Help needed with Portland Oregon Studebaker dealerships in 1957.

[Sherwood_Egbert]

Hi fellow SDC members,

After buying the build sheet from SNM for my 57 Silver Hawk (VIN Number 7207814) which said the shipping destination was Portland, Oregon.
The 2 Portland dealerships that may have sold the car were Marks Motors or Rasmussen Motors (who is still in business today selling Mercedes Benz).
Over the last 2 years, I've been trying to determine which one of these dealers sold my Silver Hawk when new.
Thanks for any help or ideas you may have.

Update: I called Rasmussen (now Lithia Motors) and the Sales team said sales records from Rasmussen no longer exist.

Jay Frank

[StudeRich]

Welcome to the SDC and to the SDC Forum, Jay !
Are you related to my Hero, Sherwood ?

If you order the "Full Package" of data about your Car from the Museum, you will gain other details like the first owner Name and Address and Dealer info for the Dealer that sold it.
That includes when the Dealership was established, sold or transferred, addresses, the owner name etc.

There is no guaranty you will get what you want, but a good chance you will. Of course it depends on what data still remains in the archives after all these years.

It does not include the Production Order that you already have.

UPDATE: OOPS, this difficult to manipulate to, Page says the "Production Plus Package" is only available for 1960 to 1966 Model Cars.

https://store.studebakermuseum.org/products/Production-Orders-c158643260

[Sherwood_Egbert]

Thanks Rich for providing this Invaluable information!
(Sadly no, but I wish I was related to Sherwood!)

[64V-K7]

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[BRUCESTUDE]

My ‘51 came from Marks motors, but I have the original sales paperwork! Unless you find similar documentation, it’s sort of a guessing game. Here’s a photo that shows a dealership in the background, Rasmussen off of Burnside, where a 405 off ramp is now.

[Sherwood_Egbert]

Ok thank you.
Great pic, thanks for sharing it.
Wow, I didn't know they get so much snow!

My Hawk's frame, trunk and 95% of the body is rust free probably in part due to the undercoating.
Not sure if this is true or not, but speculation exists that Oregon used sand instead of salt.
Thoughts?

[Mark57]

And to make matters more complicated, just because it arrived at a specific dealer, it does not mean it was sold by them. My '66 was delivered to Mark's Motors in Portland, OR in October 1965, but was actually sold new to the first owner by the Studebaker Center in Seattle, WA. Obviously there was some horse trading between dealers before the initial sale of the car!

[Sherwood_Egbert]

Great observation and good to know. I appreciate the info. Thanks!

[SScopelli]

And to make matters more complicated, just because it arrived at a specific dealer, it does not mean it was sold by them. My '66 was delivered to Mark's Motors in Portland, OR in October 1965, but was actually sold new to the first owner by the Studebaker Center in Seattle, WA. Obviously there was some horse trading between dealers before the initial sale of the car!

It maybe that they were shipped by rail, and dropped off at a dealer near the depot. The car then would be transported by truck to another dealer possibly in a different city that the rail wouldn't drop off at?

Destination Tucson, yet shipped to Phoenix

[StudeRich]

I don't think so, I read this one as: ATSF Rail to Phoenix and Hadley Trucking to Tucson a "normal" delivery.

Of course sometimes a Dealer would Trade one of His for a needed Model from another Dealer, and normally just drove it there off the record, until the owner name was registered with South Bend, IF it ever was.

[Sherwood_Egbert]

Thanks for your insight and production order info!

[SScopelli]

StudeRich, I think that was my point. Shipping and destination could be two different location. Without the PO, you don't really know.

[Studebakercenteroforegon]

Marks Motors was actively buying inventories of unsold ‘66 models from West Coast dealers and selling them. I at one time owned a ‘ 66 Commander 2 door that was sold by Marks Motors but had originally been delivered to Capitol Studebaker in West Sacramento, CA.

[Sherwood_Egbert]

Interesting! Wow, I did not know that. Thanks for sharing!

[Studebakercenteroforegon]

It should be mentioned that there was another Portland Studebaker dealer when your car was delivered. Wareham Motors Studebaker. Wareham’s franchise was taken over by Jarvis Studebaker around 1959.

[Sherwood_Egbert]

Great to know!. Thanks for the info!

[Sherwood_Egbert]

Thanks everyone for all this valuable information! You all are AWESOME!

(p.s. I'd be honored to be related to the late Sherwood Egbert, but sadly I am not. The username was just a simple way of remembering him!)

[Studebakercenteroforegon]

I have a funny story about Rasmussen Motors. They were a fairly successful Portland west side Studebaker dealer in the early ‘50s. But then they dropped their franchise to become Portlands exclusive Edsel dealer! Maybe 1958 worked out for them, but certainly slowing in 1959 and ending in early 1960. Meanwhile Studebaker had introduced the successful Lark line and Rasmussen did manage to get its Studebaker franchise again.

[StudeRich]

Ha, THAT was a really Bad Move ! But then again, in '58 things couldn't have been worse for a Stude. Dealer.

[Sherwood_Egbert]

Agreed, but very interesting none the less. Love hearing the back stories. Thanks for sharing it, Rich!