Lost Muscle Car Dealerships. Duncan Scott Brown
Dana Chevrolet, providing the respectable front that obtained financing for the franchise. Paul developed the former Enoch Chevrolet dealership to become a customer-oriented building.
Peyton seized on performance as a conduit to visibility and sales. He generated all the excitement and media attention at the Dana operations. The mismatched pair of Peyton and Paul co-owned Dana from 1966 to 1968. Paul became sole owner from 1968 until 1971.
Paul Dombroski
Paul Francis Dombroski was born on October 10, 1930, in East Springfield, Pennsylvania, and went to school in Ohio. After two years in the army, Paul entered the car business with a Mercedes-Jeep dealership in Huntington Park, California. He was the established dealer who furnished the base capital and dealership experience for Dana Chevrolet.
Peyton Cramer
Peyton Cramer had zero experience running a dealership but plenty of experience managing large operations. He also had ample knowledge about directing racing activities and performance sales.
In the early 1960s, Peyton was working at Ford Motor Company. His career at Ford became exciting when his management acumen was tapped to help run the Shelby American operation. Carroll Shelby was excellent at building Mustang GT350s and Shelby Cobras but murky with management. Ford sent Peyton to California to get things organized. He eventually became general manager at Shelby.
This map illustrates the close proximity of the “regular” Dana location to the used lots operating under the Dana umbrella. The Hi-Performance Center was located about 0.7 mile south of the “regular” dealership. (Map data © 2019 Google)
Peyton Cramer ran the high-performance outlet of Dana Chevrolet. He gutted the former Simpson Buick building to develop a space to prep race cars and complete high-performance work on customer vehicles.
In mid-1965, Peyton shifted from Shelby general manager to setting up European Shelby dealerships. In 1966, with Shelby car building being farmed out to the Ford factory, the Shelby operations were going to slow down. Peyton decided this was the time to strike out on his own.
Dana Chevrolet Franchise
Peyton couldn’t secure a Ford franchise despite his Shelby experience, but he did receive some interest from Chevrolet. However, he needed an established dealer to back him up in his ambition to open a dealership.
Paul Dombroski was acquainted with Peyton’s wife, and the two discussed the business proposition. Paul enabled Peyton to get a bank loan. The official Dana Chevrolet partnership was set up with Paul as president and Peyton as vice president and treasurer.
The partners received their Chevrolet franchise on August 11, 1966. Paul immediately set out to modernize and remodel the decades-old dealership. Paul’s approach was in keeping with his long-standing customer-oriented process. He said, “We intend to have one of the most up-to-date and progressive dealerships in Los Angeles, and to make shopping for an automobile a pleasure, not a pain.”
In contrast to Paul’s customer-oriented renovation to the action at the Hi-Performance location, Peyton ripped the floor out and had it repoured to ensure it was perfectly level. This move improved the precision of high-performance car building destined to take place in this spot.
On August 18, 1966, an L.A. Times advertisement appeared soliciting salesmen for the new Dana dealership. Applicants were told to see Mr. Berry or Mr. Kymes. Right from the start, Peyton was fully immersed in building up the dealership as a performance mecca and insulated from daily matters.
Dana advertised its new high-performance center.
Camaro Headquarters
The approximate first day of business at Dana Chevrolet Inc. was August 23, 1966. It had two used fleet vehicle dealership facilities at 8806 Long Beach Boulevard and 2955 E. Firestone Boulevard that were also acquired as a result of the Enoch Chevrolet acquisition.
Dana began advertising itself as “Your New Camaro Headquarters.” The dealership also stocked an assortment of 4-speed and automatic 1966 Impalas in a range of colors. They quickly blew out in October that year.
Interestingly, Peyton’s connection to Carroll Shelby resulted in the “enemy” brand of Ford being included in the inventory. This was usually unthinkable back in the days of strong brand loyalty, but Peyton liked anything fast. Dana Chevrolet ordered in a brand-new GT350 in September 1966 and also had a used 1963 Shelby Cobra Roadster for sale.
Dana Personnel
From the very start, the Dana Hi-Performance Center was never an ordinary dealership. Dana employed famous racer Dick Guldstrand as chief engineer. Aside from setting up the race cars, Dick’s presence on the Dana premises served as a promotional tool all on its own. Dick drew in curious crowds eager to watch the famous racer prep race cars. Of course, the street cars prepped for customers also benefitted from Dick’s race-proven experience.
This early Dana advertisement relies heavily on the Hi-Performance Center’s offerings to define its market. A Corvette picture catches reader’s attention, but the Dana 427 Camaro prominently promoted in the ad is not pictured, possibly because it was still being sorted out at this point. (Photo Courtesy Dave Fillion Collection)
Dick Guldstrand
Richard “Dick” Herman Guldstrand was born in Los Angeles on December 1, 1927, to an engineer father and vaudeville mother. Dick tinkered with cars and was a hot rodder as a teen. He also demonstrated his mother’s knack for showmanship during the Korean War when he was assigned to the USO as a singer. An electrical engineering degree from UCLA got him into an aeronautics company.
Dick “threw it all away” to race Corvettes under sponsorship of Los Angeles–area Chevrolet dealerships. He made it onto Roger Penske’s team in SCCA racing. Dick not only raced and won often in Corvettes in the 1960s but he also had a knack for understanding the intricacies of the big-block Chevy engines and was skilled in chassis engineering.
Peyton Cramer had a ready-made, tried-and-true team available to follow Dick Guldstrand’s program. When Ford diverted production of Shelby cars to its factory plants, Shelby’s workers were left idle. Peyton scooped up most of the former employees from Shelby American to carry on in the same mode over at Dana Chevrolet.
One particularly notable addition to Peyton’s team was Don McCain. Don was a former Shelby West Coast representative who was running the Mel Burns Ford Performance Center. He fervently supported the concept of street supercars, and in February 1967 he joined the Dana team as a sales manager. He began to actively campaign the 427 Camaro on the drag strips and continued to be an integral force behind further development of the Dana Camaro.
Dana Camaro Fiberglass Hood
In the 1960s, the optional Dana hood was a way to get some weight off the front end while creating a distinctive look for the Dana Camaro. Now, these hoods with the dual square functional air intakes serve as evidence in the unravelling of the origins of Dana 427 Camaros.
A limited number of the very early 1968 Nickey Chevrolet/Bill Thomas Camaros sold in the later part of 1967 and released into the West Coast market were equipped with the same hood that was synonymous with Dana Chevrolet. This was not the