Found! Treasure trove of old Michigan dealership photos

The constant research here at the Hemmings offices takes some of us to odd little corners of the Internet, and sometimes those corners are full of little wonders. For instance, I recently came across the Making of Modern Michigan online photo archive, described as

a collaborative project involving 52 Michigan libraries. It includes local history materials from communities around the state. Michigan’s unique heritage is represented through over 4,500 different subjects of photographs, family papers, oral histories, genealogical materials, and much more.

Every new online photo archive I come across I start digging for old dealership photos, and the MMM archive didn’t disappoint.

We’ll start with a Buick dealership, the building of which is a fine example of Googie architecture. Note the Opel Kadett in the showroom.

A second photo of the same dealership reveals the imposing street sign. The descriptions for both 1964 photos note that Boylan Buick was located at 5047 West Main Street in Kalamazoo, the current location of a strip mall.

Both the above and the lead photos are of Beglinger Oldsmobile in Plymouth, but from two different times. The above photo shows the dealership in about 1955, when it resided at 705 South Main Street. The lead photo is from the December 1958 celebration of the grand opening of the dealership’s new location at 684 Ann Arbor Road. The former location seems to now be office buildings, while the latter location now appears to be Dick Scott Dodge.

It apparently didn’t take much to warrant a group shot in 1944, when this photo of the workers at DeNooyer Brothers Chevrolet was taken in front of the dealership’s building at 206-208 Portage Road.

Another photo, taken a year later, shows an innocuous street scene, with the same corner of the DeNooyer building on the far right of the photo. Interestingly, the description of the latter photo places the building at 353-377 Portage. Either way, it appears Pfizer’s got a bit laboratory there now. DeNooyer, however, still appears to exist in Kalamazoo.

Another Chevrolet dealership, this one the Ernest J. Allison dealership in Plymouth in about 1951. The description doesn’t indicate why a 1920s Chevrolet sits side by side a new 1951 Chevrolet, but it does tell us that the dealership was located at 345 North Main Street. The buildings there today look of the same age, if not older, but nothing in the bird’s eye view appears to match the photographed location. Google, which doesn’t have a Street view for that location, tells us a bridal shop and banquet center are currently located at that address.

Yet another Chevrolet dealership, this one from November 1967 and taken in the village of Ortonville. No address was given, and roaming around the satellite photos of Ortonville didn’t reveal much, but check out their shiny new Chevy II!

This one goes back a little further. While the photograph is undated, the MMM historians place it between 1915 and 1925. The location, however, is the Bonafide Garage, a Ford dealership in Plymouth, Michigan. According to the description, the garage was located on Main Street, across from the Markham Air Rifle Company, though by that time, Daisy (located directly across the railroad tracks) had bought out Markham. No specific address, and it’s hard to tell from bird’s-eye views where exactly the Bonafide Garage was located.

Finally, though this photo appears to have been taken for insurance purposes (which probably explains the bent bumper on the Wagoneer), it was taken in 1969 in Kalamazoo in front of the South Westnedge Motors Jeep dealership, located at 3525 South Westnedge. That location now appears to be (*ugh*) an Advance Auto Parts.