Max Curtis Ford Performance Corner

1970 Torino Cobra and 1970 Boss 302. 

Cannon Buick Pontiac GMC

68 GTO.

Gene Crump Chevy

Muscle Shoals Alabama.

427 Marauders

Really cool picture of a team of Mercury Marauder racers.

Sonic Camaros

Americas other surviving drive in, Sonic. 

SS 396 and Root Beer

A true American scene.  Hamburgers, root beer, and a big block Chevelle.

Tiger Paws

Tiger Paws make you king of the hill.  And they corner like a tiger.  Too bad many of the cars they supported could not.

67 Cougar GT

Mc Beth Dodge

By looking at the cars on this lot, Plainview Texas liked Dodge Muscle.

Merollis Chevrolet

East Side Detroits famous Chevy dealer.

Free-Dom Dodge

Looks like this 64 Dodge won a few races.

Wrecked 65 GTO

Yes, people used to smash these old muscle cars into things.  This GTO went pretty good but took some doing to bring it to a stop.  Sometimes they didnt stop and the result was the above photo.  Notice under that expensive buckled hood lies a Tri-Power equipped 389.

Used Corvettes

There once was a time when used car lots full of Corvettes existed.  Body shops that only worked on wrecked Corvettes existed.  And the newspaper classifieds were full of used Corvettes, waiting for their next owner.  Now many sit in museums and personal collections and their prior life as daily transportation is all but a memory.

Ted Gentry's Chevrolet

Broadway Motors

Whose to say this owner isnt proud.  Many can say that Lark is NOT beautiful.  Doesnt mean its not cool to see one today.  I like looking at the odd ball cars, keeping the off brands alive keeps the hobby alive.  Too bad the design of this car didnt keep the company alive.

Chesnuts Phillips 66

The first time I saw a Phillips 66 gas station was in Donelson TN, on the way to my Uncles house.  Phillips doesnt exist in the area which I am from.  They did back in the day, along with some other stations like Pure and Sinclair.  Pics like this are a snapshot in time, a owner operated gas station/garage with a nice 61 Chevy parked out front.

Hot Rod

Check out the power plant in this little T Bucket.  Nail Head Buick with three carbs.  This photo was in a yearbook from 1965.  Can anyone see a teenager today driving anything close to this to high school?  Can a kid today even afford to build something like this?  Do kids today even care about cars????

68 Camaro

Factory optional Atlas 5 spokes on this Camaro.  Or maybe just a dealer doing whatever it takes to move this Camaro.  Something thats not hard to do today.

Reynolds Buick GS

Maybe the most famous Buick race car, well the most famous 65 GS race car.  This is the Reynolds Buick B stock race car.  There are many pics of this car on the web, but I havent seen this one yet. 

Bower Buick

1965 Skylark convertible.

Max Curtis G.T. 350

Another rare and valuable car, a 66 Shelby G.T. 350.  Someone probably knows where this car is too.  These types of photos show these ultra dollar cars were just cars when they were new.  Sold to anyone that wanted to pay the price and deal with driving them every day. 

Hemi Cuda sold at Albro Chrsyler-Plymouth

If the salesman knew how much this car would be worth, it would never had made it into the showroom.  When was the last time anyone saw a pic like this?  Someone into these cars probably knows where it is right now.

Brown Rambler Co.

The inside of a Rambler dealer circa 1966, a scene not many people participated in.  I cant say that I would have either.

69 Cutlass W-31

Second year for the hot 350 Olds junior supercar.

Ziggies 55 Chevy

Dig the fender well headers. 

Taylor Oldsmobile

J.M Taylor Oldsmobile, South Gate CA.  Another store front dealership.

Day Two 65 GTO

This is what many muscle cars looked like in the wild.  M/T wheels on the back, custom scat pack style stripe on the rear, pin stripe on the belt line and fillin up with some high test.  Today guys like to add the cheap poverty caps to look fast.  Back in the day they got tossed out in favor set of wheels like this guy did.

Phillips 66 SS396

Id venture to say this 67 SS396 didnt pass many gas stations.  Cool picture.

Road Runner V. GTO

Imagine a time when there were no smart phones, no Facebook, no internet, and no 5000 channels on your TV.  Imagine a time when burning cheap gasoline and cheap tires was the only cool thing to do.  I hope these guys are still getting it on like they did back in 1970.

1962 Ford

Can you say T-Bone?  Check out where the roof is, this car was not a convertible.  Cant see how anyone survived that.

Casey Beckham Pontiac

This is one of my favorite photos.  Imagine a sign of this size today, it would never pass the zoning board.  Many dealers dont even have a sign, just the name on the building telling you who wants to sell you a car.  Signs like this one are a lost piece of Americana.   I wonder how cool that thing looked at night.  BTW there is a 65 GTO hardtop rolling on Americans parked under that awesome sign.

Downey Dodge INC

Ramseys Auto Sales

Perfect name for a dealer, must have been a classy guy that owned it. Oh, there is a sweet stripe optioned 69 442 in the photo.

Mahony & O'Dell Ford

1971 Maverick Grabber.  I am partial to these cars, I drove a turbocharged 70 to college for a few years.  I looked and looked but never did find a grabber hood for it.  These cars are very underrated, they werent speed demons but they did have the looks.   A lot of Mavericks ended up on the drag strip, they were the perfect car to build a racer out of.

Merollis Chevrolet

1969 Camaro pace car.  Merollis was a big time dealer on Gratiot Ave here in Detroit.  And if youve never heard of Gratiot.........

Ansen Sprints

The wheels just look right on this 69 Corvette.  Ansens were the wheel to have back in the 70s.   I have a pair of Ansen front runners ready to go on my 442.  Too bad the car isnt ready to go yet.

Ken Nichols International

Americas other two seat sports car, the AMX.   Do you think Ken ever saw this ad for his new "GTX"?  AMX GTX same difference right?

Don Steves Chevrolet

Don Steves Chevy.  I dont think his showroom window had Vega painted on it for long.  Future wasnt so bright for that all american........

Oliver Motor Sales

Brand new Buick GS, in day one new condition.

Merry Christmas from Les Arkenberg Ford

Being from the Midwest I can not identify with this picture.  The snow on our Ford dealer's windows is real in December.

Three Way Chevrolet

1966 Chevelle SS396. Waiting for someone to burn its tires to the cords.

Gratt Chevrolet Company

1957 Corvette on the showroom floor.   Wonder if they know how much its going to be worth in 50 years.

1964 Litten Motors, East Liverpool OH

This photo shows the garage entrance next to the show room area.  Litten was located in Downtown East Liverpool.  A storefront dealer, one without a large sales lot or parking for customers.  The picture is from 1964, a time when many dealers were moving to the burbs and into larger and more spacious showrooms.  By the way, Litten also sold Ramblers.

Inspiration

This is the photo that started led to this blog.  On a hunch I looked in the East Liverpool OH yearbook from 1966.  In the ads section awaited a photo of the dealer that sold my 1965 F85 442.  This dealer closed in the late 70s or early 80s.  This photo also showed me that the info Id found on the net was wrong.  Litton was really spelled Litten.

Introducton to the Annual-mobile

It started with a conservation with my neighbor.  It led to finding pictures of the dealership that sold one of my Oldsmobiles.  Pictures of a dealer that I thought Id never see.  Its continued on as a quest to find more pictures of more dealers, maybe helping someone find their long lost dealer along the way.   Ive found so many pictures of dealerships, cars inside and outside dealerships, and other cool photos of vehicles in their original time that I decided to put them here.