He had purchased a 1965 Corvette that had originally been delivered to the Bob Beck dealership in Lorain, and thought that it would be nice to have a Bob Beck keychain to go with it.
I told him that the search for a keychain would have been a lot easier in the 1970s or even the 80s, rather than fifty years later. But after some detective work, we may be closing in on one. I’ll let you if and when it happens.
In the meantime, here’s a nice Bob Beck ad that ran in the Journal on Feb. 1, 1971. Although Bob had passed away in February 1970, the dealership knew the power of his name was still strong. I like the tagline: “A Name That Means A Great Deal.”
Maybe someone connected to one of the men pictured in the ad (including Roger Noak, Buzz Gibson, Frank Camera, Ron Crowe, Roth Garrett, Darwin Harmon, Ron Kokinda, Joe Krall, Dewey Mann, and John Mitchell) has an old keychain or other piece of dealer memorabilia in their junk drawer.
The funny thing is, after looking at this ad, I remembered that my parents bought a used 1970s Chevy Impala for my sister to drive. (I don’t remember what Chevy dealer’s name was on it.) It was the rare used car they bought that wasn’t a Cutlass.
That Impala was huge – about as big as the boat-like 1963 Buick LeSabre that we later drove to Admiral King High School.
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All this Chevy talk reminded me that your humble blogger posted what is probably the only image on the whole internet of the cartoon caricature of Commander Ray of West Park Chevrolet.
My dad was a big Chevrolet guy.He had a '62 Impala SS all throughout the '60s.By the mid '60s the Impala nameplate had been relegated to 2nd rate status and the Caprice was the top Chevrolet now.So he bought a brand new '68 Chevrolet Caprice 2 dr hardtop off of Bob Beck in the fall of '67.He saw them unloading it from the car hauler and went in the dealership and asked if it was a sold car.It wasn't so he bought it.It was built at the world famous Lordstown Assembly Plant.Back in the '60s full sized Chevys were everywhere,selling a million a year by the mid '60s.When Lordstown was opened they built full size Chevrolets for the first 4-5 years....Dads Caprice had a 327 V-8 with 4 bbl/dual exhaust.3 spd turbo hydro trans.Cream color with a black vynil top.Air conditioning and fender skirts.Bench seat and factory 8-track player hanging from the dash(which commands a high premium now at swap meets).The Caprice 2 dr had the formal rear window. Very luxurious looking Chevy.This was back when Lorain was a thriving industrial city.Ford was running full blast.The steel mill was pumping out American steel.The shipyard was cranking out ships.Thew Shovel was booming....Lorain had it all.Then in the blink of an eye it seemed to have disappeared overnight.It'll never come back......But everytime I see a '68 Chevy I think of dads Caprice.
ReplyDeleteNoticed the list of sales people. Not sure if it is the same person, but there was a Dewey Mann who owned a butcher shop in South Amherst in the 1980's. He was a friend of my parents. Passed away sitting in his lazy boy chair in the early 90's I think.
ReplyDeleteThe anonymous commenter above alluded to American Shipbuilding in Lorain. That made me think of the news I saw a couple of days ago of the poor old Roger Blough suffering another fire onboard a couple of days ago.
ReplyDeleteThe Blough is moored in Wisconsin, I believe, for the winter. The fire was first reported in the early morning hours of this past Monday. A large response of shore-based firefighters brought the fire under control a number of hours later.
The last report I saw stated no one was injured in this most recent incident. I'm sure you recall, Dan, but I might remind your readers that in the early `70s the Blough suffered a major fire in the later stages of it's construction at the shipyards on the Black River. Tragically four ship workers lost their lives in that fire.
I was relatively young at the time but images on the TV news of heavy smoke billowing from the Blough kind of haunted me. Fortunately the ship recovered to enjoy a long career as an ore boat on the lakes.
One of the online stories of this week's Blough fire mentioned the boat is favorite of ship watchers on the upper lakes.
And yes, when the Roger Blough was built Lorain was indeed an industrial powerhouse, but I believe those days would start coming to an end relatively soon afterward.
I just bought a 1964 Impala SS convertible that was sold new at Bob Beck Chevy.
ReplyDeleteIt is a 409/425 hp survivor.
Wow, my dad is Roger Noak and he is still alive at the young age of 92. I know we have some Bob Beck memorabilia. We now live in Austin Texas in case anyone is looking for him.
ReplyDelete