Car shows are an interesting thing. At large car events, such as Chryslers at Carlisle, MoParty, and the Mopar Nationals, there is too much to see and not enough time. On the other hand, local and sometimes regional shows are too long. We recently had the opportunity to attend a car show several hours away, and we hoped there would be enough cars present to justify our long drive.
The real reason we attended the show is that Shively Motors, a functioning dealership, has a small museum attached to its Shippensburg, Pennsylvania service center. Even though the show was small, we hoped the museum would take up a great deal of our time. And it turns out, we were correct.
Shively Motors opened in 1939. The dealership was founded by Robert B. Shively in Chambersburg. It began as a small Dodge-Plymouth dealership operating from a downtown garage. After World War II, the business moved to its long-time location on Lincoln Way West in Chambersburg.
In 1955, Shively expanded by purchasing a Chrysler-Plymouth franchise from V.T. Angle, becoming a full Chrysler Corporation dealership. During the muscle-car era and through the late 20th century, the dealership continued to sell vehicles from Chrysler’s three core passenger-car divisions: Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth. That included everything from Valiants and Darts to Chargers, Road Runners, Imperials, and New Yorkers depending on model years and franchise allocations.
Shively added the Jeep franchise in 2000, reflecting the growing prominence of SUVs and off-road vehicles in Chrysler’s lineup. In 2008, Shively purchased the former Naugle Motors dealership in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. Naugle had been a Chrysler dealership since 1945, and the acquisition extended Shively’s regional footprint.
After Chrysler’s restructuring and the discontinuation of the Plymouth brand in 2001, Shively’s modern lineup became: Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram. Although Shively is known for its Mopar lineup, there have been and continue to be several other manufacturers in the dealership mix.
If you were a Mopar racer in the Mid-Atlantic during the 1960s, Shively Motors was more than a local Dodge-Plymouth dealership. Through Bud Faubel, a Vice President and General Manager at Shively Motors, it was directly connected to Chrysler’s factory-backed drag racing efforts.
It was not on the level of national performance dealers such as Grand Spaulding Dodge, but it was absolutely part of the Chrysler performance network during the Race Hemi era. Faubel’s “Honker cars” are probably the single biggest reason Shively Motors is remembered outside south-central Pennsylvania today.
The car show was decent, with about 85 cars in attendance ranging from ‘50s and ‘60s Mopars to late-model Challengers, Chargers, and Jeeps. On the other hand, the museum had about 35 to 40 vehicles from all years, including some from before Shively Motors’ operations. The museum is not a giant corporate museum like the former Chrysler Museum.
Rather a dealership-owned collection focused on local automotive history and the Shively family’s long association with Chrysler products. Many of the cars in the collection were either sold new by Shively Motors or by one of its predecessor dealerships, owned by local Franklin County families, or acquired for their connection to regional automotive history.
The collection also includes historic dealership photographs, sales literature and memorabilia, artifacts documenting more than 80 years of Shively Motors history, and stories of local owners and families connected to the vehicles.
A few notable cars include:
• A 1930 Dodge Brothers DD-6 sedan that spent decades in the Chambersburg area and still retains its original drivetrain and much of its original construction.
• A rare transitional 1931/1932 Dodge Brothers DH-6.
• A 1948 Plymouth with over 200,000 miles that carried a local family through several generations.
• A 1969 Plymouth Barracuda convertible taken in trade at Shively Motors.
• A 1970 Dodge Charger 500.
• A restored 1970 Plymouth GTX with Air Grabber hood and pistol-grip 4-speed.
What makes the museum interesting is that it tells the story of Chrysler products in south-central Pennsylvania rather than simply displaying high-dollar collector cars. Many exhibits trace the history of a specific local owner, family, dealership transaction, or employee. It feels more like a combination of a Mopar museum and a local history museum, and best of all, it is free to visit.
