Recently purchased a 77 Camaro as an everyday drive car here in Australia, car was a recent import from the States andi have just found the build sheet under the rear seat. Car was sold new by Clem Ruh Chevrolet in Canoga Park, Ca. It appears they are long gone but does anyone know anything about them, keen to find out more information. (I dont need to know they were a chevy dealer, I kind of figured that out !!) Cheers
Here are a couple articles about the building of the new facility in '57 and grand opening. http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/30313927/ http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/30339201/ Clem died in '73 but the dealership lived on. They were also a DeLorean dealer in the early '80s. Don't know when it closed. They used to keep the new release cars in a lot about a block away and we'd ride up to the fence and peak in a look before the unveil. This was in the early '60s when new models were not revealed until the beginning of fall. And I found a pic, looks like a whole row of Vega charmers on the front line.
Several of my old friends as well as my brother worked at Clem Ruh as mechanics back in the 60's & 70's. Clem Ruh was one of the four or five Chevy dealers in the San Fernando Valley located in the West/South end of the Valley. They had a pretty good sized clientele back when sales volume was crazy. The old store is still there but it is some other business right now...I haven't been by there in a couple months. At one point in time there was Clem Ruh, Rancho, Pollard-wittman-Robb, Baher, Community and I think one more Chevy dealer within a 25 mile radius. Really a bunch and it's no wonder that some of them went out of business during the "gas crunch" in the 70's.
If you want anything specific I'll try to help you...I live just over the hill from Canoga Park and have quite a few connections. I wonder if that Camaro was built in Van Nuys??
hi, thanks heaps for the info - wasn't after any specific info was just a little bit interested in where the car came from. found the original build sheet and yes - the car was built in Van Nuys. how far is it from Van Nuys to Canoga Park ? cheers thanks
It's roughly 10 miles from Canoga Park to Van Nuys. Yes, there was a big Chevrolet Assembly plant in Van Nuys, I want to say it was off Sepulveda Blvd, next to the old railroad tracks that cut across the Valley, and are now a Busway. The Irony has never been lost on me, that right across the street from Clem Ruh Chevrolet.....was Mustang Liquor, and their neon sign had a moving running horse that was just like the Ford Mustang horse! Im remember Baher Chevrolet as stocking a lot more of the Chevy High-performance parts. Baher is now Rydell Chevrolet. As a young guy in a car club, i'd be traveling all over this valley and L.A. at night with the guys and their cars.....never gave it a thought that all those signs and businesses would be gone...but in my minds eye, it was great back then!!
The GM plant in Van Nuys was on Van Nuys Blvd...its a shopping center now. My dad used to work for GM at that plant. In high school we took a tour in the early 80s. It was the single most noisiest place I'd ever been in my life. There was a constant LOUD metal clanging sound...crazy work conditions. It was a tough job....but one a blue collar person could be proud of. My dad started in 1958 and retired in 88...the plant closed soon thereafter. Also...Baher Chevrolet became Competition Chevrolet...then Rydell.
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