Time to visit some Buick and Oldsmobile dealers with this mix of postcards and snapshots, with a few guest appearances for a bit of variety. We open with Reynolds, a Buick-Opel-GMC dealer in West Covina, CA.
Nowling’s, Oldsmobile, Downey, CA.
J. M. Taylor Motors, Oldsmobile, South Gate, CA.
Mueller Harkins, Buick, Tacoma, WA. The fancy Buick Lubricare service station of Mueller Harkins appeared at CC just a few days ago.
Max Griffith, Oldsmobile, Kansas City, MO.
Reynolds in West Covina, a few years later. Now with Jaguar on its roster.
An F-85 from Corey Oldsmobile for a local raffle, at a Bowling alley lobby in Holyoke, MA.
(Note: Last caption on the F-85 Oldsmobile updated 8/26/2023)
Love the 1964 Olds 2 door post in the showroom!
Seems odd to put the cheapest model on the showroom floor, doesn’t it?
Interesting – never really thought about it. I often see the most inexpensive version of a vehicle in the showroom. I think it can be a nice way to get people to look at a line of cars, by showing them how inexpensive it could be.
Not odd, ravvy, as It looks like it’s the grand prize for rolling a 300-game in a “sanctioned” league…and I think it’s top-shelf!
It’s in the lobby of a bowling alley, and that was the prize, which explains why it’s a low end F-85 2-door sedan. That’s always what were used for raffles and such.
So true about raffle cars. In 1961 our next door neighbors won the new car raffle held on the last night of our parish’s annual carnival. The car was an Olds Dynamic 88 donated by the local Olds dealership, whose owner was a prominent parishioner. The car was a sickly green with exactly one option – Hydramatic. Not even a radio.
I dunno, Mr. N., I think it was the dealer showroom…
Anyway, an F-85 seems like a terrific prize to me…I may be tad biased, tho.
F-85: Please see the comments further below about this location in Holyoke, MA. You can see the sign for the bowling alley through the window.
And the picture you posted is from a totally different location, in CA.
Had a 72 boat tail Riv in 76, same grey but half navy vinyl top and Buick mag rims.. 455 passed everything but a gas station…
I would loved to have had a ’57 Olds hardtop for my graduation present…
You’d have to be at least 18 in 1957 to have had that happen though. So you’re an 84 year old this year? LOL
well, let’s see. I had a white 1957 Oldsmobile 4 door (post) sedan at the age of 18 in [about] mid-1964. I was 13 in 1957, 20 in 1964, and that Olds was a spectacular white over red (with lots of chrome) rocket (pun intended) ship that got 8 miles of .30 cents per gallon gas when my teenage wages were one dollar per hour schlepping carpets during college.
So, subtract the 5 years from 1957, carry that into 2023, and I’m… 79.
And a half.
I would love to donate a couple of today’s 20 dollar bills in exchange for an hour (well, with 8 mpg maybe 45 minutes) of driving that big white 88 on the highway (*), feeding its 371 cubic inch, 277 hp, 400 lb.-ft. of torque at 2800 rpm, golden rocket V8’s four barrel carburetor lots and lots of $4,159 regular NJ gasoline
I would enjoy that very much.
(*) Highways only; that Olds rocket 88 was NOT a corner carver.
Now about that picture in your above post, I may look like that in 5 years -and- I may not even be alive in five years, but last week Debbie and I looked like this at 79 and 72.
Respect your elders; if you are lucky you may become one someday.
For a relatively small community, we had multiple dealerships. When Pontiac was dropped, GM abruptly pulled Buick from long time dealerships and gave it to higher volume Pontiac agency. So much for loyalty! Feeling to GM was BUCK $$$ U. But why should I have been surprised?🤔. This OLD DOG 🐕 never has liked that kind of TRICKS.
On the next to last pic, check out the gas prices at the Hudson station across and down the street…something we’ll never see again!
Didn’t realize that was a gas station. You mean the 28, 29?
Gotta say it one more time —
The styling changes in less than 10 years (1950’s) —
Among all the manufacturers —
Breathtaking.
Just compare those toothy 1950 Buicks (i’ll take the wagon) , with the max-chromed ’58 Olds.
The Mueller-Harkins Buick showroom in Tacoma is still standing, and is being occupied by a classic car dealer – shown in picture below.
StreetView image here:
https://goo.gl/maps/rX7DwNgnxSD3MYSp6
The building was constructed in 1948, so it was virtually new when the image in this post was taken. The cars behind the two rounded windows were on giant turntables (you can see the outline of the turntable in the black & white photo). Overall, it was an extremely modern showroom, and service area, for its day.
I was about to post the same thing, the turntable is still in place but don’t know if it is still operational. See below for some more historic photos.
Speaking of the turntable here it is under construction.
https://cdm17061.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p17061coll21/id/34070/rec/59
Neat – thanks! I’m amazed the turntable there is still in place – I’d love to know when the last time it was operated.
I’d love to know the last time it spun under its own power too. Looking at the pic of it under construction looks like it would be pretty easy to refurbish if one wanted to. You could probably find exact replacement outer support wheels in many industrial catalogs.
My 71 Lesabre would look right at home at Reynolds Buick.
On Olds dealer in Holyoke Mass, now that is a serious step back in time.
Buick and GMC Trucks sounds like an odd pairing. Usually GMC would have been most commonly with Chev, in most cases.
Nice shots!
In the US, I never saw GMC sold out of a Chevrolet dealer, mainly because Chevy had its own full line of trucks. In my area (Fort Wayne, Indiana) I remember a GMC-only dealership in neighboring New Haven that featured its full line, from half-ton pickups to semi tractors. I am having trouble remembering where someone could buy a GMC truck in Fort Wayne itself, it might have been at Don Ayres Pontiac where my mother bought her 74 LeMans.
GMC was generally paired with either Buick or Pontiac at the dealership level, as it gave those dealers a line of trucks to sell, in addition to cars.
Pontiac, Buick GMC used to be a pretty common match up before Pontiac went away. Now if you want a GMC in my area you will most likely be going to a Buick GMC dealer. Of course the GMC marketing has shifted considerably in the last couple of decades.
The location of Corey Oldsmobile in Holyoke, MA (606 Main St.) is now a very large marijuana dispensary. It seems to have gone through multiple iterations of various car-related businesses (independent used car dealers, muffler shop) before winding up as “Nameless”. Still looks like a car dealer.
This is in a very thoroughly ravaged section of Holyoke (mostly destroyed by arson over the years), so actually the dispensary if it sticks around will be a vast improvement for the area. No sign though of the bowling alley that seemed to be Corey’s neighbor back in the 1960s.
Actually the more I look at that shot that says it’s Corey Oldsmobile, and now that I see F-85’s comment above…I actually think that that photo is NOT a car dealer showroom, but rather the lobby of a bowling alley! That explains the bowling alley sign faintly visible outside the big windows; and why I can’t find any record of there being a bowling alley (the street pattern doesn’t support it) next door to Corey Oldsmobile’s former location in Holyoke.
Back in the 60s, there were some pretty swank bowling alleys…
We need someone who grew up in Holyoke to chime in. (the closest I can come is knowing a guy whose family used to run a bowling alley in nearby Agawam, MA…but that’s not going to help much. 🙂 )
The sign visible from the window is from Atlantic Ten Pin Lanes, which was a local chain of bowling alleys in Massachusetts. Apparently there was one (now long gone) in Holyoke, so I assume it was there, though it could have been at another location.
As one who grew up in a 64 Cutlass hardtop that was quite well optioned, that F-85 Deluxe looks mighty grim – kind of my idea of what a thrifty New Englander might have bought. And certainly what a dealer would have wanted to put up as a prize.
In my childhood home, it was odd that there were great big Olds dealers on the north and south ends of the city (Collins and Rice, respectively) but only a single Buick dealer in an old downtown location (Jim Kelly). Maybe this was why there were so many more Oldsmobiles in my young life than there were Buicks. I remember visiting all of them when tagging along with family when looking at cars.
In the Harrisburg region, two of the three Honda dealerships were started when an established GM dealer took on a Honda franchise. One was an Oldsmobile dealer, and the other was a Pontiac-GMC dealer.
Today, of course, the Oldsmobile franchise of the one dealer is long gone. When GM phased out Pontiac, the Pontiac-GMC dealer picked up Buick, and now sells Buicks and GMCs from one location.
The dealership also eventually picked up a Hyundai franchise.
Today both the Honda and Hyundai franchises are much bigger than the Buick-GMC franchise.
There is actually a street in Hyannis Ma named Dynaflow drive that used to house a Buick store on it..
Can’t forget Natzel Oldsmobile in Pasadena, Ca. .
-Nate
Sad confession- I remember exactly where I was when the Olds news came out. I was driving near Suffolk Downs in Boston and I was shocked; GM was still a big deal to me back then.
The Casa de Cadillac dealer in Sherman Oaks, CA still has its Googie era architecture today.
I just love posts like this. Please continue with them, Rich!
OK, so since no one else has mentioned this…This does seem a bit salacious for back in the day.
Or maybe that’s just me. 😉
Even if Joe and Judy would be around 84 now.
That photo is on a page taken from the ad section of either the Downey or Warren High School yearbook since Nowling Oldsmobile was on Firestone Boulevard directly across from what was Harvey’s Broiler in Downey, CA.
My dad bought a 55 Cadillac 62 hardtop from Bob Spreen Cadillac-Oldsmobile on Pacific Boulevard in Huntington Park. Whenever he needed parts, he’d go to Nowling for them because Cadillac and Oldsmobile shared many parts. The Olds dealer prices were cheaper.
The Nowling dealership buildings are still standing, but it’s a used car dealership now.
Bob Spreen opened a stand alone Cadillac dealer in the mid ’60’s, “A beautiful place to buy or lease a beautiful car, Bob Spreen Cadillac, where the freeways meet in Downey”.
Bob Spreen opened a stand alone Cadillac dealer in the mid ’60’s, “A beautiful place to buy or lease a beautiful car, Bob Spreen Cadillac, where the freeways meet in Downey”.
I have a yellow 1956 cadillac from bob spreen cadillac from the huntington park dealership
Reynolds Buick/GMC is still in business. Don’t think they handle Jaguar anymore but do sell Isuzu commercial trucks.
Reynolds was the launch pad for Kenne Bell Superchargers, which began as a Buick performance specialist.
The first pic (West Covina) is very “film noir”. The “Tacoma WA” shot is just fun and memories.
The “almost unadorned Olds in MA adds to the seemingly “spartan” showroom, feel.
I see it is two toned though; white stripe tires too!
Love that 50’s Buick in the corner of the showroom on what seems to be a turn table. Way WAY more appeal to pull customers in rather than the bland showrooms and ugly SUV’s of today.
the first picture shows a 64 225, one of my favorites.
Olds dealer in South Gate, I hope there was no big destination charge on the stickers. GM Assembly Division, originally Buick Olds Pontiac, was in the same town.
I thought that Lubricare picture looked mighty familiar. The Tacoma Public LIbrary has a collection of photos, many of them include dealerships including Mueller-Harkins from planning to construction and once completed. One of the newspaper articles I read years ago did mention how it was state of the art at the time.
https://cdm17061.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p17061coll21/search/searchterm/Mueller-Harkins%20Motor%20Co.%20(Tacoma)/field/subjec/mode/exact/conn/and
Amazing. The Opel signet to be seen on the Reynolds poscard has never been used in Europe, as far as I know. Much more amazing: They even didn`t use the traditional Opel colour combo yellow/black.