Multibrand Dealerships in 50s and 60s

[PeeBee]

Let's see.  My dad bought my mom's cars ('50s-'60s-'70s) from a Pontiac/Cadillac dealer right in town, and his Chevies from a Chevrolet-only dealer the next town over.  The Chevy dealer still exists under a different name, but the Pontiac/Cadillac dealer is long gone.  During the late '50s - early '60s (as far back as my memory goes) we also had a Willys Jeep/Studebaker dealer and a Chrysler/Plymouth (and Simca) dealer in town.  The family who owned the Jeep/Studebaker dealership went on to sell AMC/Jeep/Renault and then they bought the Chrysler dealership around the time Chrysler acquired Jeep and AMC, so they are still selling Jeeps.

An interesting side note:  When you could still buy Willys and Ramblers from the aforementioned dealer, that dealer was leasing out an old, standalone dealership/service bay that they no longer used to a young man named Bob Sharp who was importing Japanese cars that no one in my town had ever heard of.  What was cool about this guy was that he raced one of his Datsun's and kept it parked at his tiny little dealership for all of us kids to see.

[IHSS]

I'm an IHC Scout fan. I remember a few years back coming across a photo of an old International-Harvester dealer that was also a Rolls Royce dealership. I'll have to see if I can dig that photo up. Very odd to see new IHC's and RR's on a lot together.

[jdcar32]

Remember that Studebaker had Packard under it's wing for a short time in the late 50's, and during the same period Studebaker had a short term deal to import Mercedes Benz as part of their ( Studebakers)  plan to avoid extinction.

[ChrisBcritter]

Even better, Studebaker wanted to import the Facel-Vega and rebrand it as a new Packard; Mercedes said "Nein" and that was the end of that.

Too bad; that big Excellence sedan would have made a sweet '59 Patrician; just imagine the vertical louvered Packard grille added and the hexagons on the wheelcovers in red:

Edited February 15, 2016 by ChrisBcritter

[1972coronet]

I grew up in west Whittier  ( right near all of the cruising action ! ) and there were deallers galore around :

- Ricker Motors Nash-Rambler-AMC . Aside from the obvious 'AMC' , there was a time when Ricker sold Peugeots along with the AMCs .

- Urich Motors . Primarily a Lincoln-Mercury dealler , they also sold Jeeps , Pantera , and some select classic , antique , and muscle cars .

- Harris GMC ( and Oldsmobile on the other side of the street ) . In the 1970's , Harris sold International Pickups along with the GMCs .

- Lee Wood Pontiac / Honda . Speaks for itself .

[Tom Geiger]

Remember that Studebaker had Packard under it's wing for a short time in the late 50's, and during the same period Studebaker had a short term deal to import Mercedes Benz as part of their ( Studebakers)  plan to avoid extinction.

The Studebaker dealer in Keyport, New Jersey was Washington Auto Sales.  Keyport had an affluent black community as far back as the early 20th century.  Mr Washington was a black man and I had the privilege to have him tell me about the early days.  He said that the big 3 wouldn't grant a franchise to a person of color, but Studebaker did.  He sold Mercedes for a while, but didn't feel the product was right for the town.  So when Studebaker went out in 1966, he took a gamble on a new Japanese car, Datsun.  That kind of worked out for him!  I had bought my 1981 Nissan Stanza there, and as part of that process I told the salesman that I heard this was once a Studebaker dealership and I was into them. He ushered me into Mr Washington's office, who was in his 80s at the time and still showed up every day in a suit (Think the old man on Pawn Stars), because he loved to talk about Studebakers. I have a photo of the building with 1962 era Studebakers outside. He loaned it to me and I had a copy made. This was a typical small town dealer with a dozen new cars across the front.  Eventually he retired and sold the franchise to a mega dealer who built a huge showroom on the highway.  The original building is now the Board of Education offices.