Then and now: Car dealerships used to flourish

Shelby Ford

One of the early new car dealers in South Lake Tahoe was Bob Murnane Ford of Placerville which operated a one-person extension sales booth near the Y in the mid-1960s.

Springmeyer’s Garage (the old stencilled “martial arts” beige building on Highway 50, about to be razed) was an International Scout dealer.

Neddenreip of Minden/Gardnerville also tapped into the Tahoe market.

Pardee Volkswagen

But achieving unique distinction in the 1960s was local Emil Pardee Volkwagen & Porsche, the South Shore’s first full-size new car dealership, with sales and service and its own new building. Reportedly, South Lake Tahoe at one time had more Volkswagens per capita than any other area.

Decades later, the building changed to a Chevrolet dealership before closing.

Today, the revamped building is part of the Les Schwab Tires facility.

Les Schwb

Whiteside Chevrolet

Whiteside Chevrolet of the 1960s on Lake Tahoe Boulevard at Julie Lane later became Shehadi Motors Chevrolet & Toyota.

Today it is Cardinale Way, the lone remaining new car dealer in South Lake Tahoe.

Shelby Ford (of Carroll Shelby fame who also owned the Sky Terrace Motel and Restaurant on Highway 50) was between the Whiteside and Pardee buildings in 1969. It is DIY today.

Cardinale Way

No photos, but I should include that in the 1980s

DIY

South Lake Tahoe also had Vic Bates Oldsmobile & Buick on Lodi Avenue, which became the library and theater of Lake Tahoe Community College before its present incarnation as The Attic thrift store of Barton Auxiliary; Don Weir Dodge on Tata Lane is the Kmart Garden Center today; the large two-story Honda dealership of the 1980s on Highway 89 now houses El Dorado County offices for engineering and other services; Bob Bellemore sold used cars on the corner now occupied by Bank of the West; Terry Libbon sold used cars on the lot on Highway 50 at Winnemucca, now Auto Bazaar.

— Bill Kingman

Photo credits: David Borges took the older photos; Bill Kingman the newer ones.