welcome to steve & dwain’s car dealer tour no. (old...

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Welcome to Steve & Dwain’s Car Dealer Tour no. 4 (Old filling stations and a Fire station to!) April 23, 2006

(With Pictures taken during the tour! Pictures have been downsized from the original flyer to fit the Starterator.) TOUR STARTS AT 3063 Southwest Blvd, Kansas City, MO, at 900AM. We’ll view the toaster and appliance collection inside the restaurant and leave at 930. You may arrive earlier if you wish and have breakfast.

Lunch – We will have lunch around Noon at 37th and State Avenue. Within that area is a KFC and Burger King on the north side and Wendy’s and Taco Bell on the south side of State Ave. Let’s get ready to roll again after one hour to complete the tour.

Here to view building. 1. McCampbell DeSoto-Plymouth, 647 Southwest Blvd, Stan McCampbell, JR. & SR. NOTE: There was a Ford sign on the stack and a Sales & Service sign painted on the upper, side of the building but it’s not gone. McCampbell Motors, 705 Southwest Blvd. (KC Star 5-4-62). This building dates to at least 1931. In my 1931 phone book this was Slater-Breitag-Yeamans Ford. Also notice the Chevy bowties embedded in the brick on the north and south sides of the building. Are these actual bowties or are they just designs that happen to look like bowties? You decide!


Walking tour 2. Albritten Chrysler-Plymouth, 615 Southwest Blvd, corner of Southwest Blvd & Rainbow Extension. This building is there but its well disguised. 1950 1955

Walking tour 3.Clasen-Morse Chevrolet, near the corner of 7th & Southwest Blvd. 1960-61 telephone directory lists them at 506 Southwest Blvd. Clasen-Morse Chevrolet, 501 Southwest Blvd (KC Star, 5-4-62) The building we’re focused on is behind 510 Southwest Blvd. I believe this could have been the Clasen-Morse service dept or body shop. Clasen-King Chevrolet, 520 Southwest Blvd (1931 phone book)


There is also a what appears to be a used car lot building next door. See photo below.

Here to view building 4. Davidson Bros. Motor Co, Dodge-Plymouth, 850 State Ave., NE corner. The original building is there but has had an extensive facelift. The used car lot and office are east of the building. Later this became Jim Clark Dodge. A painted sign on the NW corner of the building is still partially visible.

1950 ad

F84F airplane crash in 1954 was whitnessed by Dwain Goodman. Newspaper clipping.

Proceed to next stop. Turn left onto 7th St Trfwy, head north to State Ave in Downtown KC KS. Turn left onto State. Park in the lot at the NW corner of 9th & State Ave.


Walking tour 5. Kelley-Williams Motor Co., 900 Minnesota, SW corner, 9th & Minnesota.. Note the rounded showroom windows. Also the large, partially hidden Ford sign at the NE corner of the building. The "O", “R” and "D" are visible.

Walking tour 812 Minnesota Ave. Now there is a McDonald’s at this address. Too bad! Night photo of 830 Minnesota on the left side.

You can see the FELD sign on the 812 building shining in the distance. Fasenmyer Hudson (1943 phone book) 929 Minnesota. This building is gone. It turns out that the building IS at 10th and State! It also appears he may have been a Texaco station. In 1930 Fasenmyer was listed in a city directory as Fasenmyer Motor & Radio Co., handling Packards, Chrysler, Plymouth and Philco and Atwater-Kent radios! Now there’s an industrious guy! This was at 826-28 Minnesota.


’70 1960’s, Fasenmyer Chevrolet, 50 Hwy, Raytown 1970 Yellow pages shows this ad for Midwest Imports at 1035 Minnesota. This is under the same ad as Harry Schwartz’s Harrigan Motors. I presume he owned both dealers in addition to his flagship dealer, Midwest Motors on Truman Road near Downtown KCMO, a Dodge dealer for many years.

Jay Wolfe Motors , 1010 State Ave. 1970 yellow pages. Obituary above refers to his father-in-law Martin Stone being in partnership with him. I remember a Stone-Wolfe Rambler in KCK but can’t find the years it was in business. Must’ve been 1963 according to the obituary. 1964 directory shows Stone-Wolfe Rambler at 1328 Minnesota. (Markl Buick’s last location) Proceed to next stop. Park at Gates BBQ on the right side just past the corner of 10th and State Ave in the back of the lot.

Here to view building 7. Markl Buick 1015 State Ave., 1st location. Later built the separate building on the sw corner strictly as a showroom. Note the canted windows in the main building. An unsusal and eye-catching feature in its day.

AC “Tony” Fasenmyer later had a Chevy dealer in Raytown on 50 Hiway in the 1960’s. (See photo below)


Walking tour 8. O'Conner Cadillac, 1000 State, NW corner, early location. 9."AWFUL" Joe O’ffill Nash. Later O'Conner Cadillac. 1000 State Ave.

Bathtub Nash at Brunke’s salvage, Excelsior Springs, 1996 with Joe M O’ffill dealer script.

Lockwood Volkswagen, 1234 State Ave. Steve and his VW buddies used to come here to look VW’s when we all had one in the late 60’s. One of only three VW dealers in KC at the time. Angle VW-NKC, Art Bunker-SKC and Lockwood-KCK. My understanding is that two guys named Lock and Wood owned this dealer. Proceed to next stop. Park at the NE corner of 13th & State Ave in the parking lot next to the old VW dealer.

Here to view building 10. "AWFUL" Joe O’ffill Nash. 1313 State. Dwain to tell story about "shirts." Later this became Kansas Rambler. See below.

1962 Proceed to next stop. Go west on State Ave, turn left onto 18th St, then left again onto Minnesota Ave. Turn right at 17th St past Stop no. 10 and park on the side street.

Here to view building 11. Harry Brown DeSoto-Plymouth, 1701 Minnesota. Later Walt Smith and Son Rambler and Toyota then Roger Smith & Son’s Toyota, then Keith Roberts Buick. (MARKL Buick's successor). Now Bud Brown (Harry’s son) Chrysler on 92nd and Metcalf operated by Phil Brown, the third generation of this family. Previous to Harry Brown, the dealer was Potter Motor Co., DeSoto-Plymouth. It became Harry Brown in 1949. The 1943 telephone book shows Potter Motor Co at 1200 Minnesota.


Proceed to next stop at 1328 Minnesota and park across the street.

Here to view building 12. Markl Buick, 1328 Minnesota. Their used car lot fronted on State Avenue directly to the north of the main building. My 1931 telephone book lists Markl as an Oldsmobile dealer. This makes Markl a relatively long-term dealer from at least 1931 to about 1970. They were still listed in the 1970 yellow pages at this address.

Early script from a 1955

Simliar script on a ’59 Buick from MN dealer.

Notice how both the Markl and Stephens scripts both slant to the left and use a similar design.

Walking tour 13. Davis Oldsmobile, 1320 Minnesota. Email from Gary Hartman 4-2-06: “My ‘53 was sold by V. Fendorf of Davis Motor Co., Inc., 1328

Minnesota Ave, KC, Kansas on June 17th 1953 to R. W. Lichtenberger, 3071 N. 32nd St., Kansas City, Kansas. The engine number is R396768, Serial is 538K14767, Style number 3637D DHC, Body Number 2290, Paint number 30-60 and trim number 16. All that info is typed on the opening page of the Owners Manual that


was given to me by 55 year old Mr. Lichtenberger's son when I bought the car in November of 1975. I still communicate with him and send him copies of articles and events in the cars life.”

Walking tour 14. Bruce Motor Co., Chrysler-Plymouth, 1244 Minnesota, NE corner. Later this was Bill George Chrysler-Plymouth. Later B & G Chrysler. B-Bill George G-George Powell. From across the street you can see the arched design of the roof which was a very common design for car dealer service departments and auto repair shops. 15. Perry Pontiac, 1212 Minnesota. Later Walker-Waters Pontiac. Later, Frank Waters Pontiac (1960’s). Later, Jay Wolfe Pontiac. This also was the home of O’Conner Cadillac after the Pontiac dealers finished. (Info: Craig Wood)

1964 ad ç Perry Pontiac, 1212 Minnesota è

15.5 Visit former old filling station in the NW corner of 12th & Minnesota. 16. Kritzler Studebaker, 1150 Minnesota, NE corner. I know very little about this dealer. Not sure whether the lady in the obituary or her husband had any connection to this dealer. Millie Kritzler, 75, Prairie Village, KS, died Sunday, May 8, 2005, at her home. She was preceded in death by her husband Marvin B. Kritzler, in 1977. (KC Star obit) ADT Motor Co., 1038 Minnesota. Nash dealer, 1943 telephone book. This building is gone.

Here to view the building. A former Phillips 66 station from the 1960’s. Phil Sedlock Service Station, 1230 Central Street.


Proceed west on Central Ave, turn left at 14th St then immediately right and park across from the Fire station. Note the large, economy-sized clothing iron.

Here to view building Fire Station no. 9. 2 S. 14th St. Placed on the National Register of Historic places 9-5-85

http://members.cox.net/ksregphotos2/Fire_Station_No_9_KC.html On Dec. 6, 1911, No. 9's Station at 14th and Wilson Blvd. was opened in a modern brick building and quartered one motorized Anderson Combination Chemical and Hose Wagon powered by a six-cylinder -- 90 horsepower engine, equipped with 1,000 feet of 2 1/2-inch hose and 200 feet of quarter inch hose; and 22-foot and 10-foot ladders to two 35-gallon chemical tanks, manned by a crew of four." http://www.kckpl.lib.ks.us/kscoll/lochist/thennow/TN72.htm

End of Tour

Steve Hartwich and Dwain Goodman out did themselves on this tour. The detail of the stories and of the history was amazing. There was only one location that we were to visit that was no longer there. Every other location that used to be there , was still there!

Photos by Steve Hartwich and Ray Council This was a seriously interesting tour.

welcome to steve & dwain’s car dealer tour no. (old...

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