It's good to see I'm not the only one obsessed with old auto dealerships.
In SIA #40, May-July 1977, Ray Scroggins collected a wide variety of
photos of old dealerships and gave us a sort of half-hour history of
dealership evolution, starting with the garage and filling station
franchises of the 1910s and taking us through the neon-lit palaces of
the 1950s and beyond. Why can't modern dealerships have as much
character and style?
"Since most early auto manufactuers started as buggy builders, wagonmakers, bicycle shops, and backyard tinkerers, they had no need at first for a national distribution system or dealer network. . . . (But) as Ford's assembly lines began to pour out more and more Lizzies for the expanding market, and as other manufacturers followed Mr. Ford's example in the early Teens, a better distribution system was needed."
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Re: Flashback: Your Show of Showrooms
