Old Chevrolet Dealership

[whitetop]

I stumbled across this Chevrolet dealership in the little town of Amsterdam Ohio in the very early 90's..probably 1991 or so and spoke with the owner Walter "Wedge" Wilks...Owner was in his 70's at the time (Born 1918)

One car showroom and maybe 2-3 repair bays-1 mechanic. Old Old building. In operation since the 1940's or earlier. Wedge said he still sold 1-2 new cars per month for GM sometimes less, sometimes more. You looked at a catalog and ordered your car. He had no new cars in stock except the one in the showroom. He had lot's of old loyal customers who trusted him.He said he rarely had a customer who turned down a car after ordering it.

The office area was a mess. I remember stacks of old literature stacked up 6-7 feet. Old stuff everywhere as well as dirt. He had a parking lot to the left of the building which held maybe 4-5 cars-all used cars I believe or customer cars. No internet or modern technology. Still took orders on paper. Would have loved to go to that auction when it closed down-if they had an auction never did hear the details. I went by there in '94-95 and it was empty. You can still see the outline of the Chevrolet Chevron on front of the building.

So glad I was still able to experience this Americana from simpler times before it closed down.

The link below describes the operation.

http://411dir.biz/13389325_ohio_amst...vrolet_co.html

[737Driver]

Neat place! I just checked it out on Google Earth and it is in a more deteriorated state. It's a testament it lasted as long as it did.

[whitetop]

Is this the pic you saw? I found out n my fb page a guy went through and bought out all the old stock/literature etc

[737Driver]

That's it

[camaromb]

That reminds me of the old Chevy dealership I went to in the early '80s in Nashville Indiana. They had a small one car showroom with a restored 54 vette. In the back they had a black 57 fuelie vette they had sold new and bought back, a 54 vette with very low miles wrapped on jack stands, a '69 Camaro pace car, old chevy signs, etc. Years later it was long gone, like most of the historic dealerships. I had no idea back then how rare those places were and that most would be long gone in the years to come.

[ZL1#61]

That building is still there on RT43 in Amsterdam Ohio, No longer is the power glide sign in the front window, I would stop all the time to see if there was anybody there. I just put a call in to a good friend that lives 1/2 mile from that building and has lived there his hole life. This building is only about 15 miles south of Huebner Chevrolet.

[TimG]

During the early 80's I would pass by Fink Chevrolet in Horicon, WI while selling insurance in Wisconsin. They had their 1969 Pace Car still in the MSO sitting on the showroom floor. Finally in 1982 they took an offer I had made the year before and I bought the car, the last car they ever sold before they closed their doors. Wish I had explored more in their building for parts and such.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Tim, you wouldn't happen to know the dealer zone/# for Fink Chev? It is not listed on the NCRS site, and perhaps my '67 Camaro RS came from there (61-657).

[Kurt S]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Tim, you wouldn't happen to know the dealer zone/# for Fink Chev? It is not listed on the NCRS site, and perhaps my '67 Camaro RS came from there (61-657). </div></div>
61 170

[nova7579]

I remember seeing the auction listing sometime within the last 5-7 years but as I remember it there was not a lot of items left.
Brian