...from the 1965 Yellow Pages

What in 1965 was Del-Ton Buick, at 363 Delaware in the City of Tonawanda, is now home to Awnings Plus,  FiveWest Enterprises, and FW Signs. In later years, Del-Ton (on DELaware in TONawanda, get it?) would go on to become Skill Buick, and in 2005 Keyser Buick — where I got my first job in the car business. Keyser closed in 2007 in the great GM paring down of single-brand franchises; it was sold and moved to Don Davis Pontiac-GMC on Niagara Falls Boulevard, where it remains today.

In 1965, when this ad ran, Buick had 27 different models, ranging from the Special Thin-pillar Coupe at $2,343 on up to the Electra 225 convertible at $4,440.

363 Delaware St. today

...from the brochure, 1965 Buick LeSabres

They say what goes around, comes around. And so it goes for the piece of property at 377 Delaware St. in the city of Tonawanda. Back in 1955, it was the home of Moulder Motors, Inc., an Imperial-Chrysler-Plymouth dealer. As things go, in both the retail automobile business, and life in the big city, the dealership eventually closed, and was replaced by a bowling alley.

...from 1955

1955 Imperial magazine ad

1952 Plymouth sedan

Alas, that didn’t go too well either, as the bowling alley, after sitting vacant for years, was bought and demolished in 2005 by the owners of Keyser Buick, whose dealership was located next door. In the spring of 2006, Keyser opened their used car lot on the newly paved and lighted lot. Alas again, in 2007 Keyser Buick closed their doors for good, and the new used car lot was recently sold to the Basil group of dealerships. For a time they used it for storing vehicles, but as of this writing it’s — once again, an empty lot.

But, getting back to Moulder Motors, get a load of some of these used car deals being offered in October, 1955: ‘51 Dodge Coronet Club Coupe or ‘52 Plymouth sedan for $697; ‘49 Oldsmobile rocket sedan for $397; or how about a ‘48 Ford Tudor V-8 for a mere $97! And here’s a bonus: according to their ad, all cars have good tires. Whoo-hoo!

Come on back every weekend as we check out an old dealership and find out what, if anything, is there now.