From Cars to Finance — Don Allen’s City Chevrolet [BUFFALO: THEN AND NOW]
Virtual records of Don Allen's City Chevrolet are either basically non-existent or very well hidden. Here's what we do know.
Three distinct businesses in three separate buildings composed Don Allen's City Chevrolet: Cars and Service at 2585 Main Street, Truck Sales and Service at 2675 Main Street and the Giant Used Car Lot at 2700 Main Street.
Don Allen founded City Chevrolet in 1938, after getting his start in the car business with Don Allen of Albany in 1936. He continued with South Park Chevrolet in Lackawanna in 1940 and Don Allen Motors in Lockport in 1943, all under the Don Allen Organization umbrella.
The thousands of friends the organization has made in Western New York, and the reputation the company has built, can be attributed to the accuracy of the Don Allen slogan, 'We are never satisfied until you are.' The growth of the Don Allen organization reflects the spirit of its founder and of the firm's executives and employees . . . "the Don Allen family."
While I wasn't able to find out when Don Allen's closed up shop, it appears that pieces of the dealership may still be standing.
Google Maps says 2585 Main Street is now a Rite-Aid; in the real world, it's just out of frame to the right of the photo above. But after a little paint and remodeling, it's possible the building that now houses two banks and an insurance agency, along with that boarded-up grey-ish building to its left, were part of Don Allen's dealership.