Vintage dealerships

Dang. I would have gone for that!

 

For $22K in 1979, it darned well should come with an extra car. And yeah, as a high schooler, dropping that cash for a pair of Blue Ovals to impress the girls would've been a lot of fun.

 

Burlington Vermont

 

I always found it interesting that a lot of early Mercedes dealerships were tied into Studebaker franchises as well. You can kinda get Opel sold through Buick, but these are two different cats.

 

My guess would be that they wanted established dealerships to sell Mercedes-Benz

 

When Mercedes decided to get interested in the U.S. sales market, they needed a distributor to help them. The Studebaker dealers seemed like a good fit, I guess. In my local area, there was a Studebaker dealer in Santa Monica who added Mercedes-Benz to their lot, and then when Studebaker folded, they did quite well just selling Mercedes. Still in business today - in the SAME BUILDING from the 30's.....

 

Courtesy of The Old Motor

Albert M. “Prep” Laughner began his auto sales career in 1930 or earlier in association with Russell R. Clark as Clark & Laughner Auto Sales in Frankfort, IN, according to “A Century of Progress: An Account of the Clinton County.”

Information from the Frankfort Public Library states that circa 1942 Laughner was operating a Chrysler and Plymouth Dealership at 405 N. Jackson St. in Frankfort, IN. How long Albert Laughner remained in the auto sales business after these 1950s images were taken is unknown at this point.

Photographs courtesy of the Frankfort Public Library.



Laughner Chrysler Plymouth Imperial at 405 N. Jackson St. in Frankfort in the 1956 model year.



Albert M. “Prep” Laughner in the show room at Laughner Chrysler Plymouth Imperial circa 1958.



Sales associate Jim Hollis on the right showing the finer points under the hood of a Chrysler in 1957 or ’58.



Above: Maurice “Blackie” Black, Sales Manager left with sales associate Jim Hollis.

Below: sales associate Jim Hollis.


Courtesy of The Old Motor