Some nice old 1970s & 1980s showroom pics...

[brickwall]

I really miss those high street dealers.

[MrRWD]

Pony Village  Dealership

 

Humble Start Guelph Hyundai

 

[Six-cylinder]

 

This looks like Aylesbury? If it is I moved a few doors up the road in 1982 to 1987.

[ProgRocker]

 

Now Norfolk Motor Group (Kia). I bought my used Almera from here nearly 4 yrs ago. In the 1980s it was Henlys Peugeot (& Talbot?).

[forddeliveryboy]

[ProgRocker]

Just stumbled across these on t'internet, courtesy of an article back in Feb by the Torquay Herald & Express (link below):

 

http://www.torquayheraldexpress.co.uk/Pictures-focussing-forecourts-garages-yesteryear/story-20527001-detail/story.html

 

Some great mixes of marques being sold from the same site, back in the days before Corporate Identity was king.

 

Note the "Renault" dealership is actually a Daf dealership

 

And, just because I like 1980s Vauxhalls, a bonus from my own "collection":

 

 

 

I wonder if they are Carlton CDs or GLs with the optional alloys? One of the best alloy design of all time. Vauxhall must have taken a leaf out of Citroen's book. The alloys were very easy to clean.

 

I would love a 1985/6 Carlton 2200i CD like the one my folks had in the mid 1990s.

[chaseracer]

I would love a 1985/6 Carlton 2200i CD like the one my folks had in the mid 1990s.

 

So did mine - pulled their caravan like it wasn't there!

[forddeliveryboy]

 

which became

 

 

this, now all gone.

[forddeliveryboy]

Now this.

 

 

 

Are our towns and cities all to become as mono-cultural (and by definition, prone to rapid wipe-out) as our cropfields? Nothing but flats, houses without gardens, restaurants and nik-nak shops. Bit like the total demise of the village, now all seemingly segregated communities, largely according to income. At least in this part of the world. Are real communities only set to thrive online?

[NorfolkNWeigh]

So did mine - pulled their caravan like it wasn't there!

A 2.2CDi Carlton was faster than a 2.5 Senator and a manual Carlton would keep up with a 3.0 Auto Monza or Senator.

We had lots of Vauxhalls where I worked in the mid 80's.

[Owain71]

Some old garages have been luckier than others - check out this old BLMC garage, I'm guessing in the v. early '70s...

 

 

...which now looks like this

 

[nivek]

 

Clares of Cople (near Bedford and the Cardington airship hangers) is still going as an independent village garage selling used cars. It was a Mitsubishi dealer until a few years ago.

[UmBongo]

 

 

Are our towns and cities all to become as mono-cultural (and by definition, prone to rapid wipe-out) as our cropfields? Nothing but flats, houses without gardens, restaurants and nik-nak shops. Bit like the total demise of the village, now all seemingly segregated communities, largely according to income. At least in this part of the world. Are real communities only set to thrive online?

 

Increased urban populations and globalisation means this will only continue.

 

Go to virtually any town centre or high street in the country and you will be hard pressed to see any major differences in retailers or layout.

[UmBongo]

Yank Saab dealer.

 

[UmBongo]

Guess the year!

 

Oh, for a Lada Alpino and it's unique two-tone scheme!

 

[forddeliveryboy]

Increased urban populations and globalisation means this will only continue.

 

Go to virtually any town centre or high street in the country and you will be hard pressed to see any major differences in retailers or layout.

 

 

Where the spirit is lacking, perhaps, and Uncle Sam is deified. There are wealthy European countries where this very definitely isn't the case.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

This looks like Aylesbury? If it is I moved a few doors up the road in 1982 to 1987.

 

 

It was there in 1997 when i lived in/existed in Aylesbury. But then it was a regular garage with a filling station. Adams moved out of Ayles out towards Tring, became Peugeot but have now gone - the name, the garage, the lot.

 

The other thing that pisses me off: garages with mono names. So F. Bimbles & Son in Hereford is now Hereford Volkswagen and Continental Cars (Oxbury) is now Oxbury Audi. I bet they were up all fucking night thinking that up. Those are the ones that aren't Arnold Shark, Sytners, Stratstone, Evans Bastard Halshaw, all with commercial radio adverts telling you how affordable the modern rubbish they sell is.

 

To my knowledge there is at least one nice little dealership left - Misterton Garage in Misterton (really!) near Crewkerne. Still a Ford dealer, it hasn't changed much in the last 30-35 years. One day though, I will drive through to find the site cleared as some cunt plans to build 6 starter homes on top of some local history.

[Owain71]

Wollaston Garage, near Stourbridge, looking like early '80s shortly after it was appointed a GM dealer but its official signage had yet to be fitted (hence the window stickers & the old white & black BL fascias still in place):

 

 

...and a view of the street next to it with grey Vauxhall totem-pole, a little later - I guess mid-90s.

 

 

This has all now gone, replaced by one of the German discount retailers.

 

By coincidence, on a visit to the Midlands this week I spotted this little beauty, supplied by the above garage!

 

 

[carlo]

It was there in 1997 when i lived in/existed in Aylesbury. But then it was a regular garage with a filling station. Adams moved out of Ayles out towards Tring, became Peugeot but have now gone - the name, the garage, the lot.

 

The other thing that pisses me off: garages with mono names. So F. Bimbles & Son in Hereford is now Hereford Volkswagen and Continental Cars (Oxbury) is now Oxbury Audi. I bet they were up all fucking night thinking that up. Those are the ones that aren't Arnold Shark, Sytners, Stratstone, Evans Bastard Halshaw, all with commercial radio adverts telling you how affordable the modern rubbish they sell is.

 

To my knowledge there is at least one nice little dealership left - Misterton Garage in Misterton (really!) near Crewkerne. Still a Ford dealer, it hasn't changed much in the last 30-35 years. One day though, I will drive through to find the site cleared as some cunt plans to build 6 starter homes on top of some local history.

 

Nice spot, amazed Ford have let them keep the franchise.  If you google streetmap it you'll see half an NSU Ro80 on the forecourt!

[NorfolkNWeigh]

It was there in 1997 when i lived in/existed in Aylesbury. But then it was a regular garage with a filling station. Adams moved out of Ayles out towards Tring, became Peugeot but have now gone - the name, the garage, the lot.

 

 

Whilst the Peugeot dealership on the Tring Rd has shut down, that garage on the ring road next to the petrol station is still there. It's a Subaru and Daihatsu dealership now.

 

This is the most recent pic I can find.

[stuboy]

[oldford]

Now looks like this:

 

[af1]

Canterbury motor company no longer looks like that I'm afraid the franchise went to

Motorline and I think they are demolishing the whole site to build more student accommodation :/ it's a shame because I always loved the garage :/

[Owain71]

For you VW fans, and by coincidence yet another garage in Stourbridge, West Mids...

 

[Owain71]

Another VW dealership, this time 1980s in Towcester, Northants. Check out the superb photos in the link, courtesy of www.retronaut.com

 

http://www.retronaut.com/2014/04/texaco-grand-opening/

 

Wasn't that GTI, wearing those plates, in a lot of magazine road tests back in the '80s...?

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Another VW dealership, this time 1980s in Towcester, Northants. Check out the superb photos in the link, courtesy of www.retronaut.com

 

http://www.retronaut.com/2014/04/texaco-grand-opening/

 

Wasn't that GTI, wearing those plates, in a lot of magazine road tests back in the '80s...?

That number appeared on a lot of Golfs,as it belonged to Gti Engineering who were based at Silverstone, just up the road from Towcester.

Don't know what happened to Gti Engineering but Richard Lloyd was killed a few years ago in a plane crash.

That garage is now a Harley Davidson dealership, the VW boys having moved into the MG Rover site half a mile up the road on the A5/A43 roundabout.

 

[Owain71]

That number appeared on a lot of Golfs,as it belonged to Gti Engineering who were based at Silverstone, just up the road from Towcester.

Don't know what happened to Gti Engineering but Richard Lloyd was killed a few years ago in a plane crash.

That garage is now a Harley Davidson dealership, the VW boys having moved into the MG Rover site half a mile up the road on the A5/A43 roundabout.

 

image.jpg

That's right - it belonged to GTI Engineering

[Six-cylinder]

It was there in 1997 when i lived in/existed in Aylesbury. But then it was a regular garage with a filling station. Adams moved out of Ayles out towards Tring, became Peugeot but have now gone - the name, the garage, the lot.

 

 

Whilst the Peugeot dealership on the Tring Rd has shut down, that garage on the ring road next to the petrol station is still there. It's a Subaru and Daihatsu dealership now.

 

image.jpg

This is the most recent pic I can find.

 

The main showroom is now a Sainsbury Express with a small dealership between it and the petrol forecourt, they now claim to be Daihatsu, Subaru, Isuzu and Mitsubishi dealership. 

[richbraith]

1.PNG

 

which became

 

 

this, now all gone.

We used to park on Norman Ankers forecourt when we went shopping on a Saturday afternoon, because my dad (who was service manager at Cooks in Kirkbymoorside) was friends with the service manager there.

[Ghosty]

Matlock Ford, while being somewhat corporate now, is a good example of a long standing Ford dealer that's not changed *that* much. 

 

I'm sure there's another one somewhere in a village near the M6 in Staffs but I can't remember where or what it is for the life of me.