MosportGreen66

Hi Guys,

We just received the Shipping Data Report. Our 66 L72 originally came from Beach City Chevrolet Co. in Long Beach, CA. Dealer code 35, Zone 20. Any information or memorabilia about this dealer would be extremely appreciated.

Thanks!

Dave

corvett66

My 1966 coupe was originally delivered to Cormier Chevrolet in Long Beach; dealer code 127 in zone 20.

vintagecorvette

My 1966 El Camino was bought new at Beach City Chevrolet in Long Beach.

oWEN

jtranger

Hi Dave, Larry here from the forum. I am Very familiar with Beach City. I was a Policeman in the area where Beach City once stood. The original building has been vacant for over 20 years and I used to answer burglar alarm calls their all the time. Only visitors there over the years were transients and hookers. A few years ago they tore the whole place down. It appears that they moved to Bellflower Blvd in Long Beach. I just called the Bellflower Blvd location and their number is disconnected. I will drive by that location and see if a building still exists. Wish I had better news. If I can be of any help, let me know. Larry

MosportGreen66

Larry,

That information is very helpful. Thank you for posting. I do not know when you retired from the force or the time frame you worked but do you happen to remember a MosportGreen / black interior 66 L72 Coupe? Below is a picture of the car. Any further information you can locate or remember about the dealer I would be extremely interested to know. Also do you know any other former policemen, dealership workers (or others) that worked around there during the late 60's early 70's that might recall seeing the car?

Best,
Dave



oWEN, thanks for sharing. Care to post a picture?

Thanks!

jtranger

Dave, I don't know if I can find anyone who saw the car since the dealer has been gone for so long. The original location was on Pacific Coast Hwy in the City of Signal hill. I wish the building was still there, I would snap a few pictures. I do remember going there for parts for my '61 when it was open. I will check the second location and see if the building is still there. Great looking car by the way!

sub006

Beach City Chevrolet sponsored a C3 "Corvette" funny car in the '70s. Don't remember if it had Mark IV or Hemi power.

Astrojet

Hi, I grew up in Long Beach, and went past Beach City Chevy many, many times. My neighbor bought his 1958 Impala from there, then later on, his 1967 Impala. Often as a teen, I would ride up there with him while the car got serviced. Beach City was a small dealership, and had very friendly "small town" service. Using Google Earth, I managed to get a few photos of the place. Apparently it is still standing. Unfortunately, Google's camera car on PCH was in the far right lane, so although those photos are clear and sunny, they are too close to the building for a good view. The north south street shots, while showing the building it it's entirety, were taken on a foggy day. It looks like May or June, when the weather is cold, windy and wet, and no sun comes out until perhaps 3 or 4 pm. I think the address of Beach City was 1900 something Pacific Coast Highway. Before my neighbor died and his wife sold the 67 Impala, I removed the Beach City license plate frames. I'll have to look out in the boxes in my garage and see if they made the move to AZ. If I find them, I will PM you and see if you want them.

The first photo shows the building as view looking to the south on a foggy Long Beach day. In the rear is the entrance to the body/service area. The taller part of the building I assume is office space, then the showroom for the best models. I assume your Corvette would have been parked inside this glass showroom area. To the right of this showroom, you can see a small parking lot. This had "high line" or high level trim cars parked in front, usually convertibles or hardtops. I recall that at night, there were strings of multi colored lights hung over this lot. In back of this lot, are more windows. I think those were office space for the salesmen, and bathrooms. The normal stock of cars was back of this building. Used cars were on a lot behind that white motel (on the far right corner of the photo).


The second photo shows the showroom on a sunnier day. As I recall, the small mansard roof over the showroom was painted medium blue and had "CHEVROLET" painted on the front of it in white letters. Also, the sign on the pole had a blue bow tie on it, and said "Chevrolet" on it, and rotated.


Finally, this last photo shows the dealership looking towards the north on a typically gloomy June day. You can see the showroom, and the premium auto sales lot. There were plastic black and white checkered racing pennants or flags strung across this lot on wires. They would make quite a loud flapping when the sea breezes kicked in!

I used to go to Beach City every June for their summer kick off sale. I would get a free hot dog, some Granny Goose potato chips, and a Shasta soda. Usually they gave out some kind of blow up raft or something that I would take to the beach. One year, it was styrofoam boogie boards with a blue racing strip down the center and the Chevy bow tie. I entered for the surfboard give away each year, but never won. I wonder if any of those Chevy surfboards still exist. This place always gave away stuff. Does anybody remember the promotional Chevy plastic sunglasses that had the frames molded in car paint colors? They were great beach sunglasses for kids. My sister had a pair of Evening Orchid glasses, and some Ermine white ones with green lenses in them. I had Nassau blue, and some Rally red ones. I don't recall when this dealership moved, I think it was in the mid 1980s or so. Before then, this entire area was all middle class. It only took around 10 years to turn into a third world crime infested dump. Sadly that's the direction most of Long Beach seems to be going. I know, that's why I left!

If you want to see the dealership itself, open up Google Earth, go to Long Beach CA, find PCH and look between Gladys ave and Freeman ave. Just choose street view and you can scoot all around and see the area for yourself.

My Corvette dealership building is still around. However, Community Chevrolet in Las Vegas is now a Mexican grocery store and meat market. But the original sign and building are unchanged. Next trip to Vegas I'll go have a couple Tacos and see where my 65 once sat, 45 years ago

Hope this helps,
Mike

jtranger

Great photos and history Mike. The door on the west side of the two story building was the parts counter door. Cars would be parked along side the parts door and it was usually hard to find parking. I go by that dealer once or twice a week and I am sad to report that is was torn down. The dealer moved to Bellflower Blvd and called itself Champion Chevy. I believe they are now closed as well. You would always find a nice classic car there when it was open.

MosportGreen66

Hi Guys,

This info is great! Thanks so much for all the posts. Any other info is truly appreciated!

-Dave

sub006

Wasn't there a Champion Chevrolet on PCH/Sepulveda in Hermosa Beach for at least 10 years? They sponsored a very active Corvette Club. Last time I looked the building was occupied by a Mercedes Benz dealer.

Astrojet

Yes, there was a Champion Chevrolet, but it was in Manhattan Beach, not Hermosa. I had my '65 at their shows off and on for a few years. My friend Dave would follow me over there in his '64 GTO; first we'd hit up Norms coffee shop in Torrance (a very cool Googie style late 50s restaurant), then spend the day at the show. The entire lot would be filled with classic vettes; I remember there was usually at least 100 of them there, if not more. There were always a lot of C-1's there for some reason. If I recall correctly, South Bay Corvette Club put the show on (for some reason that name comes to mind). Once I saw Dean Torrence of Jan and Dean walking around. Every year there was some local surf band playing, and prizes where given out, stuff like that. Afterwards I'd head over to the Paddleboard for happy hour and chow down on a couple of hot dogs and beers. Top it off with a nice evening drive along Palos Verdes drive and it made for a really fun day.

There is a Champion Chevrolet in Long Beach, not sure if that is the same dealership or not, but the one in Manhattan is gone I do believe.

Hope this helps,
Mike

sub006

Thanks for the correction, Astro, Manhattan Beach it is!

The Coirvette Club show moved to Martin Chevrolet in Torrance for about 10 years, my son's '63 Chevy II trophied there a couple of times. Don't know if the show's still there, but the dealer always has lots of new 'Vettes and Camaros on the front row!

jvanceh

I lived in Long Beach from late 1966 until mid 1971. My new 67 small block roadster had a chronically leaking stock Holley carb that Beach City could never fix. Unfortunately, Their solution was to finally replace my original carb with a Holley 3605 which solved the problem. The good news is that I still have the car and but the bad news is that to my chagrin I never saw the original carb again.
I do have one piece of Beach City memorabilia, A yard stick touting the 67 Chevy.

John Hill


http://s1212.photobucket.com/albums/...MG_2769.jpg%26

Randy G.

Here's one of the funny cars they sponsored. Photo is from OCIR (Orange County International Raceway). 1970 or so.

Larry Schuyler

I just got my NCRS shipping data report for my '66 Big Block coupe and it came from Beach City Chev in Long Beach. It is an early '66 red/black interior car.

MosportGreen66

Larry, what's the VIN? Is it a L-72 450hp car?

Dave

Larry Schuyler

Yes, it is an early (numbers match) 450HP coupe (ser# 1508). I bought it frame off restored from Hudson Ohio owner, but he had bought it ( only showed it and NCRS judged it) from the (now deceased) person in Ft Collins CO. who had restored it.
It has had only about 250 miles on it since resto (used really for show and trailered mostly. I bought it and really havent driven it much (kept in heated-dry storage - looks perfect).
I currently have it for sale.

davidangeloni

I worked for this dealer a number of years but not at the time your car was delivered. Beach City was owned by the Saul Family for years. The store was moved from the old location on signal Hill to the new location on Bellflower Blvd somewhere around 1997 or 1998 I believe. Shortly thereafter the family sold the store to the Autonation Group. This is about the time I worked for them. The overhead at the new location was very high and it was not profitable most of the time. Autonation sought and found a new owner in the person of Jim Champion the former owner of Champion Chevrolet in Manhattan Beach. My understanding is that he couldn't make a go of it either and subsequently closed the store. One of the Saul sons still is involved with Chevrolet and currently is the General Manager of Harbor Chevrolet/Hyundai on cherry ave north of the 405. Hope that helps!

Larry Schuyler

Thanks David,
Every bit of info helps !

Larry