When it comes to vintage dealer photos, few are as exciting as those capturing new-model-year unveilings, particularly as they took place in the 1950s and 1960s. These were true community events, and you can almost feel the excitement in the images: dealerships prepared for the occasion, sometimes after days of keeping their window displays covered to conceal the new looks. As we’ve seen in previous posts and photo series, there were spotlights, coffee, donuts, and lots more to make the occasion special. Expectations were high, and between the festive surroundings and the latest models sporting their trendy new looks, there was plenty to make an impression. This was especially true of GM’s products, whose fashion-oriented styling of the period remains a subject of conversation to this day.
Today’s photos come from Ripley Buick in Springfield, Ohio, and capture several grand scale events. The one above is undoubtedly the main attraction: the unveiling of the 1954 Buicks, promoted that year in brochures as “The Beautiful Buy.” Buick was riding one of its styling peaks in the 1950s, making that slogan more than just talk
And now, on to the very busy showroom. Geez, hard to get a good look at those “Beautiful Buys” with this crowd! Is it me, or has our tolerance for crowds in confined spaces diminished over the years?
Regardless, not everyone here is wearing a suit and tie, but just about everyone is dressed as nicely as they could be. One of several details that remind us these photos come from a very different era.
Away from the showroom, and on to another display arranged by Ripley. Like the earlier one, this was a large-scale event. In our age of instant online gratification, it’s a little hard to grasp just how much excitement these unveilings generated. But the tradition of annual styling changes and new features did their trick back then, building anticipation and curiosity among the public. And then there was Buick itself, which was selling like hotcakes in the early 1950s. There was plenty of reason for folks to turn out and see what the latest models had to offer.
Living up to expectations, the 1954 Buicks arrived with fresh styling that borrowed cues previewed in the 1951 XP-300 and LeSabre show cars. The most obvious links were seen at the front, along with the new wraparound windshields, plus other styling touches. Elsewhere, power came from Buick’s new-for-1953 V-8 engines: a 322-cubic-inch unit in various states of tune, plus a new for ’54, smaller 264-cubic-inch version. These updates helped keep Buick on an upward trajectory, pushing it to third place in U.S. sales for 1955.
One more look at the gathering, this time showing the curious, the onlookers, and those who seemed to be just hanging around. Did I mention this was long before the internet? Television was becoming commonplace, of course, but events like these still offered a good excuse to get out of home, mingle with the neighbors, and be part of what was happening.
Notes on the back of this photo indicate that Forest Ripley is pictured here, first on the left in the second row. By all indications, Ripley was already a well-established dealer by the time this photograph was taken at a Dodge Dealer’s Advisory Conference in Detroit in 1951. In addition to its Dodge and Buick locations in Springfield, the family also operated another Ripley Buick in Indianapolis. Forest’s son, Forest E. Ripley, later ran Ripley Chevrolet-Oldsmobile in Marysville from 1959 to 1975.
Another image from the Springfield, Ohio, location, this time taken during quieter hours, with Buick’s “Spring Fashion Show” on display.
I wonder how much we’d get in trade-in for that 1950s Chevrolet parked along the curb?
And finally, a look at Ripley’s staff and their families, giving us one last glimpse of the people behind the sales force and bringing this little trip back to 1950s Springfield to a close.
Used to love these dealer unveilings, Dad took me to some of the dealers in Towson for them in the ’58 to ’62 time period.
Our neighbor Mr LaForge bought the first ’59 Buick in Towson from Brooks Buick on York Road, a black ’59 Electra (first year for that model) and he had his picture with his new car in the local Towson paper, “The Jeffersonian” that September! New cars were a big deal back then. Marsden Chevrolet wold put the new cars in the showroom a few days before, covered up so not to be seen until the exciting day…sure miss those times!
So, it seems that people 70-80 years ago, were as excited about new cars, as people today are with new Apple phones, or Nike Air Jordans?
Very interesting.
Wow – great collection of photos! I wish I’d been around at a time when new cars generated so much attention.
From what I could find about him, Forest Ripley was a self-made man – a gifted salesman, and as a young man in the 1920s he started selling cars to eke out a living. Eventually, he borrowed a few hundred dollars from relatives and opened his own business, which eventually became a Dodge franchise. He took over an existing Buick franchise in Springfield in early ’54, but at about the same time, his company’s main showroom suffered a fire (the fire was not deemed suspicious, since it was an explosion that occurred in the service areas while the business was open). The showroom was rebuilt, and opened in June 1954 as the new Ripley Buick showroom.
I suspect the showroom photos here may have been from Ripley Buick’s grand opening that June. The Grand Opening was evidently pretty extravagant, and featured entertainment and family events, as well as performances by the McGuire Sisters, so it’s possible that not everyone in attendance was there just to see the Buicks. That might explain the big crowds. Just a guess – it’s hard to tell for sure.
I wonder if the “Spring Fashion Show” picture was actually from before the Grand Opening? They look like ’54s in the showroom to me, but what makes me curious is that the “RIPLEY BUICK” sign isn’t there. Maybe taken before the sign was installed?
I am pretty sure that the tent photos were from the Clark County Fair in August 1954. The ad below shows that Ripley Buick had a large tent there with 75 cars, and a Buick Wildcat, which somehow eluded this photographer! Plus, in ideal 1950s fashion, they were giving away a horse and a pony there too. If this pictures are from the Fair, it’s interesting to see how well people dressed for a County Fair too.
Here’s an ad for the Ripley Buick Grand Opening in June:
Thanks Eric! As usual, lots of nice details in that background story. Here’s a photo of the McGuire Sisters at the event.
That’s impressive and expensive for a city like Springfield. The McGuire sisters were bigger than Buick! “May You Always” instantly drops into my inner jukebox….
Fun times if you were in the earnings bracket .
-Nate
Interesting to read some of the comments thus far. Most seem to have the same theme: Things were more exciting and different back then. And they were.
When I first started selling in 1988, the internet was in few homes and almost nobody had computers. Cell phones were not really a thing yet and smart phones were certainly not around. People got information from printed publications, TV and radio. By 1988, the new car “unveilings” were not very exciting and we were already getting new cars months earlier than in the past. It used to be where these new cars were kept secret and dealers still worked at building excitement. Those days (sadly) are gone.
Like VanillaDude said above, cars used to be what some shoes and iPhone are today. And for me, it’s very sad that is the new norm. But then again, Buick probably has the most boring and saddest lineup of all time. Certainly not anything to get excited about now is there? Certainly not like in 1988 when I began selling Buick and Cadillac and they had a lot more models, colors and such to see.
4th grade ‘Current Events’ writing assignment:
Write an essay on ANY topic in the news —
Oct., 1962, and I was aware of –
— Nikita Krushchev banging his shoe on podium at the UN
— Alan Shepherd & John Glenn in Earthly orbit
— Cuban Missle Crisis
— Israel, Egypt and the Suez Canal
— Fidel Castro chomping on cigars
— JFK ……. and my crush on Caroline …….
The topic I chose: The Big Reveal of the ’63 cars —
I couldn’t stop writing. Fins, ww’s, hubcaps, bubbletops, power windows, push-button transmissions.
I was still writing when the teacher finally snatched my paper.
Yes, The Big Reveal was a major annual event!
Even at small town dealerships in Indiana the windows would be papered over and excitement building before the unveiling of the new models in Fall. The 54 Buicks were a big deal, a more svelte body and the overly toothy grille gone. The 55 was better because a lot of people did not like the sad sack face of the 54 and the four-door hardtop was introduced. That one-year old 53 Chevy 210 at the curb should have brought a decent trade-in value on a new Buick.
In my area, the big model reveal died out around 1971. The hard part was storing all of the new stock in a secret location until the big day. With emissions and 5mph bumpers and such, people were less enthusiastic about cars.