"Van Ness Dodge" San Francisco

[Budnicks]

Pleasant Hill

This guy lived on 58 Dawn Pleasant Hill Looking through all the receipts he is the only one besides the kid I bought it from. Too bad none of the body work receipts are here.

I know the area don't know the guy sorry...

 

[Jim Lusk]

I know this is an old thread, but I also have interest in items from Van Ness Dodge. Our 1968 GTS convertible was sold used there in early 1970. It had Van Ness Dodge plate frames on it when we bought it in 1983, but they were in incredibly poor condition so they were tossed. We are the third owners and have complete ownership history. I look at ebay from time to time for items, but only saw one set of frames that were the wrong color scheme, but were NOS and $180. I did recently find a novelty plate from the dealer that sold the car new (Northwestern Dodge, Ferndale - Detroit) that looks of the correct vintage. Any info would be welcome. Pictures of either dealer would be cool.

 

[DeltaV]

NOT MINE

The seller is on Amazon

 

[DeltaV]

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// VAN NESS DODGE INC, San Francisco, CA/ Closed Van Ness Dodge Inc was located at 1699 Van Ness Avenue at Sacramento in San Francisco, California during the 1960s which placed it right across the street from similarly named Van Ness Oldsmobile. Van Ness Dodge was a factory owned dealership without a dealer principle. Dodge Corporation chose Robert "Bob' White to manage Van Ness Dodge based on his experience in partnership with Van Peabody of Peabody Motors in San Leandro, California. Bob managed Van Ness Dodge from 1961 until 1964. Bob tripled sales during his 3 years as manager. Bob relocated the dealership service department to 1429 Vallejo (between Polk and Larkin). The new cars were transported by carrier from South San Francisco during daytime open hours. In later years the store was open until 9 PM and trucks would unload in evening. The trucks unloaded on Sacramento Street. Once off the truck cars were loaded on the elevator and assigned to a particular floor according to the model. The sales people knew which of the 4 floors in the building to take the customers depending on what model they were interested in. Some of the new cars were stored a fair distance away. Bob's son, Michael who was only 16 at the time worked Saturdays at the dealership and Monday through Friday during summer vacation. Unlike imports, the domestics were shipped by train. The new Dodges were stored in South San Francisco down in the Candle Stick park area. Van Ness Dodge had a little Simca car that Michael and his teenage buddy drove down to get a 'sold' car out of storage. The 2 high schoolers turned the windshield washers around and got people wet in the cross walks. Michael and his friend explored the 4 floors on Van Ness and rode the elevator designed to move the cars up and down. Michael and his teenage pal discovered a Harley Davidson 3 wheeler used by the parts dept to deliver parts to repair shops. Michael got it started and the boys used it to explore San Francisco. Michael recalls lunching at the 'Hippo' on Van Ness. Michael remembers 1 month that Van Ness sold 65 new cars and 20 used. Not many by modern standards but it was apparently quite a feat in the context of the time and place. Bob's success managing Van Ness Dodge prompted the Chrysler Corporation to offer him his own dealership in San Francisco. Bob purchased Winters Chrysler Plymouth and renamed it Geary Chrysler Plymouth. See the story above on this page. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Source: CALIFORNIA/ SAN FRANCISCO City Dealerships

 

[dart4forte]

van ness dodge

Hi Chris. I can probably help you. Van Ness Dodge closed in 1983, possibly 1984. My Dad worked there as parts manager from the mid 60's until they closed. They hired me to help clean out the building in the last weeks they were open. I still have a bunch of old Mopar boxes and a varied assortment of rare Mopar items. My Dad passed in 2001. When we cleaned out his house, I found even more stuff. Glasswear, Promo models, paint, lubes, car care items, stripe kits, all kinds of stuff, all still in Mopar boxes. Every item has the pentastar logo. I currently own a '68 Dart from there and I'm looking to buy a '70 Challenger from there also. If I scour my many photo albums, I may be able to find at least one photo of the dealership, but I'm not sure about that. Let me know if you have any other questions.

There was a Daytona sold at that Dealership. Original owner still has it, lives in NAPA. Any pics of that car?

 

[fesser]

There was a Daytona sold at that Dealership. Original owner still has it, lives in NAPA. Any pics of that car?

Tell the guy to take it out once in a while. I have lived in Napa since 1988 and have never seen a Daytona on the street around here.

 

[dart4forte]

Tell the guy to take it out once in a while. I have lived in Napa since 1988 and have never seen a Daytona on the street around here.

Jim Gerkey

 

[dart4forte]

I lived in Vallejo up until late 1973. Graduated from VHS. I remember a black Daytona with a red stripe. There was a Brotherhood of Street Racers chapter in Vallejo during those times