Cooke Toledo Motors Ltd., Montreal.
Christy Packard Co., Oklahoma City, Ok, 1951.
Zell Motor Car Co., Packard, Baltimore, MD, 1951.
John Ramp Inc. Packard, Indianapolis, IN, 1953.
Earl J. Lancer, Packard-Kaiser, Elyria, OH, 1955.
Noll Auto Co., Pasadena, CA, 1956.
Auto Mart, Studebaker-Packard-English Ford, Santa Rosa, CA, 1956.
Studebakber-Packard, Elyria, OH, 1956.
1956s in the showroom.
So sad to see the optimism of the Packard dealers with their nice facilities, and did any of them know the end was in sight?
Based on a web search, Earl J Lance came to his senses and started selling Buicks. The dealership made it into the seventies.
The Noll Auto Co. building in Pasadena, Ca. is still there and has been many different auto sales places and even a discount book store for a while .
-Nate
Photos #5 and #8 are the same dealership.
Also, in Photo #5, looks like the deanship sold Kaiser vehicles as well. However, the Kaiser sign was removed by Photo #8.
As per Google maps, the building was used as a Salvation Army thrift store which is currently closed.
Well, by the 1955 model year he didn’t have many Kaisers left to sell, so he took on the Studebaker franchise (a given, seeing they were already tied up with Packard). So the sign change would be pretty obvious. Actually, that’s the first time I can remember seeing this changeover in the dealer series that’s been run.
If you rearrange the triangular red, white, and blue flags in the first photo, you can make an AMC logo out of them, or something close, and AMC did eventually buy what was by then Kaiser-Jeep.
W. I. Simonson Motors in Santa Monica was a Packard dealer that then became one of the earliest Mercedes dealers. It’s a lovely building; I went in a time or two.
Here’s how it looks now.
That Spanish style of architecture so common. Reminds me both of Balboa Park and the old center of San Diego State University.
That english , “Ford” out front (“Santa Rosa” pic) almost looks like a “toon car”.
From the showroom, it appears that Cooke was selling Willys Aero also. We had that same combo at Leavenworth KS dealer.
“Auto Mart, Studebaker-Packard-English Ford”. How’d that work out for you?
But seriously… This website has made me aware that “English Ford” dealers could be a standalone thing, i.e. not just a corner of a Ford dealership. However, I’m not clear when it ended. I know that UK-built Cortinas were sold in the US through MY1969, but were there “English Ford” dealerships until then or…?
Read Mullan Ford in Phoenix had a stand-alone English Ford store. My ’64 VW bus was bought there, in 1968. I believe they sold Cortinas.
Packard and English Ford certainly covers quite a spectrum, big luxury American car or would sir like a sidevalve shit box from England that can barely move itself? UK Fords improved after Packard went away but did that dealership outlast either?
What’s that little red car at the far left in the Auto Mart used car lot ? Simca Aronde ? Something Italian ?
Yes, interesting. Probably a recently traded used car. A 1955 Plymouth Belvedere is a possibility given the bumper, grill, headlight and bumper guard placement.
I have strong memories of Pontiac (I even bought a new Firebird at one) and Plymouth and Oldsmobile, and Saab and MG dealerships, even Citroen, and of course Mercurys at “The Sign of the Cat”, but I am just too young to recall any Packard stores, or even Studebaker. Maybe there were none in the town I grew up in.
Mercedes Benz had a deal with Studebaker to use its dealership network to sell its cars…think Buick/Opel. Alot of the older operating M-Bs were former Stude /Packard dealers.
These look like some of the more prosperous Packard dealers. Weren’t most of their remaining dealers by 1955 small operations that couldn’t afford to stock many cars if any?
The Noll building in Pasadena was built in ’27 for Buicks, switched to Packard in ’38. That’s quite the arch. Found the post below with an interior photo and other old dealers around the country.
https://forums.aaca.org/topic/320441-vintage-dealership-buildings-that-are-still-around/
A 2 tone “English” Ford! How decadent !
They were always battleship grey or hearing-aid beige over here in their homeland!