What struck me the most as I browsed through the selection of more than 120 vintage Chevrolet (and some Oldsmobile and Cadillac) dealership photos that Craig Hover posted to Picasa last month is just how much dealerships changed during that time. The photoset seems to start in about 1961 or 1962, depicting mom-n-pop places, usually in brick storefronts along the Main Streets of little towns, with used car lots carved out of empty lots between downtown buildings. Then by the end of that decade, the dealerships – some of which appear to be the same ones depicted earlier, move into much larger aluminum-sided, flat-topped buildings located outside of town with plenty of room for massive inventories. Gotta wonder how many of these dealerships are still around and in these same buildings?
