THAT abandoned dealer again Swadlincole

[Alexg]

Anyone seen it resently?

 

The reason I ask is because this has popped up on eBay...

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/austin-metro- ... 3f1555185b

 

http://abandoned-cars.blogspot.co.uk/20 ... tberg.html

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Someone call English Heritage, we need a building and its contents listing.

[jayroller]

I'm sure I read somewhere (RR?) that the guy who owns this garage is still willing to sell the cars there - he gave up the dealership for <insert reason here> but will still take a wodge of folding for whatever's left under the dust. The phone number in the pics is the one to get him on, should anyone have a hankering for a bag of rust, must and dust...

 

I think the whole place should be preserved in a big tank of clearness (à la Damien Hurst' shark) and put on display forever.

[greengartside]

I've received word (from a recently-departed AS member) that the whole building is in jeopardy as planning permission has been sought for building on that site. I'm worried about the future of all the vehicles there, especially the Mk2 Astra as I've been after it for a while but I just can't get the funds together to secure it. Now it's more likely to be frag fodder

[Wilko220]

I've received word (from a recently-departed AS member)...

 

Has someone died?

[Albert Ross]

No. Autoshite got shit..... people got fed up with the quantum direction change and petty bickering. So voted with their feet.

[worldofceri]

Rootes_Arrow posted some pics of the place very recently (in his spotz thread), but I think they were old photos.

[Pillock]

Swadlincote, as in Burton-on-Trent?

 

As in "just around the corner"?

 

If anyone wants up to date photos, just holler - I've got a day off tomorrow and this place isn't far at all.

[trigger]

Yes please! I'd be interested in seeing what's left of the place.

[greengartside]

Yeah please, also take a tow-rope and some boltcutters

[skoda_fan]

It's amazing that those cars have merely got dusty and neglected, and not been vandalised. There was a small classic car dealer near here a few years ago that always had an interesting and varied stock. I had a chat to the owner on one occasion and he seemed a real enthusiast. The building subsequently caught fire and was burnt out, with some of the cars. Whilst other cars were removed, presumably to safety, some were just left and it was sad to see once decent cars, notably a couple of MG's and an early Minor, quickly wrecked by vandals.

 

From the Swadlincole site I'd love to be able to save that Favvie and the Samara. Dream on...

[Pillock]

Just got in from a jaunt through Derbyshire

 

The dealer - I can see why stuff is still there, untouched. It's on a main road, and houses overlook the front and sides with a pub to the other side. I had every bugger glaring at me just parking up at the side of the road so thankfully anyone with a set of bolt cutters would have to be pretty brave!

 

The Metro has obviously gone, as that turned up on Ebay. The Rover 100 and Beetle in the page linked to above have also gone but I think that was mentioned, the only other absence is the Renault Master. Apart from that, everything is there with just a little more dust than before.

(edit: The Volvo has also gone from those earlier pics)

 

Lets have some pics. Apologies for the contrast in some of them, it was well sunny today and my DSLR has got a crappy screen so couldn't really see what they were coming out like. I'll post them, and then begin a bit of tweaking as I get time. The full set are here but there's not a fantastic amount.

 

The plot. Just past the posts to the right is the main road so it's a long thin space, although there's some to the side as well behind where I'm stood. In it's heyday, could have got probably 16 cars under the roof on the stepped plots, 20ish out front, 8-10 to the side. A decent sized dealer, but all looks a bit "home made" so wouldn't have thought it was ever a franchise.

 

T'other side. Bizarrely, there was no obvious place to park, it was all fenced off.

 

Favourit. Paintwork was dull - almost YO RATLOOK MATT GREY. One side badged up as a "Forum Plus" in very home-made sticky script. Plenty of rust around the bottom six inches and giffer-spec door protectors. I can imagine this being taken off some piss-smelling old geezer after he kept going the wrong way around roundabouts and driving into shopping trolleys. Last taxed 2001, not SORNed.

 

Astra. I know this was a legit Vauxhall colour of the mid-80s but this didn't seem too original.... little bits of overspray, or perhaps it was just too clean. This was a lot less scabby than I expected, even the rear arches were there and there was just a bit of odd rust on the peak of the bonnet - never normally see that on these.

DVLA shows that it was last taxed in 1998 and is on the naughty list. It's a 1196cc model.

 

Mk3 Cavalier. Again, very clean - I'd imagine it wasn't very old when it was laid up, it's on an H plate. Proper wheeltrims, intact arches and nobody has screwdrivered the door lock yet so this must be unique!

DVLA shows that it's SORNed till September so someone must be thinking of it, and it's a miserable 1.4 engined one.

[Pillock]

Up next, this wonderful Samara. Laid up in 1999 at only 7 years old, it wonders whether it's poundland wheeltrims will ever see the road to the seaside again.

 

At the other end of the social scale - have an Over 800. Like a prick I've not got a photo of the reg plate so I'll pretend that it's been unlicensed since 1942 and has a 50cc engine. Flat tyre is the least of your worries - the paper in the window suggests that this car is pretty much shagged with lots of phrases such as "sold as seen", "no warranty" and "will need to be trailered". I imagine the bit of paper that has fallen inside would have said "You'll only buy this if you're a mentalist".

 

Last up, a pretty tidy Maestro. Unlicensed since '98, this 1600cc Heather-tronic ROAD ROCKET probably got your gran back from bingo before her mates had even capped their dobbers. As with the others, the young age when parked up means it's not in bad nick with no signs of the normal grot.

[Pillock]

All in all, it's a weird place! I guess that this would have been normal stock in 2000ish when most of them seem to have been last used, and then the place just locked up and never re-opened. The only weird thing is that the Cavalier has been sorned every year since.

 

I can see why they want to flatten it - it's in the middle of a residential area and there's a fair bit of new build work behind the estate to the side. Also, the building itself looks well ropey, structurally - massive gaps in the breezeblock walls. I'm no builder but I can't see a building like this ever being approved these days, it's nothing more than three walls with a bit of plastic on top, and an office down one end.

 

I tried to take a photo through the office window but too much glare - inside was just mountains of indie dealer crap like Glasses guides, and the bits they hang in the windscreen to put the prices on. The whole place is secure and I would say that someone must go round occasionally.... there's also plenty of signs of stuff being moved out slowly, like the telltale marks of jammed brakes being forcibly dragged, and all the wood that's fallen from the roof has been piled up. A couple of the padlocks seem new too, newer than the rest of the metalwork anyway.

 

Have some random shots to finish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Fab pics, Pillock. Sad that the place is probably not long for this world, but perhaps not for the people whose houses overlook it?

[Pillock]

Fab pics, Pillock. Sad that the place is probably not long for this world, but perhaps not for the people whose houses overlook it?

 

Well... it's not in Swad, it's in Castle Gresley - where people who think that they're better than they are live.

So maybe they think it's an eyesore, but judging by the attire of the young lady going into one of the houses they've got much more worrying business operating out of that area In all honesty, even I thought "wow.... what a dump" as I came around the corner and saw it. So yeah, it's probably knocking a few quid off their house prices.

[Cavcraft]

Hats off to you Pillock, they're brilliant pictures and it's nice to see a current update on the place.

[Angrydicky]

No. Autoshite got shit..... people got fed up with the quantum direction change and petty bickering. So voted with their feet.

 

I believe the phrase is called "dummy spitting".

 

It would be really sad if this place got bulldozed, it must be almost unique! I think the only other dealership in the country that comes close to this one on greatness is that old BL dealer on the North Circular. To be fair to the guy who owns it, at least he is still selling the cars and hasn't just called the scrapyard to have them all taken away (although if the remaining ones aren't sold soon, I can see that happening).

[Alexg]

Great job Pillock!

[trigger]

Well done on putting the effort in and going up there Chris, I wonder how much longer it will last?, It seems amazing to me that the place has lasted this one with being sold off for housing.

[Pillock]

I suppose if he owns the land and doesn't need the cash, there's no real reason to sell - plenty of land around here so no need for any compulsory purchase orders.

In fact, can the council even force him to shut up shop? If all the cars were legit (which aside from a few non-SORNs, they are) I'm not sure there's anything that can be done. Eyesore or no eyesore.....

[cobblers]

 

Hmmm. I'm tempted to ring about this. I've been thinking about a cheap runabout that I can insure on a classic policy, and that ticks all the boxes and is absolutely brilliantly dismal too. I can't remember the last time I saw anything with those wheeltrims on other than this car pictured here, but years ago they were everywhere. There was a bloke with one the same colour (but 5 door) across from my primary school who had the load levelling rear suspension pumped right up to the max, and a pair of mk2 cavalier alloys on the back.

 

 

What (assuming it was sound when laid up and it isn't rusty) would it take to put something stood so long back on the road?

 

I'm guessing tyres, brake disks/drums, a few ignition components, a battery and a carb rebuild?

 

I can't imagine the bloke realistically asking a lot more than £300 for it, especially if the place is nearing it's last days? Or perhaps he want's megamoney for things, which is why they have all been here since I was about 14

[M'coli]

Top work there Pillock, nice one. I'm just thinking out loud here, but would anyone fancy a Sunday lunchtime out there sometime soon? Meet up, have a look over the dealership, then adjourn to a pub for a spot of lunch and a chinwag?

[Lufthansa-Terminal]

I Have been there hmmm must be 2008ish. The Disastra above was £499 as it stood.

[Pillock]

All the cars were for sale, but most had been there so long the paper with the prices on had given up and fallen in - and because the place is still secure, you can't get any nearer to the cars.

If only for the grin..... cobblers, if you do save the Astra, can I come and "help" get it going? When I say help, I mean hang around

[Lankytim]

I'm sure I remember seeing over on RR a few years ago that someone had got in touch with the owner. He packed up due to ill health or something, all the cars are still for sale but he still wanted the screen price for them!

 

There was a great big renault master mini bus which has gone recently, along with a few others including a nice looking beetle.

 

I like the look of the Rover, I bet it would be a real nightmare to get back on the road though!

[Father Ted]

Both the Astra and the Maestro fill me with horn.

Sadly this applies to me:-

and any attempt to purchase same instead of "new decking for the bottom of the garden" will be met with the wife using my bollocks for earrings

[Pillock]

You're a low-level businessman trapped in a Monty Python sketch?

[cobblers]

All the cars were for sale, but most had been there so long the paper with the prices on had given up and fallen in - and because the place is still secure, you can't get any nearer to the cars.

If only for the grin..... cobblers, if you do save the Astra, can I come and "help" get it going? When I say help, I mean hang around

 

Brain ruled the heart on that one - I had about £500 left before overdraft limit, but in hindsight it's been there for almost as long as I've been pubic, It can wait 2 weeks til I get paid before I go making any silly decisions. I'm still going to put the job in shiply though.

[greengartside]

If one of you does decide to buy the Astra then I want first dibs when it comes up for sale please! I just haven't got enough to buy it or else it would be at Gartside Towers in a heartbeat.