Quote Originally Posted by 56packman View Post
The beautiful Cadillac dealership at Seven mile and Grand River [[Klett/Dreisbach&Sons/Massey) is all empty now, the signs have been taken down and now we'll have to wait for the other shoe to drop to see what sort of half-assed tertiary business will take over that space. A fraternity now has the former Stark Hickey Ford building at that corner, what was once a great center of auto retailing has slid into the next phase of life for a commercial strip.
Sad- up till the 80's there were about 150 employees between the 3 car dealers there- the Ford dealer, the Cadillac dealer and the Triumph/Fiat/Volvo/Subaru dealer.

The Cadillac dealer building might sit empty awhile until sold/leased for what the owner wants. Dealer was owned by Sonic group, a national company. Though it has been obvious since Sonic bought Massey that they were putting very little into inventory or maintenance- they were not even trying to keep up or improve that place. BTW- they also own that block with the former drive-in, the church behind it, and the former supermarket on 7 Mile.

The Ford dealer closing was kind of surprising, their boom years of the 70's long gone, but they still had a good business going. The owner probably did not have the cash reserves to get through some lean times and took a 'buy out' from the nearby Ford dealers.

The Import dealer- well they moved to Commerce Twp./Walled Lake area. It has been a buy here pay here used car dealership and motorcycle dealer since, has not been 'thriving'. Interesting- a recent owner [[used cars and Kawasaki) has been Richard Olson Jr- his father owned Olson Olds.