Sanders Oldsmobile, La Brea & Wilshire, Los Angeles, CA.
John Lee Oldsmobile, Ann Arbor, MI.
Guaranty Chevrolet-Pontiac-Oldsmobile, Junction City, OR.
1972 models in the showroom.
Bob Brown Oldsmobile, Portland, OR.
Owen James Autos, Cadillac-Oldsmobile.
Trudeau, Chevrolet-Oldsmobile-Cadillac, Ontario, Canada.
Holiday Olds Co., Scottsdale, AZ.
Bob Brown, Oldsmobile-Subaru, Portland, OR.
Bob Sacks Oldsmobile-AMC-Jeep-Toyota, Farmington Hills, MI.
Jack Thompson Oldsmobile, Oak Lawn, IL.
Malcom Konner Oldsmobile, Westwood, NJ.
Neat two tone paint on the Subaru Brat in the bottom Bob Brown photo. A hint of the rear facing seats is just visible.
I wonder if Bob Brown and his descendents held onto the license to print money a Subaru franchise in Portland’s gotta be.
Trudeau Motors in Belleville Ontario seems to have been demolished years ago. It was in Belleville according to the side of this race car with a logo that matches the one on the building.
Looks like Trudeau had been in business since the 1930s, and moved into that location in 1948, as a Chrysler/Plymouth/Fargo dealer. They switched to GM brands sometime in the early 1950s, and stayed at that location until the mid 1990s. The building was demolished in 2020.
What I find interesting is that for a Chrysler-turned-GM dealer, Trudeau’s logo looks awfully Ford-like:
The Kent Golden Lights billboard in the lead photo jumps out at me. I remember when it was legal to advertise cigarettes, but it’s been illegal for so long that I’d forgotten the last time I saw a cigarette ad.
That ad caught my eye too and gave me an immediate desire to spark up a Kent Golden Light – sadly they don’t sell ’em where I am so I made do with a diet Marlboro.
It’s surprising they were allowed to have third-party advertising at all or if the billboard’s on the adjacent building putting some of their ad budget towards having an OIdsmobile sign on it instead of something random.
I remember even further back. Imagine promoting candy cigarettes in an effort to convince kids how cool it was to smoke.
Quite the menagerie of trade-ins and rolling stock at the Junction City (OR) dealership.
A nice C-Series pickup, an Olds Toronado, and my favorite: the cheeky Vega wagon.
Chevy-Oldsmobile and Olds-Cadillac were the most common dual franchises for Olds, GM’s most frequently-dualed division. Chevy-Pontiac-Olds is a bit more unusual.
The dealership in Picture #7 (Owen James) was actually a Pontiac-Olds-Cadillac dealer, another unusual combination. It was located in a Tillamook, Oregon – small town dealerships tended to have more unusual pairings.
That dealership closed in 1976.
Last photo, deliveres made with a Chevy Bison. Think about the poor guy (ME!) that had to put a clutch in that beast!
Assuming it was Detroit powered I would just want to listen to it
99.9% certain it would be an 8V71 Detroit.
Gahhh! I hated these things. Minor nit, that’s a Bruin not a Bison. The Bison was a GMC General with a Chevy bow tie on it. These were a GMC Brigadeer with a bow tie.
And I hear you on the clutch. Ours were 6-71 powered with an RTO 9513 trans. Hauling 12 tonnes of sand and pushing a snowplow, they ate a clutch once a season.
The rear engine mounts were actually on the transmission, and the bolts went through the frame and also secured the front fuel tank cradles. So pulling the trans meant supporting the engine, and the tanks, and somehow getting yourself under there and the trans out. Big fun…
Probably been 35 years since I did the last one, but I still remember all the words….
The car carriers like this one that I worked on ran 8V71 that listed to the right about one bellhousing bolt, if not properly supported they would lay over on the right framerail which really added to the frustration. One bolt under the air compressor behind the motor mount, for some reason that bolt always got lost! I got to be a mechanic from the match book cover that said “you too can earn big money and increase your vocabulary”!
Most of them were 6-71T’s at 270HP. The early ones were 6-71N’s at 250HP. The Tarrytown NY terminal was playing around with double bottoms in the early 1980’s. Those tractors had the 8V71T at 350 HP.
I drove for that company in the northeast for 11 years. If I could make out the tractor number, I could tell if I had any seat time in that particular one.
The cream-colored Cutlass Salon at Holiday Olds. To me, that’s close to the pinnacle of mid-70s easy smooth. Great looking car.
The design shows exactly why they were so popular in ’76-’77. That side shot shows a purposeful shape, leaning forward. Near perfect proportions in my opinion. I know the downsized follow-up sold millions as well, but something was lost in translation…
What makes the big difference are the Super Stock wheels which usually included a handling package of sway bars front and rear.
Had an ’83 Cutlass with the same package. Made such a difference in handling clover leafs on the interstate.
Fall of 1969, the year I graduated from High School. I remember driving around to car dealerships on a Sunday just after the new 1970 model cars were introduced. I was driving a 1963 T-Bird, that I loved, but looking at the new cars was fun. The 1969 models, my passion was a 1969 Cougar XR7 convertible. But when the 1970 models were introduced in the Fall of 1969, I fell in love with a 1970 Olds Cutlass Supreme convertible on the lot. It was a red convertible with white top and sort of a pearl white interior. I wanted a 1970 Cutlass Supreme convertible with all the bright work and whitewall tires and extra cost wheels.
I have my 1966 T-Bird convertible that i love. But yet there are two cars I would love to have. A 1969 Cougar XR7 convertible, and a 1970 Olds Cutlass Supreme convertible.
My brother bought his 84 Subaru 4WD wagon, brand new, from Bob Brown.