Initial Dealership Delivery, Why Did it Go There?

[LVN 67]

I got back some information about my cars original dealership. Gibson Chevrolet, Leadville, CO looked from the photos to be a small mom & pop dealership, A page out of the newspaper show they sold Chevy, Olds, and International Scout.  That brought up a question. When my car got to the end of the line, and was not a special order car; how was it determined where the car went, North, South, East or West?

[bertfam]

ALL cars were special ordered, but not in the way you might think. Chevrolet didn't build cars and then just ship them helter skelter hoping they would sell. Cars were ordered by dealers. Some for "stock" (the ones you found on the lot when you went "window shopping"), and some (special ordered) by customers. Your car was ordered by Gibson Chevrolet for "stock" and delivered to Gibson Chevrolet once the car was built.

John once went over the ordering process but I can't seem to find it. Maybe he'll chime in again, but in a nutshell, the dealer filled out the order form for what he wanted and sent it to the local Zone Office. If there weren't any issues, the Zone Office forwarded it to the Central Office in Detroit. If THEY didn't find any issues, the Central Office forwarded it to the local factory (Norwood or LA) for the car to be scheduled and built. If there WERE issues (for example, an option that wasn't available, an axle ratio that wasn't on the Power Team chart, etc...), the order was kicked back to the dealer to resolve. Once the car was built, it was shipped to the ordering dealer for "inventory" or to be delivered to the customer that "special ordered" it.

Ed

[LVN 67]

Thanks Ed

I think my car may have been a dealer to dealer trade. My POP shows the car was sold by Central Chevrolet in Grand Junction, CO. Its about 175 miles from Gibson in Leadville. All off this is great information to know.   

[bertfam]

Yes, just because the car was ordered and shipped to one dealer, doesn't necessarily mean it was PURCHASED at that dealership. It didn't happen a lot back then, but dealer trades did happen once in awhile.

Ed

[VINCE Z28]

Here is a dealer to dealer for a customer in Oregon in late '68.