Vintage dealerships

^^^^ Well, at least it didn't take a lot to liquidate that dealership in 1960, when Edsel went bust.

 

Here’s some of the history of the dealership.
This 1957 photo shows the Wigwam Motors Edsel dealership at 227 Main Street in Burlington. This new dealership opened with the introduction of the Edsel by Ford Motor Company. It was opened by Bob Shearer, who had left Shearer Chevrolet in 1954 after seven years to open Wigwam Motors on Williston Road as a Renault dealership. Three years later he used the Wigwam name again when he opened this Edsel dealership. Edsel of course was a famous flop, and became a punch line, the name synonymous with failure. So this version of Wigwam Motors was short lived. The building, which was across the street from Memorial Auditorium, is long gone.
227 Main Street was also a Nash dealership as well as a Chrysler dealer location. In an interesting bit of local trivia, the previous tenant of this building before Wigwam was Colonial Motors, a Chrysler dealer run by Tony Pomerleau. One of several ventures that he tried before he found his niche in real estate and insurance.
James Detore photo/UVM Special Collections.