HOSTED BY GATEWAY CLASSIC CARS MILWAUKEE
BY JOHN GUNNELL
A few years ago, we headed out early for a Milwaukee car show. We arrived at 11 am and no one was there! We found out the starting time was 3 pm. We had four hours to kill and we wanted to see old cars, so we headed for Gateway Classic Cars in Kenosha.
Gateway Classic Cars boasts eighteen showrooms of collector cars nationwide. Each location takes cars and trucks on consignment and markets them for the owners using both national and local ads as well as the internet to reach a global audience.
Gateway’s “Milwaukee” location is actually in Kenosha. It is located in a huge building in an industrial park. Up to 120 cars can fit inside and we estimated that there were 90 cars the day we stopped by. The for-sale vehicles included classics, antiques, muscle cars, pony cars, hot rods, resto mods, sports cars, four-by-fours and trucks.
We talked to a Sales Consultant, an Inventory Consultant and the Office Manager. We were pleased to find out their showrooms are always open to the public. It was fun looking over the inventory and checking the asking prices, which are printed on windshield cards. The cards also tell potential buyers about horsepower ratings, production totals, optional equipment and power trains.
The write ups on the vehicles seemed very accurate. Some included the odometer reading, while others noted whether a specific car was exempt from mileage reporting rules due to its age. A few vehicles were very recent consignments and had no cards. A small number of the cards noted that the vehicle was “not inspected for sale.” Gateway is selective about the condition of the cars it accepts for consignment viewing their showrooms as a showcase for premium, high-quality classic cars.
We were told we were a day early for one of Gateway’s “Caffeine & Chrome” events. These are open house gatherings at which Gateway supplies donuts and beverages to people visiting the business between 9 am and 12 noon. Everyone has an open invitation to attend. They are normally held on the last Saturday of each month. Due to the holidays, November and December events are combined into a large holiday party on December 4th, 2021.
For additional information about the dealership or about these gatherings, visit www.gatewayclassiccars.com or you can confirm the Caffeine & Chrome dates you are planning to visit here https://www. gatewayclassiccars.com/fluid-caffeine-and-chrome or by calling Gateway at 1-262-891-4253.