WHEN DID DANA CHEVY START SELLING CARS 66 OR 67?

[ainrc]

Hello I am wondering what actual month Dana Chevrolet actually opened and started selling or ordering the cars they planned to sell when they officially opened. Did they open in 66 and sell 66 cars or were the first cars they sold 67's? I can't seem to find much info on them anywhere. I am going to order the Camaro Exposed book unless there is a better book about them anywhere. I heard there were some 66 Dana Nova's made etc. Thanks in advance for any info you might have.

[Late BrakeU2]

I think the first cars were 67 SS350 camaros with 66 spec vette L72's.There were also Z28's,and even a few Corvair stingers delivered(with Yenko permission)I will have to ask Dick about the Nova's and year of opening..

[Z-11 396]

Dana didn't get the Corvair Stingers to sale until April of 67. The Camaro's were in Dana ''ad's''to sale in Dec. of 1966.

[Vettefinderjim]

Dana Chevrolet opened the Hi-Performance Center at 9735 Long Beach Blvd., in South Gate, CA in the late fall of 1966. This center was in addition to regular Chevrolet dealership.

The two owners, Peyton Cramer (former Shelby Race Team Manager) and Paul Dombroski purchased the Dana Chevrolet passager car dealership I believe in late 65.

Before forming Dana Chevrolet both men had established successful careers in the automotive and performance fields. The famous 427 DANA Camaros, the 67 Le Mans L-88 Corvette race car, two DANA 67 Z-28 Trans Am race cars and two DANA built Group 7 McLarens were built and raced in the 1967 season. These cars were campaigned in the USRRC and Can Am series. Additional cars were prepared for customers drag racing and road racing divisions.

Dick Guldstrand headed up the road race division and Dale Armstrong the drag race division. Dick later drove the DANA 67 L-88 Corvette with Bob Bondurant and Don Yenko at LeMans.

Dale Armstrong has led an amazing drag race career including crew chief with Kenny Bernstein.

So the "Heartbeat" goes on.........and if you study the motorsports history of the 60's you will see how there were very few of the movers and shakers in the industry and they all got their start working for Chevrolet, Ford, Chrysler and performance dealerships.

Peyton Crammer is retired and living in Florida near Ft. Lauderdale. Paul is still in the Los Angelos area. If anyone knows where, I would love to find them both for a in depth 'history' story I am working on.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Trivia questions:
Where did Peyton Cramer move from?

How did he derive the name 'Dana' for the dealership?

What was the name of the dealership before they bought it?

[Z-11 396]

Dana-- was the name of the street the dealership was on.

[Xplantdad]

[ QUOTE ]
Trivia questions:
Where did Peyton Cramer move from?

How did he derive the name 'Dana' for the dealership?

What was the name of the dealership before they bought it?

[/ QUOTE ]


Hmmm...

1) Where did Peyton Cramer move from?

He was Shelby American's General Manager before working at Dana

2)How did he derive the name 'Dana' for the dealership?

It was named after a street...I would presume it had to do with Dana Point, Ca (John Henry Dana...that whole deal)

3) What was the name of the dealership before they bought it? Southland Chevrolet A guess...I know it's wrong!

[Late BrakeU2]

I chatted with Dick at the muscle car show at Rydell Chevy(formerly Baher) in Northridge yesterday.Our connection is his son used to be a crew chief on the American Honda showroom stock team I drove for back in the mid eighties(Peyton's son Peter was breifly involved with us as a driver also) Anyway to the best his of recollection Peyton and Paul bought the Chevy dealership from the previous owner(he could not remember the name of it) in the spring of 66.Dick used to work for H.B.Baher at his Hermosa Beach chevy dealership in the late fifties selling cars-but left to go drive for Penske.He suffered a broken back in a crash and was released from his contract by Roger.He knew Peyton from the racing scene when he was I believe the competition director for the Shelby team.

Anyway he said shortly after purchasing the store on Long Beach Blvd,Peyton and Paul bought an old Buick dealership down the road on Firestone Blvd.This was the location of the high performance center.The supercars were assembled there,but saw retail delivery at main store on L.B.BLVD.They also ran the race shop out of that location and hired Revson and Bondurant to drive the team cars.He said from the moment it opened it was a huge success,so much that after the first month they were in the black!

He recalls the first L72 cars being built that fall,but quite honestly he was focused on the racing program and his memory is far more keen with info on that end.He does remember Yenko Corvairs being sold at DANA(remeber Don and he chewed the same dirt at the runoffs)but I didn't want to pester him at the show as he was getting tugged from all sides for photo ops..I'll focus on some of the specific muscle car info next time..

Hope this helps

[427TJ]

Great information Mark! Nice reporting.