Van Wyk’s Volkswagen, Santa Barbara, CA.
Jaguar in the showroom, 1962.
Sander Motors, St. Joseph, MO.
Toyota showroom, 1966.
Mercedes-Benz showroom, 1966.
Datsun at Sunnyvale, CA.
Bill Lyons, Toyota-Fiat, Mason City, IA.
Economotors, Riverside, CA.
A-1 Motors, Chambersburg, PA.
Back then, it was much easier to obtain an Asian or Euro franchise. The manufactures were eager to spread their footprint. I would image most of these were US dealers who took the foreign dealerships as a sideline. I have sorrow for the Renault dealer across the street in the 3rd photo. Doubt he made his money back.
Having had a ’63 Beetle, that Ghia in the top photo has my name written all over it or I would take any of the Beetles on the front row. In fact, I’ll take a Datsun 510 & Z240 while I’m at it.
Cars were more straight forward back then.
Picture #5 (Mercedes-Benz showroom, 1966) is of Mercedes-Benz of Hollywood, at 6465 Sunset Blvd. I went searching for a visual confirmation of either the dealership during the 1960s, or of the Vine-Sunset Loan building across the street… and happened to find it elsewhere on CC. The picture below is part of a compendium of Sunset Strip photos posted in 2020 – shows both buildings, separated by Wilcox Ave.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/vintage-snapshots-and-photography/vintage-photos-a-drive-down-sunset-strip-in-1966-part-1-google-streetview-preview/3/
Look at the smog at the end of the street. By 66-67 you wouldn’t even know there was a hill at the far end.
At the ripe old age of 16, my best friend and I frequently drove past a local home of a local Interior Designer who frequently was out front polishing his red JAG XKE. Both of us wishing we were him. He was about 30 and began waving when we passed, causing us to speed up in embarrassment, only to circle again. One day he moved onto the street and flagged us down. To our surprise, he told us to park and led us to the JAG, opened the driver’s door and invited us to take a turn behind the wheel. That JAG and the generous owner remain one of my favorite memories.
The Renault dealer in St Joe probably didn’t do well. St Joe wasn’t a college town or a cultural center, it was mostly industrial then. The Renault dealer would have better luck in Lawrence or KC.
I was curious about that too, and it looks like that dealer (Swafford Motors) dropped its Renault franchise in 1963.
Wish you would give the actual street addresses of these places.
I do a LOT of searching on the Model T Website, and it is always AWESOME when they include the actual original address of the Ford Dealership. Sometimes it is necessary to Google Map street view, and move along the streets to find an original dealership, and what it has become now. Sometimes it can be done with just a small town name, and cruise the street view until you match up the architectural details. But often it is NOT POSSIBLE, because there is not even a city or state identification of where the picture was taken. If the picture says “Main Street- Apple Falls – 1910, it can usually be found, unless it no longer is standing.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE! Put the actual address if you can find it somewhere! Finding an actual FRANKLIN dealership from 1921 is ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!!!
I KNOW they are mostly long gone, but many times the original building still remains! It is nice to find them, which you can do if you have an idea of what small town they were in, or what STREET ADDRESS they were at, if it is a large city.
Just a suggestion!
Thanks very much!
I love this series!
Kind regards;
Bill
Many of these can be found across the web. You will find that outside of the town or city almost none, that I have ever seen, mention a street address.
Bill Lyons Toyota-Fiat looks like a former grocery store!
As far as I can tell, that building was constructed in the late 1940s as a garage/storage building for Grant Storage Battery, which was a battery, radio and electrical supply company. In the mid 1950s it was taken over by Pritchard Motor Co., a Ford dealer, as a used car showroom (Pritchard’s main facility was across the street). Bill Lyons opened in 1969.
The building is still standing – appears that it’s used as a preschool now (surprising since there’s no outdoor play area). Google StreetView link here:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/caGmSUbwrfMTYtps9
Thank you for the information on this property! I no longer live there, but Mason City is my hometown and I do remember when many of the car dealers were clustered in or on the edges of the downtown area, like so many other communities. Bill Lyons sold various makes, foreign and domestic, over the years and in different locations. Bill’s grandson, Travis Hosmer, led the family business in a newer west “suburban” location along Highway 122 allowing for an extensive outdoor inventory area. Although he passed away in 2024, the business still sells Toyotas and bears his name. I think it is possible that the former Bill Lyons building, currently owned by Kinderhaus Montessori School, may use indoor play areas given the harsh winters in the area, as well as supervised outdoor field trips, to meet exercise needs, according to their web site. https://www.kinderhausmontessorischool.org/ourschool. Also likely due to child safety… sadly an issue just about anywhere these days, even in the Upper Midwest. Just a guess, anyway…
Is someone looking to trade their 59 Minx on a new E type?
The Datsun dealership at 916 West El Camino in Sunnyvale moved around quite a bit. In an interesting twist, that location is now Toyota. I moved to the area in the late 80’s and I’m pretty sure it was Toyota by then. I feel like I bought parts there for either our Corolla or Land Cruiser, maybe both, in the 90’s.
“Chambersburg, PA” had quite a sizeable, spread of a “Datsun”, dealer.
In 1970 I bought a 1965 MGB ( which I still have.). When I bought it I was told it was originally sold by a dealer in long beach called consolidated motors on anaheim boulevard.
Fast forward to 1978 when I drove by that location, on my way to the long beach grand prix, only to find a house whose garage faced Anaheim boulevard. The garage door appeared to be made of glass. So I would guess that was the original showroom floor and you signed your paperwork in the kitchen.
Fast forward a decade or so, and I founed an advertisement for MG sales in 1967 that said, see your local M.G dealer but that dealer in long beach was not consolidated motors nor on Anaheim boulevard. So apparently consolidated motors was no more in 1967 and in fact, I drove by the location and found that the house was gone and a office building was being constructed.
Fast forward another decade or so and I got the heritage certificate which showed Port of Entry as being simply Long Beach. So apparently the car spent its first 5 years in long beach and the next 55 years on Mulholland drive in the San Fernando valley.
It is a highly option MGB as it includes factory hardtop, overdrive and wire wheels as well as a soft top, toneo cover all of which I have today.
Attached photo is what the location looked like 5 years ago.
That green ‘Ghia is a pre 1958 model .
Love looking at the old pictures .
-Nate
Love that car!
There was a dealer on Anaheim Street in Anaheim and one on Long Beach Blvd. in Long Beach. Online you can find PDFs of dealer locators.
It has been a long time since I spotted a Corona. In high school in Toronto my best friend’s father got one, and it was the first one I remember. He had always driven full size Chevs, so it seemed like quite a change, but later I realized the Chevs were probably company cars. Maybe they did have unusual taste in cars, as his mother drove a Morris Minor 1000.
I always thought the reverse slant to the grill on the Corona looked odd. It needed to go to an orthodontist.
I guess our localish Renault dealer was smarter or luckier. They also had a BMW franchise, which was why we were there. Foreign Car Clinic in Dobbs Ferry NY had a decent run, dropping Renault and selling BMW through the boom years of the 80s before closing. The shop is still there as a car repair business.
As an aside they also had a Peugeot showroom during their last attempt at the US market with the 405.