I know there are still a few VW Beetles and Buses around; so prevalent they were that, despite the passage of time, some remain on the streets to this day. However, not many have appeared in our pages lately, so why not overcome their recent CC scarcity by checking out a bunch of new ones? Yes, it’s once again, virtual dealer shopping time.
So, if you’ve a preference for these no longer available air-cooled wonders (yes, I’m biased), there’s a bit of everything in today’s displays.
For the most part, the images come from the early days of Howard Cooper’s VW dealer in Ann Arbor, MI. Opening took place in November of 1965, and this image shows the clean looking new location at 2565 State St.
Cooper was no stranger to foreign makes when he took on VW, as he had owned a previous general imports dealer for several years. As can be seen, VW’s clean corporate dealer aesthetic was already in full force by the mid sixties when Howard Cooper opened.
As mentioned, there’s a bit of everything from Wolfsburg in these shots. From your Beetle sedans to drop-tops, to Karmanns and Fastbacks.
The salesmen’s shots date to May of 1966, with the tarmac still looking new.
In this image, notice on the left by the light pole, the rear end of a Corvair, Chevrolet’s air-cooled offering.
This Karmann convertible is the dream one for me. And who wants a closer look at the Westfalia visible in the showroom?
That doesn’t look like the Westfalia in the showroom, but regardless, it’s ready for camping season.
A view showing the used car lot. And the whitewalls look nice on that Beetle in the foreground.
A shot from a later date, where the dealer seems to be humming. Notice the Beetle (san wheels) on the hydraulic lift by the service area, and an early BMW Neue Klasse on the parking lot.
Tour done, it’s time to leave for today. As for me, I’ll take the white Beetle with the sunroof on the left. If you prefer American iron, take your pick from the used car lot or any of the others in the parking lot. There’s quite a variety of them, after all.
Mid-century flat roofed glass walled showrooms! were these a thing for large numbers of VW dealerships? the one I remember in my childhood town was remarkably similar to this. IIRC not glass walls on 3 sides, but the same architectural design language. Ripley Motors Ithaca, NY. the place that sold aircooled VWs in the dawning days of the city’s Ulcer Alley/miracle mile region was demolished long ago. Seeing these images immediately provides a similar experience to the ones i felt back in the day.
From 1957 I believe
an interior shot with the desired sunroof model
Bet that showroom was a “frosty”, place in “MI”, winters.
Oh i like that “KG”, convert!
It amazes me how similar the VW architecture is among all of their North American Dealerships. My first new car purchase, fresh out of college in 1985 was an ’85 VW Jetta GLI, bought brand new from Lynngate VW, on Boston Street in Lynn, MA. It very similar to another VW dealer in Beverly, MA, Britton’s North Shore VW, which started out in an old gas station on Rantoul street before moving to a new home on Park Street with the new “corporate” architecture. (see link below for Lynngate VW).
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/dealers/lynngatemotors_lynn_mass.php
Both dealers are gone now. Lynngate VW went out of business. An Auto Zone auto parts store and a Dollar Tree store now occupy the site.
North Shore VW burned down at the turn of the 21st century, in a fire of “suspicious origin”, but no one was ever caught for the suspected arson. The two (2) brothers who owned the dealership retired and sold the dealership rights to a local mega dealer, the Kelley Auto Group, who moved the whole operation out to the local automobile dealer’s row on MA Route 114 in Peabody, where it resides to this day! The old location remained as a used car lot and is still operating as a “Mom & Pop” used car lot today, under new ownership.
https://www.vwvortex.com/threads/north-shore-volkswagen-fire.4904109/
The two dealers I dealt with in Oklahoma had similar architecture. They were good at mechanical work, but they KNEW the customers had no other choice. They didn’t need to be nice, so they weren’t.
There’s a whole story about those cookie – cutter VW Dealerships in the 1960’s, hopefully C.C. will write an article about it / them some day .
You really had to be there to grasp how awful many (? most ?) VW $tealerships were in that time (1960’s) . most Mechanics didn’t have metric tools and considered most foreign cars to be a joke or retribution for having lost WWII (seriously) .
The independent VW shops were few and far between .
-Nate
Ive heard VWs described as Hitlers revenge for decades and BMC FWD cars called Churchills revenge, they both had a rep for going wrong and being difficult to fix, not being a qualified mechanic I found them different to fix neither are particularly difficult.
Great set of photos! This dealership’s founder was Harold Cooper, Jr. – his father (Howard Sr.) was also somewhat of a pioneering auto dealer. He founded HJ Cooper Dodge in Kalamazoo in 1914, making him one of the very first Dodge dealers.
I think Howard Cooper’s was the first VW dealer in Ann Arbor, which being a college town, was a good location choice.
In 1966, my Dad bought a ’59 Beetle as his first “2nd” car. He’d had previous experience with them sometime between 1950 and 1953, he was stationed on the Czech border with the US Army, and they assigned him a Beetle at times when he was on some assignment. The ’59 was the only used car he was to buy; it was rusty but had good winter traction, important as we lived in Burlington, Vt. Unfortunately it was totalled parked in front of our house; a teenager living at the end of our street ran into it. Dad replaced it with a new ’68 Renault R10.