Photos of Vintage Auto Dealerships, Repair Shops, and Gas Stations

331 North Main Street, Plymouth, MI (suburb of Detroit). Former Bonafide Garage (& Manufacturing, apparently they sold fishing gear that is in great demand even today for collectors of that stuff0 originally, built 1910

Was once (dunno if these are "famous" family names) Edelbrock Chevrolet, Allison Chevrolet, (auto ramp added in the 50's to access a second floor addition with cars - its still there).

And then all kinda things when its automotive-related days were over in the mid '60's.

Still there, now a furniture store.

1912

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ca. 1950
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Today -- if not for the ramp (right side, rear), you wouldn't know they sold new cars here once.
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In 1940, William Knudsen telephoned K.T. Keller, the chief executive of Chrysler, and asked him if Chrysler could build tanks. “I don’t know,” came the answer. “I’ve never seen one of these things.” Soon after, Chrysler broke ground on what would come to be known as the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant, situated in what is now the suburb of Warren. Its goal: to build swarms of tanks according to auto-making mass production principles—something never accomplished before.
Even before the factory had been completed, the first Chrysler M3 tank rolled off the assembly line. The walls of the factory were not even up, so engineers brought a steam locomotive in to keep the place warm for the workers during Michigan’s bitter winter of 1940-41. As the factory swelled to 1.25 million square feet, the company switched to M4 Sherman tanks, which were powered by a Frankenstein of a motor. Engineers took five six-cylinder engines that had been used in the Chrysler Royal and Windsor cars before the war and welded them together into one 30-cylinder motor that could pump 425-horsepower to the tank treads.

In the end, the Detroit Arsenal built more tanks than all of the Third Reich during the war years, tanks that roared through enemy lines all the way to Hitler’s Berlin.

WORKERS AT A CHRYSLER PLANT ASSEMBLE TANKS. THE COMPANY'S FIRST TANK ROLLED OFF THE ASSEMBLY LINE EVEN BEFORE THE FACTORY WALLS WERE COMPLETELY BUILT.
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Big_John said:
Anderson Cadillac, Minneapolis MN, 1957

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this was a good one chief. 5100 Excelsior, Minnepolis MN. Such a cool, mid-century modern design, I was rooting for it to still be there.

Its got a documented history here: https://slphistory.org/eb5100/

Built in 1953 by Anderson Cadillac.
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1965, Anderson moved and location became Riviera Imports. That closed in 1971.
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In 1971, it became Pentel Pontiac. That particular business lasted to 1981
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1981, it became Wilkins Pontiac-Fiat. That was its last usage as a dealership. It closed in 1992 and was sold and razed.
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Replaced by? the big lawn is physically where it was, and all the stuff in the background is where the $30M was spent on the medical center complex.

Wheels of progress keep turning .. a lot of "suburban" dealerships built in the 1950's would up gone and turned into huge developments (e.g., residential housing, shopping malls, medical centers, Wal Marts, etc,).

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Former Beglinger Oldsmobile-Cadillac, 705 Main Street, Plymouth MI. Looks like a "icebox" design (porcelain clad).

ca. mid 1950's
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his "non-PC today" grand opening - belongs in another thread :)
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Today. Long gone. Plymouth was way too built-up in 70 years. Nothing left except the dirt it was on.
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Former Shore Chevrolet, 12240 Jos. Campau, Hamtramck, MI.

Gone (last viable auto business, that is) by 1980 went Shore closed/moved, and vacant for next 40 years.

Built 1921, 24K sq. ft,, do not recognize the architectural style. Lotta windows on lower level bricked up -- probably showroom glass at one time. Second floor windows look cartoon-small .. something may have been done there too.

I may have been in this one 15 years ago - I looked at so many of these barns back then -- dont remember this one specifically..

If so, tho, it would have been cheap (depressed area, leaky roof, squatter fire(?), etc.,) to acquire but a small fortune to remediated. Didnt suit my needs then or now.

I cannot find any vintage pics of it. It had an auto-related history, but was NOT an historic structure.

"It began as independent dealer Universal Motor Sales, seller of Chrysler Straight Eights and Graham Blue Streaks in the late 1920s and 1930s.

In 1932, the Detroit Free Press called it “one of the finest sales and service establishments in Hamtramck.”

By 1941, North East Cadillac, billing itself as “Michigan’s Largest Cadillac-Olds Dealer,” operated the premises.

Prior to and during World War II the original core building was expanded to the west and south, and now housed the Dearborn Industrial Manufacturing Company and the Quick Tool & Gage Works, who advertised for “first class” tool and die makers and “A-1” workers.

After the war, the building housed Dick Connell Chevrolet until the mid-1950s, and then Maurice Shore and his Shore Chevrolet dealership by the late 1950s and into the 1970s

ca. 2010
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sold in 2022 for $300K. Somebody has worked on it, but its still empty. Area is MUCH better now BTW.
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