Hello John,
I can probably answer all of your questions about Butler Conti Dodge. I live in Lafayette and authored that post in the Jalopy Journal. Butler Conti was family owned, not a corporate store. The Dealership operated under the Butler Conti name from about 1951. I am not sure what it was called before that. The location had been a car dealership dating back to around 1916 and may have always been Dodge dealer. My family had cars serviced there over the years and I remember buying parts in the mid 1970s for my 1953 Dodge hemi. I also bought parts in the late 1970s for my 1971 Plymouth Duster 340 and various other Darts and Dusters that I owned.
They occupied a large piece of property and had a sprawling service facility in back. The showroom in front at the street in the original redbrick building was quite small. It was quite a squeeze for 3 or 4 cars. I remember in 1970 being 12 years old a riding my bicycle with friends to the dealership to look at the new Challengers. We walked in to the showroom and the sales manager threw us out. "No kids in the showroom."
The used car department was next door and consisted of a large paved lot and a tiny one room office/shack. The street frontage was quite wide and this allowed for a good display of new cars and trucks. The property was quite deep and they had room to store a large inventory. For many years they also stored way in back many older Mopar vehicles, probably trade-ins that were too old or unsuited for the used car lot. I remember some 57-58 white Chryslers (300s? I couldn't verify at the time), various Imperials and more. The older stuff was mostly gone by the mid 1990s.
Being family run Butler Conti was very nice to deal with, the sales manager from 1970 notwithstanding. They had a fine reputation and were good citizens who sponsored local kids teams, supported the schools, donated to good causes and paid the all important business taxes. When the owner died in 2007 the family decided to close the dealership. That's when I posted the auction notice. Unfortunately I had to work the day of the auction but I did later recover the red and white "Used Cars" sign which I still have. I also have a pair of the dealer plate frames.
The property was divided and senior housing was built where the used car lot was. The main brick showroom and garage facility is now a body shop. I don't know how the shops out back have been repurposed.
It's a funny coincidence that your car is a 1970. 1970 was the year my family moved here from New York. I wonder who the original owner was. My neighbors across the street bought two 1970 Dodge Swingers fromButler Conti.
If you have any more questions let me know.
Paul Gianakos
