When I stopped by to give George a CD of our recording of his interview, he invited me in to show me something. After our show recording in his house, he had pulled out a photo album that was dedicated to his old store in downtown Pekin and had all the construction of the new store on RT 29. It was a trip down memory lane, as the new store was raised by Dennison Chevrolet a few years ago.
I was able to borrow the album on loan from George and asked him if it was OK to scan some pictures. When Jared Olar from Pekin Library had done his awesome followup on dealerships in Pekin… Beres Motor Co was strangely missing from most pictures. Finding this album and showing off these pictures feels like its the missing piece from Jared’s research.
Look for more pictures in a nice tidy album soon!
Thanks for sharing. On a recent podcast you mentioned Dodge Dakota’s, I currently have a 1995 and a 1998 both with 318’s. Great little trucks, I’ve had 3 so far.
Yeah… I remember giving some love to the Dakotas… I am still waiting to make the drop top version of this truck my Car of the Weak!
Thank you so much for posting this! My dad bought 2 Mercedes and a Jeep from George during my childhood. I always went to the dealerships on St Mary’s Street and later Rte 29. George and staff were always very kind to me and didn’t treat me like a kid. In the winter months they would let me man the garage door opener to let cars on and out of the shop. Those early experiences were the catalyst for my car hobby and led to my career as a parts manager, which other than 5 years in aviation, I’ve done since 1987. I sent a letter to George late in 2019 and thanked him for the inspiration. Currently I’m restoring a 1973 Mercedes-Benz 280C. Your post made my day and I look forward to seeing the rest of the album! Thank you!
Awesome! This interview with George had us all taking a walk down memory lane in Pekin. Its cool to see the buildings as they are now vs their original purposes.
It sure is. Hard to believe how quickly the last 35-40 years has gone. Can’t help but wonder if Beres would still be there if Mercedes allocated him more than 2 cars per month in the end and the 22% interest rates hadn’t crept in. The 84 Wagoneer we bought at Beres was financed 36 months and my dad got 18 percent because he knew the loan officer at the bank, but the payments were still $297.04 on 8k. Unbelievable at the time. I found the buyers order and window sticker the other day in a drawer lol.