At our recent cruise-in, both Jim O’Clair and I noticed an unusually high number of dealership nameplates still on cars, so we assembled our photos and tried to find out more about the dealerships behind the badges.
First, on a ‘64 Rambler Classic 770, we spotted this sticker for Pearson Motors of Briarcliff Manor, New York. No mention of Pearson in the 1983 dealership list, but Havekost does list them as a Nash dealer starting in 1956. No address, though.
On the same Rambler, a front license plate from Clearwater Rambler. Havekost lists a Dan Iley Nash dealership in Clearwater starting in 1951 (again, no address), but the 1983 list shows the dealership name as Clearwater AMC/Jeep/Renault, located at 2430 Gulf-to-Bay Blvd. The location now seems to be an Enterprise Rent-A-Car lot.
For the next several, we don’t yet know of any similar historical dealership listings for other makes, so we weren’t able to track down addresses. This badge from Dick Winkler appeared on a 1961 Imperial Crown convertible, which won our Favorite Mopar award that night.
There is a Curry Chevrolet at 728 Central Park Avenue in Scarsdale, New York, which advertises that it’s been in business since 1919. So it’s likely the same Curry that sold this ‘52 Chevrolet new.
Royal Buick in New York City seems to no longer exist…
…nor does Hull and Sons Chrysler Plymouth in Cohoes, New York, which sold this Chrysler New Yorker new.
McAndrews-King, however, remains in business in Adams, Massachusetts, where it’s been since 1973, according to the dealership’s website. Jim and I both forgot exactly which car we spotted this badge on.
Finally, we did recall that we spotted this badge for Huegel in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, on the back of a ‘56 Plymouth. That dealership, however, appears to have disappeared.
