In the 60's,we had very limited TV station choices. So I grew up watching WGN late at night and on the weekends and early on Sunday mornings. The main sponsors were automobile dealers like Berens and Bert Weiman. Many of these dealers are long gone, but others I remember were Kronon Mercury, Nikki Chevrolet, Keystone Chevrolet,Gateway.

Unless I am mistaken, I don't recall seeing any TV commercials lately for local
car dealerships,especially with personality.

Feel free to comment on memories of these late night and early Sunday commercials or to identify the names and locations of other long gone car dealers.

Jim Moran -- the Courtesy Man.

Harry Schmerler, your singing Ford dealer - 'rock-a-bye your baby...'

Celozzi & Ettleson, Al Piemonte.

Piemonte still does his own commercials and he must be pretty long in the tooth by now. Chuck Piano does commercials for his Orland Park Nissan store and I think he started out selling cars for Al Piemonte in Melrose park. Pretty corny stuff, but I guess it works for them.
It was Lynn Burton who did the commercials for Bert Weiman. Lynn had "great pipes" which made him a natural pitchman but in addition to his media work he owned a rib shack that was very popular.

I remember a chevy dealership at 4849 N Broadway it was Arnold "something"

222psm Wrote:
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> I remember a chevy dealership at 4849 N Broadway
> it was Arnold "something"


Arnie Yusum.

Back in the late 40s, there was one called the "Angel on Broadway" I believe. My mother bought a car there - a '40 something convertible. I want to say it was a 1947? Supposedly one of the first models to be built after the war. Not sure, but my mother's family had gotten a TV in or around 1949 - one of the earlier ones.

Ahh......a subject dear to my heart! I have been researching Chicago area dealerships and collecting memorabilia from them for years, longer then I have been into Chicago history. I think it may have been influenced by the decade I spent in the car business.

I focused mainly on Chevrolet because I collected 60s & 70s era Chevy muscle cars as well. Nickey Chevrolet at 4501 W. Irving Park was one of the biggest high performance Chevy dealerships in the country. (Chicago also had Mr. Norms Grand Spaulding Dodge for the Mopar guys). Here is some of my rare and pretty valuable Nickey Chevrolet memorabilia.

By the way, I also have memorabilia from the other two dealers the original poster mentioned, Kronon & Gateway. (I just posted pics of stuff from Nickey and Keystone). I also have a cool postcard from Courtesy and memorabilia from many many more Chicago area dealerships.

Chipast Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 222psm Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I remember a chevy dealership at 4849 N
> Broadway
> > it was Arnold "something"
>
>
> Arnie Yusum.

Thanks chipast, after I thougt about it a while I remembered it was Arnie not Arnold, but I still could not remember the last name.

Here's the bill of sale for my father's long-gone '65 Mustang.
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/29821940@N00/5085127070/]Johnson Ford - Bill Of Sale[/url]

Very cool wayoutwardell, try purchasing a car now a days with 2 dollars down. There was a Ford dealership on the corner of W Irving Park and N Hoyne, I don't think it had a outdoor lot, I'm pretty sure it was all in doors. Does any one know what it was? It looks like by Google maps the building is still there.
I also remember a dealership that advertised on S Western, I'm thinking it was around the 4000's block. It was a large dealership, domestic brand. My dad was looking for a car, they had one that interested him, but he did not what to drive all the way to the south side



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/01/2011 02:48PM by 222psm.

222psm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Very cool wayoutwardell, try purchasing a car now
> a days with 2 dollars down. There was a Ford
> dealership on the corner of W Irving Park and N
> Hoyne, I don't think it had a outdoor lot, I'm
> pretty sure it was all in doors. Does any one know
> what it was? It looks like by Google maps the
> building is still there.
> I also remember a dealership that advertised on S
> Western, I'm thinking it was around the 4000's
> block. It was a large dealership, domestic brand.
> My dad was looking for a car, they had one that
> interested him, but he did not what to drive all
> the way to the south side

I do remember that place on Irving, and the building is still there - was it a Ford dealer? There was also a Dodge dealer farther west on Irving near Kedzie that had an outdoor sign for the Dart which remained long after they stopped being made, and even farther west was Lynch Buick (with a cool neon marquee) where my folks bought a brand new '77 Special.

That is some GREAT Nickey stuff, Frank!

[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOX9jjr6z7E]Bert Weinman Ford ad with Linn Burton[/url]

In '73 I bought a Cutlass S coupe 350, 4 speed and I ordered it at Hollingshead Oldsmobile which was near 5400 S. Western. I think Tony Piet (former Chi White Sox) Pontiac was around 6100, McManus Chev was near 6700, there was a Ford dealer somewhere in the 6000's I think, a Dodge dealer near 7200 S. and probably lots more that I forgot. The Dodge dealer was one to stay out of, a real sleaze bag operation.
I don't remember any new car dealers in the 4000's, some used car lots, small businesses and taverns, etc., on the west side of the street. The east side of Western Boulevard along that stretch (3900-5500) was mainly industrial with a few City of Chicago municipal buildings.

That's it! 5400 S. Western, I was thinking it was 4000-4900. The name does not ring a bell, Did it change in the early 80's? Boy the mind is rusty!

> I do remember that place on Irving, and the
> building is still there - was it a Ford dealer?
> There was also a Dodge dealer farther west on
> Irving near Kedzie that had an outdoor sign for
> the Dart which remained long after they stopped
> being made, and even farther west was Lynch Buick
> (with a cool neon marquee) where my folks bought a
> brand new '77 Special.
>
> That is some GREAT Nickey stuff, Frank!
>
> Bert Weinman Ford ad with Linn Burton

I'm almost positive it was Ford, could have been Mercury/Lincoln.

There was a shotgun shooting in the '60's at a north side Mercury dealer resulting in at least one death. I think it involved a disgruntled customer and the name may have been Foreman Motors. Anybody remember the details?

Most local dealer ads are on cable stations now. On 'free TV', they are on news shows, mostly.

Ostrow Dodge was on Irving Park, just west of Kedzie, and then was Foley Dodge. It closed in 2000, and was empty for a few years. Torn down for condos, but took long time to build them out. THere is a ghost sign for Foley Dodge on south side of IP, although being only 18 yrs old, it's still got all its paint.

Found where someone posted a old Bert Weiman commercial from 1980 on Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOX9jjr6z7E

1982 commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN32bNW-qR8&feature=related

Schmerler Ford 1985

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAsBsDKh9NE


Al Piemonte 1985

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ug4-vaCUws&feature=related

Cellozi-Ettelson 1985

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBZYL3AOnDA&feature=related



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/2011 06:42PM by Kchi.