Of course in normal times someone would have been waiting to buy the dealership and it wouldn’t have closed.

And on the painting…every vehicle looks GM. Time, about 1949 – new 49 Caddy, plenty of 30’s cars still seen.

The picture is striking in a not-so “out there” way. I appreciate good 3d graphic artwork. I find it fascinating to see what things are important in a given artist’s mind’s eye; things such as the use of shadow, light, specularity, reflection, and refraction.

This picture is not so realistic to my mind, but that doesn’t make it bad. Interesting, the use of skyscrapers in the background and the inclusion of trees and soot-covered street-facing building surfaces. It’s a clear and bright morning (or possibly evening), but the air’s not clean here. I found it interesting that the artist thought to use shadow to shroud some of the people and to include litter in the sunshine on the sidewalk and street.

I am consistently amazed at the number of people who come to the defense of Chrysler dealers on this site.

You should read the Washington Post whose writers continue to cry in their collective beers for those poor, defenseless dealers who do not deserve this fate. The dealers did everything the mean company asked us, and what did we get in return? Thrown to the curb like garbage. Boo hoo.

Spare me with the poor dealer routine. They have buggered the American consumer since the inception of the dealer network and buggered the auto companies since the inception of state franchise laws.

I am glad these dealers are getting buggered themselves if, for no other reason, then they prevent consumers from buying cars through the (four square less) internet. Boo hoo, you greedy bastards.

BTW – Here in Pittsburgh, a dealer that was told to close their two locations convinced Chrysler that they would consolidate to one location so they can stay in business. They fought and won!

If GMAC didn’t cull, we’d have stories about the government propping up weak dealers.

It may be strange that GMAC is lending money to Chrysler dealers, but keep in mind that GM’s share of GMAC is less than 10%. Cerebus owns more of GMAC than they do. It’s unlikely that GMAC is operating with a “hey, we’ll nuke Chrysler dealers so GM can prosper” attitude. More likely, GMAC is under the usual regulatory red tape, which probably includes keeping its own loans and accounts at a certain risk level.

They’re clipping marginal dealers. I’m sure there are plenty out there with inventory that isn’t worth as much as it used to be, with declining sales, and with weak prospects. If someone came to you with a business like that and asked for money, would you lend to them?

I know zip about Palmer Dodge, but a great dealer on the outside doesn’t mean a sound balance sheet. Maybe Palmer’s overleveraged, maybe its sales have nosedived, maybe it’s stuck with a lot of expensive inventory that has bleak hopes of moving. I don’t think it’s fair to take it out on Chrysler…sure, there are plenty of reasons not to buy a Chrysler, but a dealer’s relationship with the credit markets shouldn’t be one of them.

Let’s put a different spin on this: if these dealers really were solvent, promising enterprises, then they should have no problem acquiring financing elsewhere.

Palmer Dodge should put up big signs advertising the fact that they are still happy to do any and all non-warranty service and repairs on Chrysler products. They can advertise that they are now cutting their service prices an average of 20% thanks to no longer paying for overpriced “factory” parts. I’m sure the local NAPA dealer will be happy to keep them supplied with parts.

Although I didn’t buy my car there, Palmer Dodge was the dealer closest to my work, where I got my Grand Caravan serviced. I have absolutely no reason to buy a Chrysler product now. I don’t have anywhere to get it serviced without going 7 miles in each direction out of my way.

Nope.

Palmer Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep had been operating in Indianapolis since 1957. They were moving Dodge/Jeep from an older location, to a nice new location. They left Hyundai at the old location.

It sounds like there is going to be a nice Hyundai store in the new location.

I wonder if it’s occurred to Detroit that a lot of these dealers are going to be selling imports further eroding their market share?