What would a dealership lot full of cars from the 50s and 60s frozen in time for 30 years look like? Exactly like these 1984 pictures of Winnie Hogg's Dodge dealership in Quarryville, Pa. Here's how it happened.
While searching for an image for yesterday's Question of the Weekend, I came across this excellent set of pictures of a 1984 car auction. According to the photographer, who goes by the Flickr handle of Hugo90, The auction was the result of the death of Winnie Hogg, a longtime Dodge dealer in Quarryville, PA.
Many of these cars sat on the lot from when they were only one or two years old until the time of Hogg's death in 1983. How? Well, apparently Hogg was a strange salesman. Once a price was assigned to a used car, Winnie Hogg got the price or the car stayed where it was. It didn't matter to Hogg whether the car rotted, once he set a price — it would sell or it would rot.
When the auction occurred in 1984 it brought a lot of attention from around the country. Despite the attention, many of Hogg's cars sold for under $100 and a few went for a mere ten dollars.
The one car that really tugs at my heart strings is the '57 Plymouth wagon seen in the gallery above. According to the photographer it sold for a mere $40. Even though the engine was frozen and the interior was destroyed, you can barely find any two-door 57 Plymouth wagons these days, let alone one with a good body. Understandably at the time it was an old station wagon that needed a ridiculous amount of work. Even with that knowledge, after seeing a lot of old Mopars frozen in time, a $40 1957 Plymouth wagon doesn't sound like too bad of a deal. And what could be cooler?
Special thanks and Photo/Story Credit to Flickr user hugo90(and his son, seen in the pictures) for taking, preserving, and sharing these excellent pictures.