Photos of Vintage Auto Dealerships, Repair Shops, and Gas Stations
- Thread starter ayilar
- Start date
the former Compton Carwash. It was at 1845 Rosencrans Ave, Compton, CA.
Sources say it (the towering "modern art" work) is long gone though still the car wash over 70 years.
source: Compton Car Wash, Rosecrans Avenue, Compton, California, Google Maps
Last edited:
A bowling alley on Katella Avenue at Walnut St. in Anaheim, CA, shown in 1958.
Only here because somebody took the time to try to identify vehicles in the parking lot. I dunno them, just know they predate my time on the planet.
I put it out there for smarter vintage sled observers.
Sources say its gone .. Disney tore it down decades ago to make a parking lot for the Magic Kingdom
source: Wonder Bowl, Anaheim, CA, 1958 by Charles Phoenix
"From the Chinese red Chevy truck to the right; is a creamy ’57 Olds, jet black ’50 Chevy, snow white “swept wing” ’58 Dodge, emerald green Dodge work truck, and a partially primered Studebaker truck.
But the darling of the day is on the street front and center. A dreamy ’55 Ford Crown Victoria, beautifully finished in a nearly hypnotic hot pink and white, inside and out. Even the wheels are pink. Who stole the hubcaps?"
Another take on it.
Looks like it made it into the 70's (I think thats a Pinto(?), may an AMC(?) out front in bottom pic).
Historical pics show building still there until 1997, though it may have been something else by then.
source: Wonder Bowl, Anaheim - 1957 - Demolished
It was still there in 1972 , but by 1998 it was a parking lot (building was still there up til then).
Only here because somebody took the time to try to identify vehicles in the parking lot. I dunno them, just know they predate my time on the planet.
I put it out there for smarter vintage sled observers.
Sources say its gone .. Disney tore it down decades ago to make a parking lot for the Magic Kingdom
source: Wonder Bowl, Anaheim, CA, 1958 by Charles Phoenix
"From the Chinese red Chevy truck to the right; is a creamy ’57 Olds, jet black ’50 Chevy, snow white “swept wing” ’58 Dodge, emerald green Dodge work truck, and a partially primered Studebaker truck.
But the darling of the day is on the street front and center. A dreamy ’55 Ford Crown Victoria, beautifully finished in a nearly hypnotic hot pink and white, inside and out. Even the wheels are pink. Who stole the hubcaps?"
Another take on it.
Looks like it made it into the 70's (I think thats a Pinto(?), may an AMC(?) out front in bottom pic).
Historical pics show building still there until 1997, though it may have been something else by then.
source: Wonder Bowl, Anaheim - 1957 - Demolished
It was still there in 1972 , but by 1998 it was a parking lot (building was still there up til then).
Last edited:
shame they tore that great structure down for a parking lot!
How about some Mustangs?
Holiday Ford in Peterborough, Ontario.
Holiday Ford in Peterborough, Ontario.
@Big_John has alredy regaled us with this Syracuse gem back at posts #10 and #1,102 and may have the following resuse project too.
Cant get on syracuse.com for more of this stort, without a subscription.
sources: Apartments at old car factory among $150M in new North Side projects in the works. Eight That Can’t Wait 2019: H. A. Moyer Factories | Preservation Association of Central New York
I'd like a whole floor (prolly couldnt afford it) .. only if I could have a 8.000 sq ft. garage on the ground floor. The building in this article appears to be the one in the upper right ... the whole complex is (was?) the Moyer site.
1911 Moyer below. Looks like it may be in front of the building above, on Wolf near the corner of Park.
"The H. A. Moyer Factories is a large complex of late 19th and early 20th-century industrial buildings at the far north end of North Salina Street, best known today by the west factory with “the house on the roof.”
The factories are significant for their architecture and association with Syracuse’s industrial history. The 210,000 square-foot complex has stood mostly vacant since 2005, and in 2014 one of the walls facing Park Street collapsed.
As of 2019, developers are proposing a housing project for the portion of the complex between Park and North Salina streets using historic tax credits."
ASIDE .. I'd like to have that old firehouse down (southerly, toward Salinas St.) Wolf St. near the OLDEST part of Moyers complex.
Alas, too late. already a museum. Syracuse and Onondaga County Fire Museum - Wikipedia
Cant get on syracuse.com for more of this stort, without a subscription.
sources: Apartments at old car factory among $150M in new North Side projects in the works. Eight That Can’t Wait 2019: H. A. Moyer Factories | Preservation Association of Central New York
I'd like a whole floor (prolly couldnt afford it) .. only if I could have a 8.000 sq ft. garage on the ground floor. The building in this article appears to be the one in the upper right ... the whole complex is (was?) the Moyer site.
1911 Moyer below. Looks like it may be in front of the building above, on Wolf near the corner of Park.
"The H. A. Moyer Factories is a large complex of late 19th and early 20th-century industrial buildings at the far north end of North Salina Street, best known today by the west factory with “the house on the roof.”
The factories are significant for their architecture and association with Syracuse’s industrial history. The 210,000 square-foot complex has stood mostly vacant since 2005, and in 2014 one of the walls facing Park Street collapsed.
As of 2019, developers are proposing a housing project for the portion of the complex between Park and North Salina streets using historic tax credits."
ASIDE .. I'd like to have that old firehouse down (southerly, toward Salinas St.) Wolf St. near the OLDEST part of Moyers complex.
Alas, too late. already a museum. Syracuse and Onondaga County Fire Museum - Wikipedia
Last edited:
67newport
Old Man with a Hat
Turning old industrial buildings into apartments seems to be the way to save them. They have been working to improve the area, but it's still got a long way to go.@Big_John has alredy regaled us with this Syracuse gem back at posts #10 and #1,102 and may have the following resuse project too.
Cant get on syracuse.com for more of this stort, without a subscription.
View attachment 608804
View attachment 608805
sources: Apartments at old car factory among $150M in new North Side projects in the works. Eight That Can’t Wait 2019: H. A. Moyer Factories | Preservation Association of Central New York
I'd like a whole floor (prolly couldnt afford it) .. only if I could have a 8.000 sq ft. garage on the ground floor. The building in this article appears to be the one in the upper right ... the whole complex is (was?) the Moyer site.
1911 Moyer below. Looks like it may be in front of the building above, on Wolf near the corner of Park.
View attachment 608807
View attachment 608806
"The H. A. Moyer Factories is a large complex of late 19th and early 20th-century industrial buildings at the far north end of North Salina Street, best known today by the west factory with “the house on the roof.”
The factories are significant for their architecture and association with Syracuse’s industrial history. The 210,000 square-foot complex has stood mostly vacant since 2005, and in 2014 one of the walls facing Park Street collapsed.
As of 2019, developers are proposing a housing project for the portion of the complex between Park and North Salina streets using historic tax credits."
View attachment 608808View attachment 608810View attachment 608811
ASIDE .. I'd like to have that old firehouse down (southerly, toward Salinas St.) Wolf St. near the OLDEST part of Moyers complex.
Alas, too late. already a museum. Syracuse and Onondaga County Fire Museum - Wikipedia
View attachment 608817
View attachment 608812
View attachment 608813
They mentioned the building with the "house on the roof". I drove by that yesterday and the house has been completely rebuilt.
A little bit about the area: Northside, Syracuse - Wikipedia
I wouldn't want to live there myself... Go a couple blocks and it gets rundown real fast.
This place is gone now, demolished when they widened the corner it was on. Rt 11 and Rt 31.
Never seen anything like this before! Only in New York!
still the issue with my "hobby house" plan (industrial property doubling as a building for the "fleet)... plenty of fixer-uppers I can afford, BUT the neighborhood is ..er .. "rough".
Example, the Aerocar/Hudson plant in Detroit on Mack Avenue (it's in this thread) had my attention (with an investment group) a couple DECADES ago. It woulda been a mistake turns out as that area still is . . er .. "rough".
Graffiti on the walls?? ... Run! And I'm old, so i can't run so good anymore.
early 1900's
Today
Where an area is getting some positive traction (like downtown Detroit), the industrial buildings go up 500% to 1,000% (not kidding) overnight due to speculation a decade before its a safe enough (for me, anyway) to live.
I did drive Pegman around Moyers in Syracuse in the Northside area ... looks still to have a ways to go like you said. I STILL like it tho.
Last edited:
source:Automotive Manufacturing | The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture
Ford Motor Company plant, 900 W. Main Street, Oklahoma City, OK.
Built 1915, and Alfred Kahn design. Ford built 24 "CKD" (completely knocked down, came in by rail in pieces with local assembly) branch assembly plants were they built Model T's (to get cars to the masses quickly).
Ford's System of Branch Assembly Plants
They did it here until 1932, then converted this plant to a parts warehouse until 1968, then sold it to their factory authorized manufacturer of powertrains (Fred Jones Manufacturing Co.).
It it now the 21c Museum Hotel.
Many times it takes a BIG repurpose (e.g., like a hotel, office building, apartments/condos, etc.,) to earn a return on the huge investment something like a former auto factory needs (HVAC, environmental remediation for lead, asbestos, petrochemical spills, etc., let alone the demands to renovate hundreds of thousands of square feet).
And if its a Kahn building, you know its reinforced concrete and, like the Packard Plant right now in Detroit, a bear to raze (giving a cost benefit potential to rehab vs. raze).
Ford Motor Company plant, 900 W. Main Street, Oklahoma City, OK.
Built 1915, and Alfred Kahn design. Ford built 24 "CKD" (completely knocked down, came in by rail in pieces with local assembly) branch assembly plants were they built Model T's (to get cars to the masses quickly).
Ford's System of Branch Assembly Plants
They did it here until 1932, then converted this plant to a parts warehouse until 1968, then sold it to their factory authorized manufacturer of powertrains (Fred Jones Manufacturing Co.).
It it now the 21c Museum Hotel.
Many times it takes a BIG repurpose (e.g., like a hotel, office building, apartments/condos, etc.,) to earn a return on the huge investment something like a former auto factory needs (HVAC, environmental remediation for lead, asbestos, petrochemical spills, etc., let alone the demands to renovate hundreds of thousands of square feet).
And if its a Kahn building, you know its reinforced concrete and, like the Packard Plant right now in Detroit, a bear to raze (giving a cost benefit potential to rehab vs. raze).
Last edited:
A lot of of these Ford Branch Assembly plants as noted in #1,435. Again, there were 24 of them spread across USA, many designed by Alfred Kahn ca. 1915. Note the telltale "mushroom" reinfoiced interial columns characteristic of Kahn designs.
Many apparently still around after 100 years.
Ford's System of Branch Assembly Plants
"From the beginning, the Ford Motor Company had relied on a network of sales agencies-dealers who agreed to sell Model T cars, stock parts, and provide mechanics' services.
Ford initially manufactured fully assembled cars in Detroit and then "knocked them down" (took off the wheels and otherwise prepared them for shipment) before shipping them to dealers around the country. The agents in distant cities reassembled the knocked-down cars before placing them in showrooms.
To better serve the network of sales dealerships. Ford took direct control of agencies in New York and Philadelphia in 1905 and the following year established company-owned branches in Boston, Buffalo, Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City. Ford branches not only delivered reassembled cars to dealerships within their respective regions, but also they sold Ford cars themselves.
In 1914, when Ford sold over 200,000 autos, the company's twenty-nine branches accounted for 80 percent of sales. Not surprisingly, branch managers were closely supervised by Ford headquarters in Detroit. "
Below, Ford Branch Assembly, Baum at Morewood, Pittsburgh, PA. Built 1915. Still there, now a biomedical facility.
sources: Stroll Down Baum Blvd Part 3: Ford Model T Assembly Plant, Historic Ford assembly plant transformed for biomedical research
Today.
Many apparently still around after 100 years.
Ford's System of Branch Assembly Plants
"From the beginning, the Ford Motor Company had relied on a network of sales agencies-dealers who agreed to sell Model T cars, stock parts, and provide mechanics' services.
Ford initially manufactured fully assembled cars in Detroit and then "knocked them down" (took off the wheels and otherwise prepared them for shipment) before shipping them to dealers around the country. The agents in distant cities reassembled the knocked-down cars before placing them in showrooms.
To better serve the network of sales dealerships. Ford took direct control of agencies in New York and Philadelphia in 1905 and the following year established company-owned branches in Boston, Buffalo, Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City. Ford branches not only delivered reassembled cars to dealerships within their respective regions, but also they sold Ford cars themselves.
In 1914, when Ford sold over 200,000 autos, the company's twenty-nine branches accounted for 80 percent of sales. Not surprisingly, branch managers were closely supervised by Ford headquarters in Detroit. "
Below, Ford Branch Assembly, Baum at Morewood, Pittsburgh, PA. Built 1915. Still there, now a biomedical facility.
sources: Stroll Down Baum Blvd Part 3: Ford Model T Assembly Plant, Historic Ford assembly plant transformed for biomedical research
Today.
Last edited:
Last one. Ford's Model T CKD plant in Los Angeles. They were all around 300,000 sq. ft., typical Kahn design of a big box with big windows and high ceilings, on all sides.
1913
Present Day
1913
Present Day
i lied ... one more cool repurpose of a remaining Model T "CKD" plant in Indianapolis In.
1301 E. Washington St. mixed use commercial/residential.
its a "good news" story after decades in urban decline.
https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/.amp/news/indiana-landmarks-presents-ford-plant-tour, Ford Assembly Building | Indianapolis, IN | WJE
1301 E. Washington St. mixed use commercial/residential.
its a "good news" story after decades in urban decline.
https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/.amp/news/indiana-landmarks-presents-ford-plant-tour, Ford Assembly Building | Indianapolis, IN | WJE
Last edited:
https://walnuthillsstories.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/
All the Ford Model T/TT truck "CKD' Plants. Some are gone, some remain dilapidated, and many are historic structures (dilapidated or renovated/repurposed).
Hard to read photo page at bottom showing of the Branch Plant locations/buildings.
Atlanta, Buffalo, Cambridge, Chicago, Cincinnatti, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Detroit (why, when they had the big honkin Highland Park plant building Model T's?, plus I can't even find where it is(was), Fargo, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Long Island City, Los Angeles, Louisville, Memphis, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, St. Louis, St. Paul, San Francisco, Seattle.
Nerd Alert.
I didn't know til yesterday Ford did this branch assembly plant thing .. and I fancied myself kinda an industry "expert"
Back when the auto industry (and mass production via assembly lines) was NEW, and Ford had one of the hottest products EVER introduced, and that no sh*t helped change the whole world (i.e., replaced the 1000 years of the horse/domesticated animals as primary human transportation on a MASS scale in less than two decades).
They had to do something to get them out there fast, with best quality, and still provide service after the sale. They were inventing the business model, with variations of course now, for modern vehicle manufacturing and retailing.
Get the cars built, knocked down, shipped and re-assembled, ALL over the country, such that in the end (1914-1932) a few million of all the nearly total 16M Model T's & TT trucks, were sold in US this way (i.e., CKD, using local agents as assemblers, parts supply, repair, and in some cases "sellers" -- in ADDITION to having dealers too.).
And a buncha fantastic real estate/architecture 100-110 years later to boot.
All the Ford Model T/TT truck "CKD' Plants. Some are gone, some remain dilapidated, and many are historic structures (dilapidated or renovated/repurposed).
Hard to read photo page at bottom showing of the Branch Plant locations/buildings.
Atlanta, Buffalo, Cambridge, Chicago, Cincinnatti, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Detroit (why, when they had the big honkin Highland Park plant building Model T's?, plus I can't even find where it is(was), Fargo, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Long Island City, Los Angeles, Louisville, Memphis, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, St. Louis, St. Paul, San Francisco, Seattle.
Nerd Alert.
I didn't know til yesterday Ford did this branch assembly plant thing .. and I fancied myself kinda an industry "expert"
Back when the auto industry (and mass production via assembly lines) was NEW, and Ford had one of the hottest products EVER introduced, and that no sh*t helped change the whole world (i.e., replaced the 1000 years of the horse/domesticated animals as primary human transportation on a MASS scale in less than two decades).
They had to do something to get them out there fast, with best quality, and still provide service after the sale. They were inventing the business model, with variations of course now, for modern vehicle manufacturing and retailing.
Get the cars built, knocked down, shipped and re-assembled, ALL over the country, such that in the end (1914-1932) a few million of all the nearly total 16M Model T's & TT trucks, were sold in US this way (i.e., CKD, using local agents as assemblers, parts supply, repair, and in some cases "sellers" -- in ADDITION to having dealers too.).
And a buncha fantastic real estate/architecture 100-110 years later to boot.
Last edited:
B&W De Soto, 815 Penn Avenue, Wilkinsburg, PA., ca. 1940. Still there, seen better days. The whole area as well.
2023. Graffitti!. Google shows it as various auto-related businesses (e.g. Earl Schieb, repair, etc.,) going back 15 years. The neighborhood's slide evidient as well.
2023. Graffitti!. Google shows it as various auto-related businesses (e.g. Earl Schieb, repair, etc.,) going back 15 years. The neighborhood's slide evidient as well.
I knew they shipped them overseas this way, but didn't know they did it in this country.
I also knew they did it with Jeeps and it looks like Plymouth did this too. Knock-down kit - Wikipedia
MrMoparCHP
Old Man with a Hat
WOW, you rarely see them this unmolested. All original doors and windows, sign frames all in place (main sign probably had the frame but was airbrushed out in the rendering).
(ok, the rollups were changed out)
Alan
