The last of the Main Road Motorfactors

[cros]

PiperCub mentioned the wonderful 4U2FIT in Maidstone and reminded me of this dying breed of retail outlets. Its a pain in the arse having to resort to Halfords if you need that 'something at the weekend'. I miss the the Aladdin's cave that used to be on the old A15 out of Market Deeping.

[Parky]

Conquest Auto Parts in Collier Row for me. Still clinging on after 50 years or whatever

[PiperCub]

I haven't lived in Maidstone for 15 years but googling 4U2FIT shows it's still going which I'm real pleased to hear (hope Roy is still about).

 

Have to use my local Andrew Page (ex-Camberley Auto Factors) in Eastleigh but they are pretty good to be honest even though they are a chain and get a discount too. Have another independent in Romsey that's also v.good but the best was near where I used to live, Cobra Accessories in Blackfield, run by two guys who really know their stuff which is what you want from an M/F, they never gave me a wrong part (Are you listening Euro Parts???) and prices were keen. Still go in there occasionally when down that way.

 

These guys are well worth supporting else we'll be force into the nightmare of all motor factors will be either ECP or GSF!

 

Resort to Halfords Cros? OK, now I'm properly frightened.

[JohnK]

I have a little independent that I use. Family run business, the guy who runs it is an ex-mechanic. He's a fountain of knowledge for nearly every car and his knowledge has helped me out of a few puzzling situations!

 

Cheap prices, friendly service and again, never had the wrong part supplied.

 

Only issue I find sometimes is that when you need something NOW, he might not have it so have to resort to a main chain ...

[andy18s]

All the Motormania shops near me have closed,a couple of Motorworld are still going but seem to have morphed into Halfords of 10 year ago with their shiny tat and camp beds.

Ecp and Gsf have a foothold now but tbh I'd rather take my chances with online suppliers

[Rusty_Rocket]

Piper- Roy is still running 4U2 and as far as I can tell, the shop still thrives. It's always busy.

The knowledge of the guy is incredible and he carries so much stock, he almost always has the bits you need or can get it that day. Long live the small independents!

[bub2006]

Motormania in Somercotes seemed to close overnight. Was open last week but when I drove past a few days back it was shut,no signage etc. One up Alfreton seems to change its name and ownership a lot. I used to use motapoint in Langley Mill but since I moved I use either romac in Heanor or a small old school place round back of fuel station in Belper. Bigger bits I tend to use derby ecp where surprisingly I've had no issues for any car

[cros]

The shame of going to Halfords eh? its true though- I needed to fix a  busted off mirror in Chatham and went in the branch there as I couldn't find anywhere else not being a native. Only needed a nut bolt and washer but had to buy their horrible assortments thus spending 10 times what it should have cost. I also tried the place when I needed a 205 fan belt but they no longer sell fan belts of any description. I eventually found a good motorfactors who had the belt but only just made it as it was late Saturday morning.

 4UTOFIT's oil in 25 litres is the best price I've found other than buying on line which gets messed up by the carriage charge. Roy told me that 20/50 is no longer so easy to buy cheap because of the low demand.

[MarvinsMom]

we get as much as we can from BL car parts in scarborough, a proper old world motor factors.

 

Bill and Liz are fab, and will happily ring around to try and find those elusive bits of tat for our old cars, they are a world away from halfrauds.

[jonny69]

The last of my local ones closed up shortly before I moved. I think it's kind of inevitable though; it was easier for them to survive years ago because most cars shared common parts like thermostats, Lucas electronics etc so the shops could keep a selection of things in stock and know they will sell them. Now almost every car is made up of unique parts it makes it almost impossible to hold anything in stock.

 

I get most of my stuff online now. It's just easier to support the specialists, use the forums or eBay when your car is as old as mine.

[sierraman]

Same near me. Closed last week. Real shame.

[Junkman]

 

Motormate
109 Reddish Lane
Denton
Manchester M34 2NF

 

Has a shelf full of 60s - 80s repair manuals (I bought an R16 one last year), still sealed in cellophane.

SU carburetter parts and Rover V8 rocker cover gaskets still available in the self service area.

I bought a plethora of NOS P6 parts there over the years, they also still had shocks for my Dolly in stock.

[trigger]

I use one around the corner called Eastern Auto Spares, there's a few old boys who work in there who know their stuff, they do paint mixing in aerosol can which is better and cheaper than Halfords too. They still have Weber carbs for sale on the top of shelves and out of date stereos and only recently still had white weller wheels on display for sale.

 

I remember going in there a few years back after a engine mount for my then Mk3 Escort and they had one on the shelf, they hadn't sold one since 2002 before that they said!

[fordperv]

I use a place called smithsons which is just around the corner from me, the lads are great, know their stuff about older motors, a lot of stuff they have on the shelf but are usually quick at getting in more uncommon things that you want.

[DVee8]

GD Autos in Chester le street is walking distance.A workshop on the back for the local Toyota Carina's and Mazda 626's

 

Shinny Row Autoparts is around 5 miles away

[theorganist]

Bastables in Langley Green (West Midlands) is still going strong and is a very old fashioned style motor factors. 

 

I went in there a few months ago and came out with a Talbot Horizon air filter, Distributor Cap, HT leads and a set of spark plugs.

 

He was pretty confident once he could get a Renault 14 clutch for me!

[vulgalour]

Autosupplies in Bolsover (I know, I don't live there any more but they're still going) are brilliant for obtaining just about anything.  There were very few items they couldn't get me and in the situation where I needed Princess throttle cable they went to the trouble of going through stock to find a new car cable that would do the job.  Prices are always satisfyingly affordable, staff are friendly and approachable and I think they enjoy the challenge of finding parts for just about anything.

 

Best of all, if you go in and say "I need a part for X car, it's the same part as used on cars 1-5" they can use that info instead of your reg number to find it using actual books and catalogues.  It's one of the businesses I really miss since I moved up here, they saved me so much hassle and could get me things at short notice while still being competitive and more convenient than Halfords.

 

http://www.auto-supplies.co.uk/

 

Definitely support these guys.

[Shep Shepherd]

Ockendon Motor Spares in South Ockendon, Essex is still going strong

[Bear]

There was one in Earl Shilton, quite helpful and good prices.

 

Market Harborough has one - AVP or something - but last time I was in they quoted some daft price for Apec brakes for my 300C and said there was no way I could get brakes for it cheaper; I could quite easily from USAutomotive (half the price, in fact). Went for EBC in the end though.

 

Having a Halfords Trade Card makes them switch from expensive last resort to amazingly useful. You need to go in with a business invoice and letterhead and so forth, though (I got mine when they had a moment of letting car enthusiasts get them if you went in with a stack of receipts to show how much work you do on your car).

[Skizzer]

Zenith Motor Factors in King Edward Road, Swansea.  Great.

 

They have a website too - complete with SEO keyword stuffing on such words as 'mini metro', 'avenger' and 'LNA', which tells you all you need to know.

[Bren]

I used to like walking around the old fashioned motor factors, feu orange air fresheners hanging, those shite stick on bullet holes, moprod brake shoes, I could go on.

 

Now we have young lads in Halfords with bum fluff over their top lip and a knowledge of cars which is on a par with my knowledge of golf ie fuck all.

 

We lament the loss of the local factor, maybe we should'nt have ordered all that stuff off tinterweb.

[Bamboocarman]

Never did find a useful local independent factor, but used for many years Unipart in Sunderland, Stoke and Crawley until they all collapsed recently.

Missing them and felt sorry for the staff; will have to find another reliable source, once my stocks of miscellaneous items have been used up.

[hairnet]

after 20 plus years

 

still has the rack of spray cans as you walk in the door which is probably older than i am which means you have to head straight into the shop you cant turn left

 

one man band too - del only gave up working saturday 8-9 years ago

 

still has a sign above the counter steering racks mk3 escort 34.99

 

 

the only thing thats changed in that pic in that time - the car outside and the types of shops to its left

[HH-R]

Still got two motor factors here but not had much luck with either of them, they never have what I need same day and one of them almost always give the wrong bits. They're often inflated price unheard of brand pattern parts, the sort of shite you can get on eBay cheaper, there's not even the not having to wait for delivery advantage. I don't think my custom will be missed though because they're both busy with customers.

 

Had much more luck with ECP which so far have given me zero wrong parts, almost always have stuff in stock (I don't drive anything rare or exotic), and often offer a range of cheap to expensive parts.

[Austin-Rover]

Fond memories here for Macsons, Rochdale Road, Bury. What a timewarp that place was!

 

BL and Austin Rover spares that have been NLA for years? ...not at Macsons!

[chaseracer]

Round here, Motormania has gone; RoadRunner in Hednesford shut down suddenly last year.  Even Halfords has reduced in size.  Motor Components in Rugeley is still hanging in there...

[New POD]

There are 2 independents near me. (within 1/2 mile) One holds FUCK all stock of anything and the other one charges more than Halfords, but probably does a good deal to local back street repairers as they seem to have a lot of staff and a few vans for delivering.

 

The 2 independents further away, one in Maghull (8 miles) called P&G is okay, but parts are always the cheapest quality.

 

And Culmac in Thornton, 4 miles away, deals with the trade mainly, can get anything, and if they don't have it, they might deliver it, provided you paid first.

 

On the subject of customer service both employ hard faced scarred skinhead fat scousers, so you feel like you are getting mugged even if you are not.

[Negative Creep]

THere is a car accessory shop in town that still has a very sun faded Fiat 600 Haynes manual in the window

[Ghosty]

We used to have a local little place called PK Auto Spares or something in Stalybridge, run by an old Pakistani bloke. Handy place, but the guy died a few years ago and it's a tanning salon now. There's BMS Motorfactors in Dukinfield still but I don't know if it's any good as the Old Man favours ECP in Bredbury/the internet if he can't be arsed going there.

[Albert Ross]

Parker's in Toll Bar, just North of Doncaster. He's got a stack of grubby books for reference (sadly lost a lot of stuff in the 2007 floods) and managed to find me a pair of lower balljoints for a CF2 on the shelf a few years ago. He was also able to get me lower balljoints for Mk1 Granada, when eddyramrod dropped his out before he moved back over....(he sorted those locally though, saving a European Rescue Mission)  Top bloke, he collects all sorts of cars. Yugo, Mk1 Mini, Mk2 Transit, Land Rovers etc... he's a car geek for certain.