Information on C.L. Greening & Son Chevrolet Alma, MI Dealer Code 240, Zone 1

[Charles R.]

I just received the shipping data report on our recently purchased 1966 Coupe (VIN: 194376S118031) which gave dealer code 240 / zone 1. The dealer name was C.L. Greening & Son in Alma, MI.

There was no history of this dealership on the lookup tool here or with various google searches. There is currently a Chevy dealer in Alma, but they don't appear to be related. I found a number of old newspaper clippings on the dealership, however.

The dealership was located at 324 Gratiot Ave in Alma, MI. The dealer phone was 463.2191.

An article from the September 25, 1972 Holland Evening Sentinel (Holland, MI) explains that the dealership burned the night of September 24, 1972 and was a total loss. During the cleanup from the fire, a couple watching were killed when a wall of the compromised building collapsed.

Due to the fire, presumably there won't be any records available from the dealership.

Hopefully this is useful if anyone else has a car from this small town dealer.

I attached a couple of old newspaper ads from the dealer.

[Hugh P.]

Re: Information on C.L. Greening & Son Chevrolet Alma, MI Dealer Code 240, Zone 1

Charles,
zone/dealer 1/240 was transferred to G&G Chevrolet-Oldsmobile 147 Grindstone Road, Port Austin, Michigan in the 1970's. (Michigan thumb area)
Alma is not too far from Port Austin so my guess is that G&G could have been the new name for CL Greening and Son. (Greening&Greening) as they kept the same dealer code and fit in the alphabetical order protocol of the letter G.
There was a used car lot at the 147 Grindstone location that you could try contacting asking about the Chevrolet/Oldsmobile dealership.
Village Auto Sales 989 738-6476.

It's strange that all the newspapers you mentioned like Holland (off lake Michigan) or Ironwood (off the tip of Lake Superior) in the upper peninsula of Michigan are both several hundreds of miles from this dealership off the tip of thumb of (Lake Huron) Michigan.
Good luck with your search!
If is the same organization, they had some bad luck. Dealership burned to the ground and Oldsmobile was dropped by GM and eventually lost the Chevrolet dealership due to the small town sales volume

[Charles R.]

Re: Information on C.L. Greening & Son Chevrolet Alma, MI Dealer Code 240, Zone 1

Thanks for the lead, Hugh. I'll look into it.

[Paul C.]

Re: Information on C.L. Greening & Son Chevrolet Alma, MI Dealer Code 240, Zone 1

Guess they rebuilt after the fire, ad from Sept 12, 1968. Maybe same ad as above

[Charles R.]

Re: Information on C.L. Greening & Son Chevrolet Alma, MI Dealer Code 240, Zone 1

Paul - Thanks for the reply. Fire was in '72 as stated above, so '68 is still in line with the dealership being active. You are correct that that is the full version of the ad I posted from the Lansing paper in '68.

[Paul C.]

Re: Information on C.L. Greening & Son Chevrolet Alma, MI Dealer Code 240, Zone 1

Sorry Charlie guess I read too quick

[Charles R.]

Re: Information on C.L. Greening & Son Chevrolet Alma, MI Dealer Code 240, Zone 1

Hadn’t seen the ‘wall falls’ clipping... Thanks. What paper and what date is that one?

[Paul C.]

Re: Information on C.L. Greening & Son Chevrolet Alma, MI Dealer Code 240, Zone 1

Clipped from
Lansing State Journal
Lansing, Michigan
25 Sep 1972, Mon • Page 1

[Charles R.]

Re: Information on C.L. Greening & Son Chevrolet Alma, MI Dealer Code 240, Zone 1

Thanks, Paul.