Kroblen GMC Truck Sales, Grand Rapids, MI.
Armbrecht Motor Truck Sales, GMC-Jeep-Divco, Youngstown, OH.
Balch Buick-GMC, San Angelo, TX.
Sterkel GMC Inc., Canoga Park, CA.
Frank’s GMC Garage, Lyndhurst, NJ.
Royal Pontiac-Buick-Opel-GMC, Macomb, IL.
Cassel GMC Truck Sales, Patchogue, NY.
Coffman GMC Trucks, Aurora, IL.
Ah Cassel GMC Sales. I live about 15 min from there. Only they’re long gone now.
I just looked up the location – looks like the building is still there, though its a bit hard hard to tell due to the facade changes. It’s occupied by an energy/construction company now.
Then-and-now comparison and Google StreetView link:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/n8bHhr99vqnAKP1n7
One wonders why an energy/construction company saw the need to spend good money on a major facelift of the building. Or perhaps there was an occupant between the car dealership and the construction company, or the remodeling was done in the later years of the dealership.
I wish I could go shopping in those dealers now…..
-Nate
I would head for the GMC Jeep Divco dealer
I was under the impression that GMC franchises were attached to either Buick, Olds, or Pontiac (BOP) dealers. That way, GMC shops were not in direct competition with Chevrolet dealers. The premise was for rural BOP dealers to have something to offer to both the farmer (GMC) and his wife (BOP).
Today, I guess the mindset has shifted with the focus on GMC vehicles ( 4 trucks, 4 SUV, 4 commercial, plus various electric versions) and Buick ( 4 SUV) as an after thought.
Most GMC dealers were attached to BOP stores back in the day. There were a few exceptions, such as the Cassel GMC near where I live.
I don’t recall any GMC dealerships that weren’t attached to a non-Chevrolet GM car dealership.
There were a few….not many.
In the New Orleans area, there is a Ford truck dealer (Cresent City). Just heavy duty trucks and frames, no SUVs, no passenger cars. Been around for years!! Never seen such a set up else where in the US.
You can still go “shopping” at Frank’s GMC a/k/a Frank’s Truck Center. T service, parts and sales personnel are outstanding. The service is properly completed and reasonably priced. I have been buying my GMC’s from them since 2000.
The standalone GMC dealers in these photos are how I remember GMC dealers. Before, say, the 1980s, GMC dealers weren’t found on “Dealer’s Row” or the “Automotive Mile”, because their trucks weren’t (for the most part) marketed to the general public. They were bought by tradesmen, small businesses, and private and municipal fleets.
The GMC dealers that *I* saw were in commercial/industrial areas of town. Many of the “personal use” trucks were driven by business owners who got a good deal on a Sprint, or a Jimmy, or a loaded half-ton pickup from the dealer where they bought half a dozen work vans or a couple medium duty trucks.
If you look at Sprint vs. El Camino sales, or Jimmy vs. Blazer, you can see that GMC sold in a very small proportion relative to their Chevrolet counterparts when it came to personal vehicles.
Coffman GMC, first year Detroit powered General wrecker ’77? Astro behind it. To the left, ubiquitous 318 powered 9500. Stand alone dealers were fairly common, Bros. GMC in Trenton N J, Gus Pollard in Charletsville Va were the ones I delt with.
Back when GMC had a connection to the big rigs that defined it compared to the present day inexplicably surviving GMC(as opposed to Pontiac Oldsmobile or even freaking Saturn divisions) that are literally the last bastion of corporate badge jobs in the industry….
I MISS IT WHEN TRUCKS HAD SOUL COMPARED TO NOW!!😭🤮THOUGH THE CURRENT SIERRAS (2026) STILL LOOK GOOD ON PAPER, 2027 T1-2 NOT OUT YET
Here’s why:
1. We miss white-letter tires!!😭
2. We miss two-tone bottom paint!!😭
3. We miss single cab short beds!!😭
4. We miss true sport trims and not “in name only”!!😭
As 3SpeedAutomatic wrote, “In the New Orleans area, there is a Ford truck dealer (Cresent City). Just heavy-duty trucks and frames, no SUVs, no passenger cars. Been around for years!! Never seen such a set up elsewhere in the US,” Chastang (rhymes with Mustang) Ford in the northeast part of Houston (a very industrial area in proximity to the Ship Channel) used to sell only Ford trucks, mostly medium duty and larger. One could get a light-duty truck there (1/2 to 1 ton), and a few individuals did buy those at that dealership, but most were fleet sales. Chastang is still in business in a new location not far from the original and it does sell the full line of Ford vehicles including SUVs and the Mach-E but the inventory is heavily weighted to REAL TRUCKS!
I am not aware of a GMC only dealership in Houston either currently or in the past. There are new truck only dealerships in that same area that sell the bigger trucks and often more than one brand like Navistar (Formerly International Harvester), Mack, Kenworth, and Peterbuilt as well as some of the “off-shore” brands like Iveco and Isuzu that most likely also sold larger GMC trucks.
Stand-alone GMC dealers were once common, but more often than not were commercial truck dealers. GMC franchises were offered to B-O-P dealers but they were usually light duty and limited medium duty only. The commercial dealer franchises were full line. Near me the GMC full line commercial dealers were Gene Berg in Van Nuys and the Los Angeles Truck Center in Vernon.
Pic number one. All those new GMC pickups and not one rear bumper. I forgot the rear bumper use to be an add on option.