...from the 1959-60 Yellow Pages

This week’s old car dealer location may surprise you, as it’s in a spot not usually thought of as a neighborhood for car shopping — especially in this day and age of miles and miles of suburban dealerships bunched together. In late 1959, Prospect Auto Sales, Inc. was still located at 400 Prospect Ave. at the corner of Pennsylvania. Today you’ll find a house on that spot, but 40 years ago you could buy a new Studebaker or Mercedes-Benz there.

...from the brochure, 1960 Mercedes-Benz 180D

400 Prospect Ave. today

Studebaker-Packard became the importer of M-B cars in 1957, which gave the German manufacturer more visibility in North America.

...from the brochure, 1960 Studebaker Lark

Packard disappeared after the 1958 model year, the last couple of years being nothing more than thinly disguised Studebakers (Prospect Auto also sold and serviced Packards up to the end). Daimler eventually bought out their contract with Studebaker in 1965, and formed Mercedes-Benz of North America. Studebaker ended production in 1966, with a single production plant in Hamilton, Ontario.

Mercedes is still going strong (despite the fact that someone put the famous Mercedes-Benz star logo upside-down in that Yellow Pages ad!).