Mr D.

I bought a 67 GTO HT with auto (his & hers shifter) in 1982 for $600 in San Diego, wish I still had that car.

sub006

Thanks for the clip, Big John's address was 8855 Washington Boulevard! Sometime I'll have to check out what's there today, there used to be a big Toyota dealer in the general area.

LouieM

One of my regrets is not buying a '65 GTO tripower 4-spd convertible from a coworker who just wanted to get rid of it for a few hundred dollars in 1979. But I was buying a house then and couldn't cover another expense. Darn.

Stingxray

No Problem

sub006

Point Blank was the U.S. film debut of Canadian-born actor John Vernon (1932-2005). Lee Marvin tossed him from the penthouse balcony of a Santa Monica highrise to the street below. Most people remember him as slimy and scheming Dean Vernon Wormer in Animal House.

Beware of double secret probation!

65hihp

Big John was just one of several used corvette dealers in the 8000-9000 blocks of W. Washington Blvd of Culver City in the mid 1960s.
The best known might have been Stick City at 9000 W.W.B. Others were Shelee Motors and Sports Arena Sports Cars. All advertised heavily in the Los Angeles Times classified ads.

sub006

Never knew a Stick City was on Washington. I didn't visit that area frequently 'til late 1973.

The Stick City I've always known was on the south side, east end of perennial cruising street Whittier Boulevard, possibly in La Habra, just a small lot with a little shack for an office. Dave McDonald's SCCA racing sponsor Don Steves Chevrolet was on the other side of the street. The dealer buildings were still standing a couple of years ago.

I was aware of one Orange County guy with a connection to Stick City, I think his name was Ray. He drove a big block '69 with race tires on 16" mags and Stick City on the doors. AIR he got a flat about once a week!

65hihp

Bob Sorenson Chevrolet was in Whittier, east end of Whittier Blvd.
I will post up part of a LATimes classified ad from 1965 for fun.

65hihp

Summer 1965. 63 fuel coupes and convs selling around $3500. 62 fuel $2700-2900, and 64s only one year old priced low $4000s.
Where did I park my time machine?

sub006

Thanks for a wonderful post, Stick City was two blocks west of Big John, who was across the street from Shelee Motors! 'Vette shoppers heaven, you could walk back and forth, playing the three dealers against each other! Big John brags about TWENTY-SEVEN used Corvettes on his lot, maybe more than Harry Mann Chevrolet "World's Largest (New) Corvette Dealer, although Shelee claims "LARGEST STOCK IN L.A."

And Sports Arena "Auth. New Car (Chevrolet?) Dealer" was right in the middle of this Sting Ray battlefield, poor soul must not have lasted long. I think Big John was the ultimate survivor, but I don't think he made it to rhe C3 era. Stick City La Habra DID last until the fuel crisis of the early '70s AIR.

Whittier Boulevard is a LONG street, running well into southeast LA, remember the hit record "Let's Take A Trip Down Whittier Boulevard" (at least that was the opening line) I think it was done by the Cannibals. Bob Sorenson was on Whittier Blvd. in Whittier, but Don Steves Chevrolet was in neighboring La Habra. Chevrolet was selling so many cars, they'd let two dealers be a couple of miles apart and the dealers would last for decades.

Railroadman

I gotta agree on those '65 GTO's! That was the first car to catch my eye as a young kid. A friend had a convertible, powder blue, 3-2's. I told him if he sold it I wanted to know. He said I was second in line.

Fast forward, he said he had given the first guy until 6PM July 2nd (1967) to buy it. Meantime I had looked at a couple Corvettes. At 5PM the other guy came up with the cash, and about 8PM I bought my '59 Vette for $1050. Had to have a friend drive it home for me as I could not yet drive a stick.

Years later I had a '66 GTO but could not keep people from running into it - had 2 accidents and neither my fault. Last I heard, the guy I sold it to had restored it to like new.

65 fi

Wow! Impressive you have newspaper ads from 1965. Not wanting to highjack the thread but do you have any ads for 65 fuel injected cars from Harry Mann?

sub006

Harry Mann concentrated on selling new Corvettes. Sprinkled among older 'Vettes on his used car lot were a number of foreign sports car trade-ins like Alfas, Triumphs, Austin Healeys, etc.

AFAIK owner Frank Milne's main advertising effort was the license frame that went on the back of EVERY new or used Corvette, full-size Chevy, Chevelle, Nova, Corvair and truck, reading:


HARRY MANN CHEVROLET




WORLD'S LARGEST CORVETTE DEALER

Stingxray

Yea its an Old thread...... I know ...... But here s a Midyear based movie clip > ...Scuse the 70's language

LouieM

Cool clip, thanks!

USMC 0802

I wasn’t born yet, but I’d love me some $.60 gas!

65hihp

no academy awards for that abomination.

Easy Rhino

When I used to lug the 1 gallon lawn mower gas can up the hill to the old-style Sinclair station (with the big green dinosaur sign) I was given a quarter by my Dad.

But 5 years later when I started working for pay, minimum wage was $1.15, IIRC, and gas was breaking through $0.40/gallon.

Stingxray

Dig the Mauser C96 "broomstick handle ... Never saw her re-load ?? 10 round clip.


It was 1978 high school senior .....I was making $1.45 hour.
Here is Full movie




It's must have won that special drive-in award.

LouieM

I clearly remember when gas doubled in price in 1973, from $0.33 to $0.66 in L.A., because I was working for an oil company at the time. Soon getting sick of long gas lines, my solution was to check out a company car then drive to my apartment and siphon gas from the company car into my '63 SWC Fuelie that had a 4:56 Posi. Yes, it was bad behavior on my part, but everyone involved was happy.