By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

I don’t collect them like a maniac or anything, but I do have one for each of my cars. It’s nice to have them on hand to remind yourself of what your ride looked like when it was brand new–especially if you’re trying to keep it that way. Just curious–do you have yours?

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

As part of Dodge’s festivities leading up to the NASCAR Challenger debut in tonight’s Nationwide race, last night they hosted an Atomic Tom concert at a local dealership, Daytona Dodge. While the band got rained out, the outing was made 100% worthwhile by owner Randy Dye’s unbelievable collection of concours-restored Mopars. Strewn throughout his showroom and in varying stages of disassembly in his palatial service garage, Randy’s got a whole fleet of original muscle, including this fastback Charger, a Belvedere GTX, and a ’69 Dart GTS. I was blown away by the ’71 Demon all apart on the lift, brand new factory-perfect hardware bejeweling its original front drums. Though I’m personally a fan of upgrades and mods in such circumstances, there’s just something so undeniably compelling about factory-correct restoration of this level–even if it’s not what you’d do, you can’t not be impressed. And Randy is clearly living the ultimate gearhead dream, running a major dealership for his favorite make while being able to use the facility and infrastructure to fuel his hobby. Nationwide Dodge driver Justin Allgaier showed up for a meet-and-greet, and was as stoked as I was about the vintage rides. Hit the jump for more pics from a fun night at Daytona Dodge.

Continue reading "Randy’s Place" »

By Chris Bicknell

Bick66

A fellow Chevy lover tipped me off to this incredible site with hundreds of car dealership brochures ranging from the 1908 Ford to the 2010 Camaro.  With a bit of browsing, I uncovered page after page of high-quality images from just about every American auto manufacturer.  The selection is impressive, though a little hit and miss–I was able to find 2 of my 3 current vehicles and 2 of Jen’s 4.  Click the manufacturer links below to find your car!

Can you find the little piece of history that helped sell your car back in the day?

Chevrolet – GMC – Pontiac – Buick – Oldsmobile – Cadillac – Saturn – Hummer

Chrysler – Imperial – Dodge – Eagle – AMC – Rambler – Plymouth – Jeep – Willys – Overland

Ford – Lincoln – Mercury – Hudson – DeSoto – Nash – Packard

By Jim Brennan

UDMan

Over the past two weeks, both GM and Chrysler informed a number of their dealers that they would no longer be needed. Since part of my job deals with evaluating possible new dealers, as well as auditing existing dealers, I’m in the unique position to understand this process. Many of the dealers have asked why they were singled out for termination (or in the case of GM, why their dealership agreements will not be renewed in 2010). While the parameters seem complicated, it is actually quite simple, and there are five key points to look for.

Continue reading after the jump!

Continue reading "Chrysler Dealership Closings: Why Certain Dealers Were Chosen Over Others" »

By Dan Strohl

Hemmings

Jim Kelly, who already showed us a pretty nifty AMC dealership in Honolulu, Hawaii, has been out there looking for more old neat Hawaii dealership photos and recently came across these four photos of Aloha Motors, once the Chevrolet and Oldsmobile dealership in Honolulu. What set Aloha Motors apart from its competition was its four-story parking rack, accessed by a unique auto elevator, necessitated by very little free space for the dealership’s full inventory. It’s like something you’d see out of Tokyo or New York City. Continue reading at Hemmings.

CarDomain member Greg has been tracking the progress of his new Challenger SRT-8 across the country from its factory in Canada, and on the 28th, the car arrived on schedule at a Dodge dealership in Texas! Greg flew out from his home in Arizona to spend the weekend with the car and finalize the paperwork. Looks like he got some seat time in, and did a lot of standing and looking. This hot ride is everything he hoped it would be, and from here it’s going to be hauled from Texas to Arizona in a closed trailer. Greg will be taking final delivery on the Fourth of July. Congratulations, man!

The first shipment of Nissan GT-R’s has arrived safely at the Port of Los Angeles, just ahead of the car’s official on-sale date of July 7th. Nissan says that 2400 GT-R’s will be sold in North America this year, and that 70% of those are already spoken for. The spanky-new supercars will be touching down at three US ports besides LA: Elizabethtown, NJ; Jacksonville, FL; and Newport News, VA. Free CarDomain swag for anyone willing to stake out any of these locations with their camera! Check out these pics that Edmunds got.

Continue reading "First Batch of GT-R's Headed For US Dealerships" »

The US isn’t the only place where unsaleable vehicles are collecting dust on dealer lots. In the wake of a perfect storm of environmental and economic disturbances, the ambitous goals Chinese car dealerships have set for themselves are falling flat. Market analysts blame a combination of the massive snowstorms early in the year, the Sichuan earthquake, a flagging stock market, high gas prices, and growing tight-fistedness on the part of lenders—and they predict a slew of dealership closings in China by the end of 2008. Sucks to be them. But hey, does this mean there’ll be some oil left for the world after all?

In the State of Missouri, you’ll find one of the coolest dealerships in existence. MotoeXotica has been around since 1988, selling classics, exotics, and various motorcycles. They have been reaching out to online audiences far beyond the bounds of their regional customer base, featuring their most desirable cars through the Hemmings classifieds, and as of recently, eBay Motors. The inventory of this place is huge for a dealership that sells mostly older cars. A few of my favorites are the 1979 Alfa Romeo convertible, the very rare 1970 Ford Torino Esquire Wagon, and a car whose 15 minutes of fame is long over: Project Switchblade, the lawnmower Mustang built by Jesse James on Monster Garage. This was the very first car completed by the now-defunct show. There’s something here for everyone—check out MotoeXotica’s inventory and tell us your favorite!