Time to visit some Buick dealers, on this occasion stepping into the 1960s and 1970s. Not too many sweepspears in this installment as the brand was evolving, but still a few ventiports, and enough Buick style. Today’s lede image is at Gately Bottomlee Buick, in Michigan City, IN.
Estenoz Motors, Buick-Pontiac, Key West, FL.
Across the street, Frank F. Wentworth and Sons, Pontiac-Buick, Dover, NH.
Buicks getting attention, service area, ca. 1963.
Across the street, Al Smith Buick, Michigan City, IN.
Lester Glenn Buick, Toms River, NJ.
Dvorak Buick, Cicero, IL.
Reynolds, a Buick-Opel-GMC dealer in West Covina, CA.
Bill Johnson Buikc, Michigan City, IN.
Royal Buick, Tampa, FL.
Got to love that slogan, When Better Automobiles are Built, Buick will Build Them.
Nice, all of these, brings back many fond memories of my yoot =-) .
Looking at the used car lineup at Estenoz Motors, way down on the left I see some serious oldies in the front row .
I’m still quite for of the 1964 Buicks my buddies dad had way back when .
-Nate
Two youtthhhhzz. The two defendants. LOL
Reynolds dealership in Covina CA with the 71 skylark hardtop reminds me of my Dads first new car. Had a nice silver hardtop and the roof was painted black. He got it new in 71 and passed away in 72.. And the dealership in snow brings me back the same store that bought my 38 Buick and I had to see it sitting out in the snow for a few months before it sold.. Had it 9 years, sold it to pay a visa bill..!! Actually used it in my wedding in 76. Ended up getting divorced in 88. Should have kept the Buick and dumped the wife then..!!
The ‘family run’ Lester Glenn brand is still operating in several towns in central New Jersey, including Toms River.
They have 10 locations and sell twelve different brands, but it doesn’t look like they are a Buick dealer anymore.
Reynolds is still in business in Covina, CA.. GMC and Isuzu trucks.
I know I’ll catch flak for writing this but get that unfortunate gentleman in the first image first to a good barber then a tailor. Yeah, I know the image is ca. 1978 but really.
I do like these collections of historic images, especially those of automobile dealerships, because the architecture of some of the buildings is as interesting, or more so, than the subject automobiles themselves.
Note the “Take a V6 Surprise Drive Today” window poster in the top photo. Sure hope that’s a turbo V6!! If not, I think the typical Buick customer might be disappointed.
In all fairness, I had a ’83 Cutlass with the naturally aspirated 231 V6. Slow as hell off the line, but never an issue till the rear seal was dripping a quart or two of oil every fill up at the 100k mile mark. Kept a case of oil in the trunk. Only gave up when the A/C went bust and couldn’t get hold of A12 freon any more.
Dvorak Buick, Cicero, IL. photo:
On the side of the building is painted “Don McAuliffe Buick. Guaranteed Used Cars”.
I guess the owner had not gotten around to updating the used car sign.
Actually, McAuliffe was the new name. McAuliffe bought Dvorak Buick in 1970, so I guess this photo was taken while the dealership was transitioning owners. The building itself was constructed in 1927 as Cicero Buick – Joseph Dvorak was one of the partners, and the dealership’s general manager. Eventually, his family took over the dealership, and owned it until 1970.
The dealership itself went through a few other ownership changes, eventually ending up as Emerald Buick, which went out of business in the 1990s. The building was demolished shortly afterwards.
I’m wondering how Michigan City became so popular for these dealer photos. This by no means is the first time this city’s dealerships have been featured here.
On another subject, some of these photos are terrible, dominated by lots of empty pavement, with the buildings and cars in the distance. If you must take a photo from afar, at least put some interest in the foreground, as was done with the Chevy II in the Al Smith dealer photo.
Can someone explain to me why Pontiac and Buick were so often paired up in one dealership? I don’t pretend to understand the GM business model that seemed to have encourage that. Thanks in advance!
Because especially in smaller towns, there was not enough volume to support the smaller GM divisions as stand-alone dealerships. So Pontiac and Buick as well as Olds and Cadillac were common pairings, although there were exceptions, like the Chevy-Buick-Cadillac dealer in Iowa City when I was a kid. The Olds and Pontiacs were standalones there.
A dealer near me sold Pontiac along with Cadillac for decades. They eventually added GMC after moving to a larger property. After Pontiac went away, they added Buick. A small nearby Chevrolet dealer eventually added Olds, then just disappeared.
Another small town only 12 miles away, once had small to very small stand-alone dealers for Dodge, Ford, Chevrolet, AMC and IHC. Also, one combo dealer, the smallest of the lot, a Buick-Pontiac dealer.
Looks like there was “trouble right here in (Michigan) City”. Three different Buick dealerships in three different buildings over a span of maybe 15 or so years? Some “rust belt” economic trends developing then, I’d say. I have never been to Michigan City but have driven past it to the south on I-94 multiple times.