My, how things change...

[BobPalma]

This photo of Palma Motors in Paris Illinois has appeared several places, including here. It was taken in late July, 1953. My father probably took the photo because he's not in it.

The photo is of Dad and Uncle Milt's entire shop staff. Uncle Milt is on the far left, partially behind the windshield. To this day, I can name all but one of the men in the photo, even though I was only 7 years old at the time. I'm sure they are all deceased. Click to enlarge:



The vertical Packard neon sign in the photo was taken down and remounted in front of Paris Sales Company, the Studebaker dealership, when my father and his brother bought 85% of the Studebaker deal from Studebaker franchisee Harry Rhoads in June 1955 and moved there, about three blocks away. (This building was demolished several years ago):



The above photo of Paris Sales Company was taken in early 1955, before Dad and Uncle Milt "moved over" in June. Hence, the Packard sign is yet to be added to the front of the above building. The Paris Sales Company signage above the windows (the showroom) was removed because they changed the name to Palma-Rhoads Motors after the merger.

When Packard quit building cars in Detroit, Dad and Uncle Milt sold off their part of the dealership, including the Packard signage, on August 1, 1956. Part of the auction included the vertical Packard neon sign. Dad several times recalled that the Packard neon sign on the front of the building was one of the last items to sell, and a scrap dealer paid $1 for it because he was going to have to take it down before cutting it up.

Fast-Forward 63 years to 2019.

An identical old Packard neon sign in excellent condition was offered among the Road Art items at the 2019 Mecum Kissimmee Florida auction sale. It sold for $17,000.

Oh, well; I was ten years old the day Dad and Uncle Milt's sign sold for $1. I don't know where I could have kept it for 63 years.

(And before some wise guy says to account for inflation, I just looked it up: That scrap dealer's $1 would be $9.17 today; still well under 17 large!) BP

[Buzzard]

Bob,
In photo # 2 of Paris Motors, what model of station wagon is nearest? It almost has Kaiser like windows, at least to me.
Bill

[tsenecal]

Very cool photos, and memories. There seems to be a lot of expendable income out there when it comes to classic cars, and auto memorabilia.

[Studebaker Wheel]

Cadillac and Packard in a small Midwestern farming town only doors apart. Must have been some pretty prosperous farmers!?

[RadioRoy]

Bob,
In photo # 2 of Paris Motors, what model of station wagon is nearest? It almost has Kaiser like windows, at least to me.
Bill

55 Rambler Cross Country wagon. I have one with the deluxe spring trim if you would like one.

[BobPalma]

Bob,
In photo # 2 of Paris Motors, what model of station wagon is nearest? It almost has Kaiser like windows, at least to me. Bill

It's a 1955 Nash Rambler Cross-Country wagon, Bill. You can tell it's a '55 because it has the fully open front wheel wells. 1954 models still had the heavily-skirted front wheels, like the rear ones.

Dad and Uncle Milt also had the Nash and Kaiser franchises and sold quite a few Ramblers, so Dad might have been driving one that day.

Chances are pretty good Dad drove it over to visit Harry Rhoads that day and take that photo. BP
EDIT: OOPS; I see that Radio Roy beat me to the car's ID...

[BobPalma]

Cadillac and Packard in a small Midwestern farming town only doors apart. Must have been some pretty prosperous farmers!?

That they were, Dick. Check out Dad's appraisal of that market as recorded in his interview from the May 2010 Hemmings Classic Car. It's discussed in Paragraphs #7 and #10 of the text:

https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hcc/2010/05/Lu-Palma/3197351.html

And be sure to compare the opening photo in that Hemmings article with the first photo here in my post; note how Hemmings "Photoshopped out" The Budweiser sign on the bar next door! NO free advertising!

(Good to see you back in the saddle, Dick; so what was wrong with the door locks at your house? ) BP

[Studebaker Wheel]

(Good to see you back in the saddle, Dick; so what was wrong with the door locks at your house?

Don't know, frozen from the inside as well as the outside! I have a front door and it will be my one of choice for the duration.

[hausdok]

Cadillac and Packard in a small Midwestern farming town only doors apart. Must have been some pretty prosperous farmers!?

I'm not from the midwest. I come from a tiny hamlet a hundred miles north of New York City where the primary industry when I was a kid was dairy farming. Back then - the 50s and 60s - the most prosperous families in town were all the dairy farmers.

Those days are long gone, I'm afraid. I'm not sure what happened - I moved away in 1975 - but most of those farms went bust sometime over the past 40 years or so, sold off all of their cows and farming implements and then began selling off their land, a building lot at a time, as they needed cash. There are just a few dairy farms still in business there now.