VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions Research Project on Metropolitan Chevrolet Co.

What I am researching is one of the Chevrolet dealers in LA that was located on Sunset Blvd.(in the Silverlake District with the nameame of Metropolitan Chevrolet Co. The owner was Roy T. Beckham who died on May 10, 1973 at 77 years old.
I am not sure when this dealership started but it must of been in the mid 30's and likely was closed down shortly after he died in 1973.
Was he like Harry Mann in LA, a large Corvette dealer? Photos of the building?. Anyone bought a car there? The showroom is still there for a rental company. I found only a few LA Times adverts with Google in the 60's where he was the SoCal 4-speed Transmission dealer with all model in stock.
This dealer in April 1954 made a big turn in my life. My folks took me to the GM Motorama in LA where I fell for the Corvette-Nomad showcar as a 9 year old. On the way home we stopped off at Metropolitan Chevrolet. They had a red color Corvette on the showroom floor which I sat in for over an hour. I promised then I would some day have a 54 Corvette and when the 1955 Nomads came out-it too.
Thanks, kenK

Hi all,
One of the reasons I am interested in the history of this Metropolitan Chevrolet in LA is the significant roll this dealership had in shaping my life with its showroom display of the new Spring color of red. This red 1954 Corvette was likely one of the red Corvettes that took part in that famous photo showing of a Corvette driveway with the new color cars on the opening of the Harbor Freeway in April 1954.
The Corvette-Nomad show car was actually my second dream car, with the 1954 red Corvette third, and the 1955 Nomad being the fourth.
My first dream car came from the family photo book, where as a 4 year old, I removed a photo of a new 1941 Chevrolet Convertible, taken in the driveway of my grand dad's home, with "Beck" standing in front of his car with California dealer license plates. I am still dreaming of this car.
kenK

Ken... I spent some time googling this and came up with Zip! Nadda! Are you sure it wasn't all a dream??!!

I added a thread to the Chevybombs site... hopefully some of them have some pictures. Hopefully other members here can help you out as well...

Bruce