Epp’s Chevrolet, Middlesboro, KY.
Yonkers Motors, in Yonkers, NY.
Vintage Dealer Postcards: Mostly Chevrolets, With Guest Appearances – Early ’60s
– Posted on July 8, 2023
Epp’s Chevrolet, Middlesboro, KY.
Yonkers Motors, in Yonkers, NY.
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Top photo: to my eye, the white “Epp’s Chevrolet, Inc.” sign looks like it is (proto) Photoshopped in. Anybody else?
Bottom photo: Since I’m always looking at the back row, I’m trying to ID the white car, 2nd from left in the back row. It *may* be an early Corvair, but it almost seems too small. What do you think it is?
The sign could have been airbrushed into the photo — it’s noticeably whiter than any of the white cars pictured. Or it could have been a newly installed banner.
The white car that you’ve pointed out could be an early Corvair, but I can’t say for sure. There is a blue ’60 Corvair in the front row (4th from the left).
I’d say that it is a Corvair.
The “Epp’s Chevrolet Inc.” sign stood out to me as well. I thought cut and paste from the days when we really did cut out type with a scalpel and glue it on.
I also noticed the ‘customers and salesman’ perusing the front row. Even in a posed shot one of them just isn’t interested.
Corvair.
I remember seeing cars with Epps (without the apostrophe) Chevrolet dealer stickers. “Epp” was short for Epperson, and it appears they went out of business (as Epps Chevrolet-Nissan) in 2013.
https://casetext.com/case/epps-chevrolet-co-v-nissan-n-am-inc-1
Download Epp’s App.
A surprising number of non-Chevrolet cars are prominently featured on the Epp’s Card. Without even trying too hard, I spy several 1957 Fords, a Ford Falcon wagon, and a Nash station wagon (which would have been a genuine rarity, even back in the day).
As for the Epp’s sign, it is definitely retouched. It might have simply been “dodged” out in the darkroom to make the sign lighter and pop out more.
Yep, that’s the first thing I noticed in the first photo is the lack of Chevys.
Look at all those Station Wagons.
For the Yonkers photo – In the second row, third car from the left (the white car next to the empty spot): I can’t quite place it. At first, I thought might be a Studebaker or Packard Hawk, but the grille doesn’t look quite right. Maybe a 1957 Thunderbird (the only two-seater year without the dagmars).
Pontiac. Not sure of the specific year, but approximately 1955. The chrome strips help overcome the front being occluded.
Somewhere I heard those chrome strips referred to as ‘old man’s suspenders’, which seemed appropriate for what was a conservative brand in the mid-1950s. 🙂
I think they disappeared for good in 1957, which would make this car a ’55 or ’56.
mid “50’s Pontiac.”
The Epp’s Chevrolet building is still standing and largely intact. Looks like it was last used as a golf cart dealer, though it may be vacant now (Google StreetView below).
Yonkers Motors was in Yonkers, N.Y. (not in Kentucky), and it appears this photo is of their used car lot. The main building was at 201 S. Broadway in Yonkers – it was an impressive brick building with a Spanish-style roof. That building (minus the Spanish tiles) is still standing, though it too is now vacant.
Thanks. That was a typo in the Yonkers Motors image. It’s fixed now.
Yonkers Motors is shown in this video at 6:47, 1963 and now. Present Google streetview shows that folding metal gates now line the sidewalk in front to protect the cars from thieves and vandals. Such gates apparently weren’t necessary in the early ’60s.
If you watch this and Michael Gross’ other Yonkers videos, you can see how, like a lot of American cities, so much charm, beauty, and vitality has been lost.