Category:Jack Dankel Chevrolet, Allentown, Pennsylvania

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Jack Dankel Chevrolet was a well-known Chevrolet dealership in Allentown, located at the southeast corner of 19th and Tilghman streets for decades. It eventually became one of the largest Chevrolet-only dealerships in the United States.

Owned by Jack C. Dankel, he was a native-born Allentonian, being born on November 13th, 1902. He graduated from Allentown High School, and later the Allentown Preparatory School. While in school, Dankel was a star athlete, and during the 1920s, Dankel was heavily involved in local sports, and at one time was a boxing promoter.

Dankel started in the car business in 1930, owning the Dankel Motor Agency at 228 Tilghman Street, first selling used cars , then obtained a DeSoto dealership. In 1932 he moved to a new location at 618 Tilghman. In August 1933, Dankel moved his dealership to the southeast corner of Nineteenth and Tilghman Streets, into an existing building that had been the Beck & Eck Auburn dealership starting in 1929, and later became the Cass Motor Company in 1931, a used car dealer. Dankel became a Chevrolet dealer in December 1933 after Lehigh Valley Chevrolet reorganized and became a Chrysler dealership.

Jack Dankel Chevrolet became Allentown's first sizeable business in Allentown's West End and grew significantly over the next 40 years. In 1958 Edward Charles joined Dankel as president and co-dealer, while Dankel became Chairman of the board of the Dankel organization. Jack Dankel Chevrolet became one of the largest and most successful Chevrolet dealerships in the eastern United States. In 1962, Dankel had expanded the dealership to take over three of the four corner lots of the Nineteenth Street and Tilshman Street intersection, selling new cars on the SE corner; used cars on the SW corner and owning an Esso gasoline station on the NW corner. The dealership eventually sold over 175,000 new cars and trucks.

On December 7th 1979, after decades of successfully selling Chevrolets, Jack Dankel retired at the age of 76 and the business was purchased by Willie Outten, a Philadelphia native who had owned a Chrysler-Plymouth agency in Willlingboro, New Jersey. The dealership was renamed as Outten Chevrolet. In 1985 Outten moved its new car division to its current location at 17th & Tilghman, although the Used Car division remained on the southwest corner of 19th and Tilghman. Diehl's appliances then relocated into the former Dankel/Outten dealership. In the summer of 2006 the property was bought Commerce Bank which tore down the building Today the corner is a large parking lot and a bank building.

Jack Dankel passed away on March 20th, 1986 at his home in Allentown.

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