Art & Inspiration vintage car dealership photo thread

Hey! My great great grandpa's brother owned the shop. Would you be open to sharing some stories from back in the day? We don't know too much about it and would love to hear anything you have to say!

 

Camden Cross, that was 61 years ago. 2 weeks out of high school , dad said I needed to find a job. I think there was two Podway dealerships? One in Lakewood and one on W25th street.
I got a job in the Podway dealership on W25th helping to " Modernize" the parts department, knowing it was only temporary.
I was only there 2 months , and when we were done the Parts manager found me a job at Boland ignition where I stayed for about6 years.
I don't remember if it was Dodge or Plymouth or both.
In an old part of Cleveland's west side, maybe 2 miles from downtown.
The building was old then, maybe built in1920's?
About 6 car repair bays, a couple cars in the showroom.
You entered the service garage off the alleyway.
Next to the alley was small lot for the Used cars, on the left of the building.
On the right of building was a lot for employees' and customers.
Parking was a premium, space limited.
This was an area of lower middle class , and declining.
Lots of elicit activities in the area, many bars.
I don't think they lasted into the 70's?
The building in the photo is very similar to the W25th building,
but I think it's the Lakewood location?
Sorry , best I can do , it was a long time ago.
Roy

 

Lets see some more.

 

hope this is not a duplicate. .

 

Cool picture MR. how about some info on the later picture. Makes me want to go out and buy that building.

Pat

 

Would,nt it be cool if the old sign letters were out back in the workshop.

 

Cloak room maybe card games out back.

 

the Yenko building has since been repainted white and looks pretty good. no lettering as one of Don Yenko's daughters owns the name (I think). not for sale, local guys have a motorcycle shop there. our local Historical Society had this plaque made & installed

 

Thanks,enjoyed to dealer ship photos!
Sorry,I don't have pics,just the ones in my head going back to when my Dad started taking me with him to the grand unvailings of the new modals each year . He started taking me along in 1948, and each year after that. We'd go to most of the dealers on first day if we could.Sometimes to more then one brand.
I loved it,in part for the goody giving away,some I got a toy car of a new modal,and lots of times there were snacks;hotdogs stuff.
Dad only actually got a new car,only every 3 or 4 years,but like to look,me too!'
He never got one when they were first out,as the best buy was really just before the next modal year was about to hit the dealers=Deals could be made on still not sold modals,and that was kind of fun too.
I got to see a lot of new modals that way,on opening day!
Out of the new modals on first days I went too with Dad,the one that I fell in love with the looks of the most was 1953 Studebaker 2D HT V8> But Dad didn't like it as much as I= Many years later,at def times,I got 4 used ones,drove the wheels off them!
Ya,I never did buy any cars brand new,only used { then fix as needed,tell the cost of fixing became so high,became time to hunt up the next used car{ I'd get2 to 5 years out of each one,most were station wagons=I used to tow my racecars.
I stopped going to grand unvailings of new modals,about the same time all the brands started casting the same shadows on the wall
I kept my first hotrod,I build for Miami Sr High School=So one stayed with me all this time,and there was no dealer ship for that...

 

Looks like maybe a '57 or '58 DeSoto convertible might be getting traded in for a new Pontiac. Kind of an oddity if it's a '57, seeing it has quad headlamps. But might have a hemi under the hood.

 

A young coworker gave me the sign from his great uncle’s Ford dealership in small town Iowa. It is hand painted on galvanized tin. Was too big (5’ X 10’) for my walls, so we hung it on the ceiling.

He also showed me the booklet holding the service record cards for Model A’s that got worked on at the dealership. His mom is keeping that heirloom.

 

Dibs on the 55 two-ten!

 

The text in your last post makes mention of the "petrol bowser". The term was/is used generically to describe any kind of gasoline pump, especially in OZ and NZ. The name came from the early pumps designed and manufactured in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the hometown of S.F. Bowser. He was credited with designing the first "Self-Measuring Gasoline Storage Pump", launched in 1905.

Up until about 8 to 10 years ago I regularly would drive by the S.F. Bowser Company's headquarters building. It was a wonderful 100 year old building. But after being unused for too many years it was razed.

 

I can see how downtown auto dealerships may have fallen out of favor, in this case at least. Not only the street parking but the public sidewalk both choked with inventory. Maybe they were cleaning up oil stains on the showroom floor that day.

 

Yeah, they were Shivvies.