New cars in the '50s, '60s a memorable event in Elgin

One of the most exciting and memorable events of the 1950s and 1960s was the unveiling of the new cars each fall, say retired Elgin car salesmen Paul Jordan and Dale Whitsell.

Curious people from across northern Illinois would travel to Elgin's car row - then located on South Grove Avenue near the current Grand Victoria Casino - to witness the debut of the models.

Unlike today's sprawling lots of many Elgin area car dealers on East Chicago Street or Route 19, most automobile dealers in the 1950s and 1960s were crowded into a relatively small area along South Grove Avenue.

Bounded by Prairie Street on the north to National Street on the south, the area was home to long time businesses such as Bigger's Chevrolet where Whitsell was employed and Rowe Motors, later Reeves-Oldsmobile Cadillac where Jordan worked.

Other new "car row" dealers according to the 1964 city directory were Salisbury's DeSoto-Plymouth, McBride's Buick and Opel, Horace Dodge, Highland Motors, Pierce Pontiac, and Kelly Ford. Longtime salesmen of the era included "Cap" Shales, "Cons" Cirrincione, Wayne Abbott, Howard Johnson, Bill Reedy, and Leroy "Bud" Sandberg, Jordan says.

"Grove Avenue's new car row was a beehive of activity year round, though summers were slow since showrooms were not air-conditioned," Jordan smiled. "But, it was the arrival of the new cars in the fall that really caught the public's attention."

To keep the appearance of the new cars a secret, butcher block paper was taped to the showroom windows to prevent people from seeing the vehicles. "Well, sort of anyway," explained Jordan. "We'd always leave a peep hole for curious people to look through."

Those who had their eyes open in the days preceding the unveiling might also spot a delivery truck in the area arriving with the new models. Most new cars got their first tank of gas at Young's Oil Co. located at Grove Avenue and Lake Street where employee Bill Christensen remembers attending to the vehicles.

"Each year, they put the gas caps in a different place and finding them could be quite a job. One year they were on a fin, next behind a license plate, another year somewhere else. Today they are pretty easy to find," Christensen said.

"We kept the new Chevys hidden in a building on Bluff City Boulevard," notes Whitsell.

Not so with the new Cadillacs, explains Jordan.

"We weren't able to get any inventory until just before they went on display," Jordan said. "Other salesmen and I took the train into Chicago and drove them back to Elgin."

Those who weren't able to sneak an advance peek couldn't miss the spotlights that appeared the night the new cars debuted in early October.

"There were five of them along Grove Avenue," Jordan explains. "They could be seen for miles."

Live music, raffles, and other promotions were used to entice buyers to the area. In many cases, the men would drop their wives off to shop uptown while they browsed the new cars. Later in the evening, the women would walk down to see the cars as well.

On odd numbered model years, there was special interest because the body style was completely redesigned. The fins added to the rear of the cars in 1957 during this era of the space age was one visible design change, say the pair. The even numbered years usually saw more subtle style changes.

And, just how many cars did they sell on opening night? Very few, say Whitsell and Jordan.

"But, I remember one man who bought a new Cadillac ever year," Jordan added. "We didn't have the room for a lot of inventory on Grove Avenue. Most cars bought in the 1950s and 1960s were pre-ordered by buyers who waited weeks, maybe months, for them to arrive. That's just the opposite from today."

The heyday of South Grove Avenue began to end in the early 1970s when Ford and Chevrolet left the downtown for East Chicago Street. They simply needed more space for inventory Jordan explained. In early 1980s, the Oldsmobile Cadillac dealership became last to leave when it relocated to East Dundee.

Jordan says he understands why people share a fondness for car shopping in the 1950s and 1960s.

"It was a simpler, yet exciting time," he says. But, those sentiments go only so far.

"People often tell me they just don't make cars today like they used to years ago. Thank God, I tell them. Vehicles are much better built today than in 1950s. I wouldn't want to go back to driving cars from that time."