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