillac dealerships were in cities: Tinney in Buffalo, Valley in Rochester. All other dealerships were generally dualled with Oldsmobile, though there was Chief Pontiac-Cadillac, Rt 5 & 20 Leroy, NY.
Oldsmobile dealers only had a ~$800 price gap between a 98 and Cadillac 62 to convince a prospect to bridge moving up. On the other hand, a Pontiac dealer was dealing with a ~$1,500 price gap between their product lines, similar to the problem Lincoln-Mercury dealers had. The difference was Pontiac dealers had a stronger, more in-demand car than did Mercury agencies who lived on Comet sales for the most part. Although there were some stand-alone Mercury dealerships, the only such for Lincoln were in major urban areas