--- Michael Sundbom <ech198c@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Have looked closer at my Desoto tailend and
> particulary one sales Decal, witch points out that
> the car was sold/delivered from
> "Lathem Brilliant Ohio" your Plymouth-Desoto dealer
> is printed on the decal in Black/white. As the car
> still carry the original paint Hawaian Blue/white
> shell as it matters :)) i suspect that it might be
> the nr.1 original sales Decal, however i will gladly
> recive any information about this dealershipp in
> Ohio.
I can't tell you anything about that dealership
specifically, but I can tell you a couple of things
about dealer advertising and marketing during the time
period involved.
It's more likely than not that Lathem was your car's
original dealer, since it was somewhat unusual for
someone to trade a '60 in on a '61, and (unlike the
current situation with Plymouth signage) the DeSoto
name had disappeared from most if not all dealerships,
including letterhead and signage, by the time the '62
models came out.
On the US West Coast, at least, most DeSoto-Plymouth
dealers got Chrysler franchises as a replacement. This
was AFAIK the same pattern throughout Canada, which
had Chrysler-Plymouth-Fargo and DeSoto-Dodge-Dodge
Truck dealer chains, the DeSoto-Dodge dealers becoming
Chrysler-Dodge.
There appears to have been a move in the late '50s and
very early '60s to consolidate Chrysler dealerships in
smaller and medium-size markets that may not have been
able to support three Chrysler franchises but could
support two. This started to pick up steam in '60,
when Dodge dealers lost their Plymouth franchises but
were given the Plymouth-like Dart series as a
replacement. An example of this is Santa Rosa CA,
where the previous DeSoto dealer folded about '58, the
Chrysler dealer gave up Plymouths for '59 but took on
Dodges instead, while the previous Dodge dealer kept
Plymouth and took on DeSoto, but went by the business
name "Zumwalt Plymouth Center". (Zumwalt finally got
the Chrysler & Imperial franchise just before the '70
models came out, and still has it today.) Typically in
this situation the former DeSoto dealer wound up
selling only Plymouths until this situation sorted
itself out, sometimes many years later, as happened in
Napa CA where George C. Warner sold Chryslers,
Plymouths and Imperials, Napa Valley Motors sold
Dodges, and former DeSoto dealer Ed Barwick sold
Plymouths as his only Chrysler line until Warner
closed around '73 or so.
The phrase "Your Plymouth-DeSoto Dealer" is telling as
well, as the makes would not have been listed in this
order until after DeSoto Division was merged into what
went by the awkward name of "Plymouth-DeSoto Division"
(which, more cumbersome yet, became
"Plymouth-DeSoto-Valiant Division" in '60 before
reverting to Plymouth Division in '62). There's a
fairly good chance that Lathem had not been a DeSoto
dealer prior to '59, as a dealer who had had the
franchise earlier would probably continue to refer to
DeSoto first.
This may be waaaaay more info than you wanted without
answering your more specific questions, but since this
stuff comes up once in a while I put it out again.
(Hope you're still awake?)
Chrysler does maintain build and shipping records,
including the car's original dealer, for cars built
before 1968. I don't know the address but I know
someone here does.
=====
Mike Sealey, San Francisco CA
'57 Plymouth Sport Suburban
'64 Chrysler 300-K 2dr Hardtop
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