In the photograph above, a new shipment of 1922 cars lines Jefferson Avenue in Westwood.
[slideshow_deploy id=’899′]
If you’re heading over to this spot today, it’s probably to grab a bite to eat. However, at one time this block was home to the oldest Chevrolet dealership in America.
General Motors set out in 1977 to discover the oldest continuously operating Chevy dealership in the nation. The company discovered that the distinction belonged to then 90-year-old I.J. Demarest, who opened his dealership at the corner of Jefferson and Center avenues in Westwood back in 1914.
It was in that year that Demarest sold his first Chevy, a Baby Grand, to Tunis Bogert. By 1977, Demarest’s son, Irwin, and grandson Roger were running the business.
Demarest had been a plumber netting about $13.50 per week when he switched gears and entered the automobile world in 1914. Back then, Chevrolet itself was just three years old and gasoline cost an unimaginable 11 cents a gallon.
In the early days of automobiles, cars were a novelty and people didn’t know much about them. Many were reluctant to believe that this new mode of transportation would ever replace the tried and true horse and carriage. Back then, when you sold someone a car, you often had to teach them how to drive it as well!
By 1922, when the photo above was captured, there were about 12 million motor vehicles registered in America. Compare that with today’s figure of 264 million!
–Kristin Beuscher