Fred Oakley Motors, Chrysler-Plymouth-Imperial, Dallas, TX.
Vance Motors Inc., Chrysler-Plymouth-Imperial, Tulsa, OK.
Certilman Motors, Chrysler-Plymouth, Babylon L.I, NY.
C.S. Hamilton, Chrysler-Imperial-Plymouth, Dallas, TX.
Fretwell’s, Plymouth-Chrysler Center, Oklahoma City, OK.
Wolfe-Sullivan Inc., Plymouth-Chrysler-Imperial, Hingham, MA.
Ensley Chrysler-Plymouth, Ensley, AL.
Dan O’Shaughnessey, Plymouth-Chrysler-Imperial, Lansing, MI.
Castle Motors Inc., Chrysler-Plymouth- Imperial, Paramus, NJ.
Capital, Plymouth-Chrysler-Imperial, Talahassee, FL.
Barker Motors, Plymouth-Chrysler-Imperial, Eugene, OR.
Tri-County, Chrysler-Plymouth, New Rochelle, NY.
Vance Mtrs. in Tulsa, OK. is an interesting pic. Just beyond the pumpkin-colored Plymouth sedan on the showfloor is a white 300-E! Would have loved to plunk down $5K to own one of those! (Closest to the windows appears to be a black Imperial. Another I’d love to have owned!)
I love that first shot with the signs lit up at night!
I like the Vance Motors Chrysler Plymouth sign that is shaped like New York’s Chrysler Building.
If Chrysler didn’t want the Imperial to be called a Chrysler Imperial then it never should have had second billing on any dealers signage. That keeps Chrysler Imperial in people’s minds every time they see it.
Tri County C/P (now New Rochelle Hyundai) stands on the site of a pair of showrooms showrooms— Crabtree C/P and Soundview Chevrolet— that were destroyed in an explosion in December of 1971. I was standing in the Chrysler/ Plymouth showroom that morning, and lucky timing is why I’m able to tell you this over fifty years later.
No captive imports from France, Japan or England. Just a Standard 10 edge of shot at Certilman Motors.
I enjoy looking up these locations to see if there’s any remnants left of the original dealership. What I didn’t expect when I looked up Ensley Chrysler-Plymouth’s building was to see a Datsun sign.
Apparently Ensley C-P wasn’t in that location long (from 1964-71). After that, it was occupied by Bill Whiten Rambler-Datsun – which was originally located across the street (greater Birmingham’s first Datsun dealer). Whiten remained there until 1984 when Bill retired and sold the franchise. The Bill Whiten Datsun sign is still on the building’s facade.
From what I can tell, the building wasn’t vacant after Whiten sold the dealership. The new owners used this building for repair and body work for a while, and then it was occupied by a sheet metal fabricating company until fairly recently.
I’m not sure if the Datsun sign was covered up at some point in the last few decades, or if it was just left up there (it’s visible in the 2009 StreetView image, so I suspect the latter), but regardless, that was quite a surprise.
Google StreetView link:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/P4L7UQZyXMX5bYDQ6
It fascinates me how the 3 brand names – Chrysler, Imperial, Plymouth – appear in different order on different dealers’ signs. Or in the case of C.S. Hamilton in Dallas, two different orders on two different signs on the same building.
Love the 1962 (?) wagon C.S. has in the showroom window. Same colors as the 1961 my parents had. Well, given that the main color was tan, I guess that’s not a stretch for a Plymouth.
So many wild looking MoPars ! .
-Nate
Interesting Art Deco lettering on Fred Oakley Motors.
I would like to know when that building was built and who the architect was.
There appears to be a rare Standard/Triumph TR10 on the left of the Certilman Motors shot.
A tough sell anythere as it was a very basic, underpowered car, even by Brit standards.
My 1965 Chrysler 300 was purchased from Daland Motors in Millbrae, Ca. (South San Fransisco). Alas, when I called them 10 years ago it was now Daland Nissan. I had to visit in any way when I was out there. Ron
Fred Oakley later moved west to the city of Irving, and became Fred Oakley Chrysler Plymouth…and Dodge Truck. It didn’t sell Dodge cars, only the trucks! They were still in business on Airport Freeway until 2000 or so.
So cool to see these old Dealerships. I was a big Plymouth Fan and Lee Iacocca was on the Michael Jackson, nit the King of Pop., in 1993. I told Lee that I noticed new vehicles for Dodge and Eagle so I asked LeeI looks like you have plans to drop Plymouth in favor if Eagle, I said that Eagle was a names the Frencies made up about 15 years ago. Plymouth was around nearly 75cyears abd ai said, Plymouth was my furst Car, 67 Belvedere II 2 Door HT. Kee Said his first car was a Plymouth too! Somewhere along the way they “Saved Plymouth with that great 1St and Second Generation Mimi Van’s. And the Crappy Breeze, my first on only Bew Plymouth. The sold more Mini Van’s than Mercyry, Olds and Pontiac,not combined. The furst thing Mercedes was to kill Plymouth. Great cars always 200 bucks less than Didge. In 58, Plymouth, if it became # 3. in Sales they were going to get their own stand alone Dealerships
In the 50’s Chrysler, Dodge and De Soto all sold Plymouths until late 50’s and the end if Desoto!
Great shot of the inside of the shop at Castle Motors in Paramus New Jersey my mother got her Chrysler there her 71 Fury for 67 Fury and I actually got a chance to see back in the day a couple of brand new Superbirds great dealership wish it was still there today
I wonder if a salesman had to run out and feed the parking meter every 15 minutes at Vance Motors?!
Great pics! My dad’s last new car was a ’75 Dodge Dart Custom…perhaps a downhill slide from his previous purchases of a ’57 Plymouth, ’61 Chrysler, ’66 Ford wagon and ’70 Torino, but in his defense, he did have 2 kids in college at the same time.
I remember the Joe Garagiola “get a check!” ad campaign well…perhaps the first “rebate” program offered by a manufacturer.
I’ve always been vexed as to the prestige label affixed to Chryslers, as if they were an aspirational brand. Was that lost in the ’60s and ’70s?
We had a 1964 Plymouth belvedere… great car with push button gears . Wonderful
Also had a Dodge polara 383 engine… That thing blew away fords and Chevy’s…
You can see the impact of standardized signage for the Chrysler/Imperial/Plymouth dealers. The medium blue squares that spell out the name of the dealer plus the signs on the post. Based on the model years, looks like this was implemented in 1964 or 1965.
For those dealers moving to new facilities, I’m sure Chrysler also imposed standardized formats for glass walls, minimum square footage of display, location, etc.
Thinking back, the color red was used for Dodge dealers.
I was a representative for Chrysler at Certilman, Tri County and Castle during those times!
What great memories