Village Chevrolet Company, Queens Village, Long Island, NY.
Tremont Chevrolet, Bronx, NY.
Meyer Chevrolet, St. Louis, MO.
Bast Chevrolet, Seaford, Long Island, NY.
Gilmore Down River Chevrolet, Wyandotte, MI.
Sullivan Chevrolet, Roselle Park, NJ.
Bill Janes Chevrolet Inc., St. Louis, MO.
I love these little dealers with the cars parked out front. Reminds me of the last two old school dealers in Iowa City, the Ford dealer and the Mercury one right across the street, with the same owner. Old brick buildings.
Meyer Chevrolet’s angular modern front look like it was a remodel that cut away the original corner of the building.
Our Chef dealer was Marsden Chevrolet on York Rd. and we went there for the new model announcement most Falls as Dad had ’53 and ’56 Chevy 4 dr sedans. The ’58s were a revelation, so different and with the new quad headlights they instantly made older cars look obsolete, a marketing stroke of genius by the industry (Chrysler had some in ’57). I can still remember clearly seeing the full spread ad in the Baltimore Evening Sun with all 5 of the GM makes, it blew this 8 yr old car nut totally away! Marsden had a white Corvette and red Impala convertible in the showroom that Fall. Some years alter our Driver’s Ed car at THS was a dark turquoise 4 dr Bel Air sedan from Marsden, supervised by Mr Adkins, a man with nerves of steel! lol
Chev, ‘scuse me.
Marsden was right next door to Stu Berger Olds, Dad never took me there, but it became my favorite in Fall ’65 when they had a dark burgundy Toronado on the showroom floor…Zounds!
When we lived in Bennettsville SC, 1966-1970 our Chevrolet dealer was named “Homer Baucom Chevrolet” Yes, a real name, his daughter was in my HS class and was beautiful. Of course, I believe she drove a new Camaro to class.
Always like seeing these old photos. The dealership ones are a special treat! The two in a row featuring ‘63 Chevys reminded me of my dad’s white with red interior Impala sport coupe. (The inspiration for my screen name.)
Great images!
The Meyer Chevrolet building in St. Louis is still standing, but clearly it’s seen better days (below). The Meyer family sold the business in 1965 – Mr. Meyer was 87 years old at the time and had been in the business for 35 years. The dealership was called Merollis Chevrolet after the sale, and remained at this location until the late 1970s.
We went to look at Chevys in 1956.
They had a leftover Corvette with the high fins. The fins were at my eye level and I thought they looked stupid.
They told my Dad they could sell him that for the same price as a new 210 power pack powerglide (about $3,000).
Tremont Chevrolet in the The Bronx lasted until the early 1970s, though the building remained a Chevrolet dealership until about 1990. The building is still standing, being used as a scaffolding company now, and the 1980s-era Chevrolet sign structure is still there, just advertising for Colgate Scaffolding instead.
The street looks different now because the roadway was elevated sometime between then and now.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/fiRzW7tiVKeY4DTp8
Bast Chevrolet has two interesting cars on its forecourt – a Studebaker Lark and an English Ford.
It’s hard to imagine there was much of a market for a side-valve Ford Prefect 100E in Long Island.
Buck ;
You had to have been there in the late 1950’s when everyone simply _had_ to ‘buy an import !’ .
New England was chock a block with imports and Ford Prefects, Anglias, Hillmans and more were every where for three maybe four years when they all suddenly became orphans, near impossible t get parts and not working very well apart from those very few who loved ‘LBC’s’ and knew how to keep them reliable until they mostly rusted out in 5 or 6 years .
-Nate
I loved the appearance of automotive dealerships in the 1950’s and 60’s; they were all quite individual in appearance, now the corporate design philosophy has taken over and stand alone dealerships that sold one brand of cars seems to be fading.
“St Louis”, being a fairly large town; seems there must surely be a bit more to “Bil Janes, Chevrolet”. Looks rather “bijou”, in that pic.
These dealers had different ideas about presentation. Some tried to offer the customer maximum variety up front, like the Prefect and Lark and ’59, with Fords and Plymouths also visible. Others preferred endless identical rows of new Chevys. Any size you want as long as it’s too low for comfort and too wide for your garage! By ’65 a row of new Chevys also had variety, as seen at Bill Janes.
Being Long Island dealerships, I would image the winter road salt ate up these cars within a few years.
My oldest brother’s first car was a ’58 Chevy Impala. The floor board in the back seat was rotted to the point you could see the road below. God forbid if he hit a puddle for I would have to raise my feet if sitting in the back. Dad helped him install some sheet metal to cover the holes. At least the engine ran well!!
In our village of Fleetwood Pennsylvania there was a Chevrolet dealer there since the 1930s and he had a wooden showroom floor that fit one car. In the early 1970s he sat one new Chevrolet in there, and one on the wide sidewalk outside the big windows. At the end of the short street he had a lot for maybe twenty used and new inventory and it was lit with a string of dangling light bulbs. No one ever broke the lights but it was beside a church so God was watching!? Quaint village life. Dealer was told to expand and move to the main road or lose his Chevrolet dealership. He quit.