Art & Inspiration vintage car dealership photo thread

Even wore out, you guys would take this deal in a heartbeat..

 

Thompson Pontiac, Springfield, Mo.

 

Kaiser-Ilyn open day in Israel (K-I used to assemble Willys, Kaiser-Fraser and later Studebaker cars and 4X4s in Haifa, Israel), and were also agents for French Chausson buses.

 

Long Beach, CA
Hello,

WHAT IS GOOGIE? ( note: not Google)

"Googie" style architecture proliferated in southern CA from the post-WWII 40's into the mid-60s and featured sweeping roofs, geometric shapes, large glass panes and designs symbolizing motion and the "space age." “With its complex “flying V” roofline, the Ray Vines Chrysler building at the corner of Willow Street and Lakewood Boulevard is unquestionably eye-catching.”

“Most of the Ray Vines building contains simple volumes with flat roofs and decorative concrete block in muted colors. Yet it is dominated by the exuberant Googie-style showroom, with its sharply angled roofline soaring skyward, anchored by a rough stone accent wall at the joining point of the two gables. The roof sheltered floor-to-ceiling display windows that beckoned homeward-bound Long Beach commuters to peek at the glistening cars inside.”

“However, the Googie roofline remains to proudly mark one of the finest Modern property types: the 1960s car dealership.”

Having grown up in the times of odd ball structures being so popular, one cannot help but remember this form of building design. These two car dealerships were front and center far and away from the stodgy plain rectangular block buildings with some glass front walls. They had some extra pizazz. That in itself drew people into the showrooms.

But, it was too bad it was a Chrysler/Plymouth dealership. Not the most popular brand for teenagers and their friends looking for their first car. This was before the attack of the big motor, aluminum skinned so called “factory stock” car eras. Even then, it was hard to see one on the streets. The other big name dealers in So Cal had more cars at the dragstrips as sponsored factory race cars during this time.

When the original dealership closed, (Ray Vines) the new dealership (R.O. Gould) moved right in and got the rewards of the “Googie” design.


Jnaki

It was a different look to draw the attention of possible customers to the dealerships. The design did make people stop and stare at this very busy intersection of Lakewood Blvd. and Willow St. But the draw was the access to this site from just driving either North or South on the 405 freeway. (then called the San Diego Freeway, although it was in Long Beach.) This early Long Beach, CA Chrysler/Plymouth dealership and its designers spawned other dealerships in other states, namely Findlay Olds in Las Vegas.


https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/auto-dealerships.1084547/page-2#post-13631762

 

Lifted from History of Los Angeles thread: