Dealer Service Receipt from 1956

[dpson]

I picked up a 1951 Studebaker Service Manual at a car show flea market this summer for $5 and was flipping through it yesterday and discovered this receipt for some work done on a 1954 Land Cruiser (L.C.) at E. Hansen Co. of Portland, ME. It states that it is "Northern New England's Largest Studebaker Dealer". It's interesting to note that the dealership discounted the parts by 25% and the labor by 50% for this customer. I suspect they probably bought their car new from this dealership and good customer service keeps them coming back.

[TWChamp]

I can't make out what the 2 ? for $15.90 is, and I wonder why the labor was cut in half?

10 years after this receipt I was working in a Service Station, and our parts and labor would have been about the same. Then another 10 years later, in 1976 I was working at the GM dealership, and the labor rates were still only $10 per hour, but right after that the labor rates really went nuts.

[dpson]

I think it's for front shocks, as these were to be checked in the work order on the right.

[TWChamp]

I was thinking the same thing, but it looks like he wrote "shockers", which made no sense to me.

[studegary]

47K (42K?) miles for two years was high for those days.
This order was on my sister's 22nd birthday.

[Commander Eddie]

Imagine what the numbers would be on the invoice today for that work!

[StudeRich]

There are some other "possibilities" about the Discount.

In Aug. 1966 with 66,000 Miles on a '54, this could have been sold by them as Used and the repairs included in the deal at 25% off, OR Mr. Perkins was an employee.

[dpson]

Rich,

Take a closer look, the year is 1956 and the mileage is 47110.

[paul shuffleburg]

The building is still there. Google 531 Forest Ave. Portland, ME. The top floor is a music
studio. Be sure to zoom in just above the center window.

[dpson]

Paul,

Here is 531 Forest Ave. from Google Earth Street view, this was obviously an older (1920s) Studebaker dealer building, but the receipt above says 300 Forest Ave.

Could they have moved down the street at a later time. The building at 300 Forest Ave. is now a newer building for Southern Maine University.

[StudeRich]

That matching building to it's right, looks like it could have been the Service Dept. of a Large Dealership.

[Skip Lackie]

Forest Ave was for many years the automobile row of Portland, Maine, and had dealerships from many makes. It is possible that the main dealership was located at 300 Forest Ave, and the service department and used car lot were farther out of town at 531. The area around the 300 block was obliterated in 1959-60 by the construction of I-295, so it's likely that the original dealership building at 300 Forest Ave was demolished at that time.

Off topic, but I feel compelled to note that the old Stude building at 530 is only a few doors down from one of the great bars of North America -- the Great Lost Bear, with 70 beers on tap, at 540 Forest Ave.

[Guido]

Off topic, but I feel compelled to note that the old Stude building at 530 is only a few doors down from one of the great bars of North America -- the Great Lost Bear, with 70 beers on tap, at 540 Forest Ave.

Best answer...

[BRUCESTUDE]

Cool stuff, thanks for sharing!

[JRoberts]

I guess my background as a history teacher rises to the surface with threads like this. I really find it cool how much Studebaker history rises to the surface here at times. This one I find quite interesting.