Tracing California Car History

[57chevypreterist]

427TJ:

"See Ellis Brooks today
For your Chevrolet
Corner of Bush And Van Ness"

Sung to the tune of "See the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet" as Dinah Shore sang it!

By the way, if you like old Bay Area radio jingles, then you should check out my Yahoo Group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thewor...tradiostation/

(Hint" "Sound Of The City")

Bryan

[scuncio]

Cool, I have a pair of Geer Chevrolet license plate frames. Love to hear about the CA dealerships - makes me want to move back. Someday I'll have to shoot pictures of all the CA dealer frames I've collected over the years.

[57chevypreterist]

Scuncio:

Would you be interesting in selling one or both of your Geer Chevrolet frames? Our friends who bought our '64 Malibu SS and restored it are looking for one.

If so, my e-mail address is [email protected]

Thanks,

Bryan

'57 Bel Air, 41,000 original miles

[hubleyman]

Scrounging through some old photos related to some of my past cars (this is from a 1966 Corvette) and came across another San Francisco dealership that might not have been mentioned earlier.

This window sticker was from George Olsen Chevrolet, Inc. which was on the corner of Van Ness and O'Farrell.

[SuperNovaSS]

The window sticker didn't go with the car?


Jason

[hubleyman]

The window sticker most definitely went with the car (as they all should)......... This is just a photo of it I posted to show the dealership info.

Charlie

[SuperNovaSS]

Cool, I was curious.


Jason

[57chevypreterist]

Hubleyman:

That is very interesting! George Olsen was a Cadillac dealership and I do not recall them actually being a Chevrolet dealership as well. Although your paperwork shows a "Chevrolet" sticker, it does not actually indicate on it that the Olsen dealership itself was a "Chevrolet" dealership.

Since they were a Caddy dealer, back then it would not have been a big deal for a GM dealer to obtain a different GM brand car for a customer. Perhaps the original owner was affiliated with Geo. Olsen in some way or just liked working with their dealership.


Thanks for sharing!

[hubleyman]

Well, I've always known them for being a Cadillac Dealership, but according to the POP for this particular Corvette, they were a Chevrolet Dealership at the time. Not sure if you can see it clearly, but it definitely says "George Olsen Chevrolet, Inc" on the ink stamped section.

The original owner was a doctor who lived in my neighborhood. I don't remember him ever having a Cadillac.......

[57chevypreterist]

Wow! I guess the Protect-O-Plate documentation settles it.

I find it interesting that Ellis Brooks and Les Vogel, the two "established" Chevrolet dealers on Van Ness Ave. at the time, would "tolerate" a third Chevy dealership in such close proximity, esp. a couple of blocks from Ellis Brooks.

On the other hand, perhaps Ellis Brooks and Les Vogel were "latecomers" to the neighborhood, and maybe Geo. Olsen was always a Caddy/Chevy dealership that became a Cad dealership only as GM promoted the separation of GM brands into distinct brand dealerships. (Pure speculation on my part.) Who knows?

Again, thanks for sharing! Neat stuff!

Bryan

PS Attached a pic of my Les Vogel frame