Mario's Tribute to 1950's Car Dealers

azmusclecar on Sep 30, 2020 said:

GREAT TRIBUTE ............I shared this with some old friends as we tried to recall all the names of the dealers in our town and as they changed hands over the years.

Mario on Oct 1, 2020 said:

Glad to hear you enjoyed this tribute. I loved going to see the new cars at the dealers when they came out. It was a party atmosphere checking out all the new differences on all the models. The 1952 Ford Levittown car dealer pix is actually a dealer from my childhood town. They moved but are still in business! My Dad had a new 52 Ford which I loved. I was only 5 years old, I started early loving cars!

azmusclecar on Oct 1, 2020 said:

Amen to that, I used to try to peek through the "soaped" front windows of the dealership to get a peek at the new models. I'd stand by the railroad track and try to catch a glimpse of the ones on the auto trains. Model cars and trains, slot cars and TV Westerns all played a part of some of the happiest times in my life. I miss them more and more as we move forward.

Mario on Oct 1, 2020 said:

Wow I did all that as well. I used to build model cars paint them and display them. Next to the Ford dealer was Konners Chevrolet which also moved but still in business today. Each Sept new cars would be trucked in and stored in the back parking lot od both dealers. I would climb the fence to see the new models! By the time they came out in Oct I knew all the changes. I now have a nice collection of Danbury Mint, Franklin Mint 1/24 scale cars from the 40's 50's and 60's. My next tribute may be to show some of my cars. Great memories!

azmusclecar on Oct 1, 2020 said:

Well I for one would LOVE to see that tribute of 1/24 scale cars. I too made models, always going to WESTERN AUTO to buy the latest model and enter them during the towns celebratory days in the shop windows. Sounds like we were cut from the same cloth. Please fulfill that model tribute, it will make this kid happy.

Mario on Oct 2, 2020 said:

Will do. I'll start working on that and you're right we seem to be cut from the same cloth!

57timemachine on Oct 27, 2020 said:

Mario, thank you for posting all this amazing vintage stuff. It is very much appreciated. Cheers.

Mario on Oct 28, 2020 said:

I appreciate your words and you are welcome. I also have a page on 60's car dealers and working on a 40's car dealers. Best regards, Mario

57timemachine on Oct 21, 2021 said:

Remember when a new car coming out actually mattered. I mean it actually really mattered to know what the new GM, Ford, Mopar or independent looked like and had to offer. Today it is really hard to imagine this strange phenomenon of folks with bated breath waiting to see the new models. How I long for those times over the bore fest we have today. Does anyone out there have a time machine I could borrow. I promise I will return it, well maybe not. Cheers.

Mario on Oct 22, 2021 said:

I miss those glory days of our youth also George. Seems times were simpler then and we as children were happy with one toy at a time.

But when the new cars were rolling out, we were there noses pressed on the dealer windows waiting for them to open!

I couldn't wait to check out the differences and always made a bee line to the new car brochures to add to my collection.

Thankfully websites like this one jar our memories and a flood of great times comes back to us. Cheers!

Mario on Apr 5, 2022 said:

Added 1954 Ford Dealer, Mineola, Garden City NY not far from where I grew up.

ghpcnm on Apr 5, 2022 said:

That '54 Buick Skylark is perhaps my all-time favorite American car. I absolutely love the styling. It's a work of art.

Mario on Apr 5, 2022 said:

I agree Dave it's a classic! When I was a young child my Dad bought me a toy model of a 1954 Buick Skylark and I played with it for days and days!

azmusclecar on Apr 9, 2022 said:

I like the ad for a free year supply of Kleenex when you bought that 1959 Pontiac........

How much Kleenex can one person, or one family use?

Now maybe if today's dealerships offered toilet paper during the Covid Crisis, THAT would make sense.