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

Bay King Dodge, Hamilton Ontario. Still in business, but with a generic Dodge façade and appears to be at a different location.

Looking at their old location, I think this is a vacant lot now, but I'm not sure.

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ayilar said:
@Welder guy posted almost 20 more gas stations in Tucumcari back in 2019. Here are my four favorites in no particular order:
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I found two of the four, 1/2 mile apart.

Both somewhere around 1,600 sq ft. ample work area, storage area, and retro character. The Texaco ~ early 1950's brand architecture, the Shell ~ mid 1960's brand architecture. They'd both make cool 'hobby' garages.

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amazinblue82 said:
I found two of the four, 1/2 mile apart.

Both somewhere around 1,600 sq ft. ample work area, storage area, and retro character. The Texaco ~ early 1950's brand architecture, the Shell ~ mid 1960's brand architecture. They'd both make cool 'hobby' garages.
Click to expand...
Thanks, and I agree! The Texaco one looks worse than it used to and would have to go back to the 1950's front overhang and side windows, but both are not too much changed from the olden days.
 
The caption on this pic said "Phillipsburg, PA" but the address shows to be residential and the spelling is "Centre", so I don't think that was it.

What I like about this is the typical 60's/70's dealer showroom with the wood paneling. Nothing you see now... but it was the norm at the time.

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What happens to the "white elephants" that many former dealerships become,?

Obsolete buildings (hazardous materials, poor/no HVAC, etc.) sitting on outside pieces for sub-dividable real estate worth 20x its value when all the former parking lots are done.

Land size vs. building, in an urban area, I surprised it lasted so far into the 21st Century.

Former Johnny' Chrysler Plymouth, 1006 White Horse, Oaklyn NJ. No distinctive architecture .. just a big industrial box and large outdoor lot. This is ca. 1950's, early 1960's.

About 14K sq. ft, building (ca. 1950) on 2 acres of mostly paved car lot. Needless to say, its gone now.

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2016
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2022
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Typical of another common reuse of "big box" dealers from the 1950's, in what was once "suburbia", outliving their usefulness/competiveness as retail auto stores, now with a series of remodeling and alternative usages.

Mid-century modern showroom (aluminum & glazed porcelain) facade, common industrial brick backend

Former Hale-Zupan Chrysler Plymouth, 13815 Detroit, Cleveland (Lakewood), OH. Remodeled into oblivion. Two stories up front, high celing/hopefully clear span in back for storage & the parlor diesels.

A tad oversized (22K sq. ft) for my goal to find an industrial "hobby house" in retirement, plus I'd have to ditch all that contemporary facade (hoping against hope some remnants of the original porcelain facade remains under there -- the neon and aluminum would be long gone though I'd bet).

Ca. late 1950's
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Today
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Built about 1940, art deco, the former Economy Buick, 12550 Euclid, East Cleveland OH.

About 24K sq. ft, box with two full-footprint stories, residential all around, good but NOT excessive land vs. building footprint, flat roof, mostly reversible remodeling maybe, and vintage signs "bones" still there.

East Cleveland is also a redevelopment zone .. that puts UPWARD pressure on price that SOMETIMES isnt yet justified by conditions on the ground. Economics tend to favor BUSINESS (extra security using professionals) investment, not PERSONAL investment.

I'd grab it in a second (assuming no showstoppers - it might have them, including cost), EXCEPT, its in the snowbelt, crime rate high, and for insurance purposes its listed in a flood zone.

I do not desire to retire in the snowbelt.

Sorry, as much as I would likely need armed protection, I just don't wanna have that constant threat of dealing with intruders/petty or major theft - while waiting for neighborhood to change.

Insurance costs in a floor zone? Backbreaking (though I am having trouble ID'ing what/from where the flood risk is. Lake Erie?)

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'59 Chevys at the Flint assembly

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Nash Motors Kenosha plant. 1950s

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More Nash painting

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Finished Nash bodies.

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Buffing Chevys

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More Nashes

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Charles W. Nash stands in front of the one millionth Nash automobile to roll off the assembly line. 1934

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