FAO Ayrshire members

[Hendry]

A big interest of mine is in old car dealers/dealerships and in particular those in the Strathclyde area, following a Facebook discussion last night with a Flickr contact where we were talking about Ayrshire dealers, as we are both just under 30 we don't have any knowledge of dealers in that area pre the mid 90s when we were kids, wondering if any of you in that area remember any dealers which bit the dust before then in the area, any recollections and any further information on ones which survived a bit longer like Bickets, Maconochies Ford, J & W Scott Vauxhall, Dalblair of Ayr, Robert Wyper, Ingram VW/Audi, Porter of Ayr Peugeot, Robert McCall Fiat/Alfa, Harry Fairbairn BMW/Fiat/Toyota/Honda, Mossgiel Garage, Dalry Motor Company Citroen/Renault, Clark of Kilbirnie, Thomson of Beith, Kerr Baillie, AT Mays Vauxhall Ardrossan and Honda Stevenston, Springside Motors, Glen Henderson, Bridgend Garage Mitsubishi, etc

 

Any recollections, information and so on would be most valuable for us to piece together a picture of the Ayrshire Motor trade, also if anyone has any pics of dealerships, plates, stickers, key rings etc that aren't currently online via Google, on here, Flickr that would be ace also

 

Cheers guys.

[Split_Pin]

Having travelled to Arran every year since 2000, I remember very well the MG dealership in Ardrossan that sat where the ASDA now is.

[Hendry]

Having travelled to Arran every year since 2000, I remember very well the MG dealership in Ardrossan that sat where the ASDA now is.

That would be Kerr Baillie Rover MG, Pier Garage, Harbour Street Ardrossan. they had another garage further up the road which was Skoda in 2000, they lost Skoda in 02 after having the franchise for around 10 years. Seemingly (and this came from the owners son) they lost Skoda because although the Skoda dealership had a workshop they were sending the Skodas up to the Rover dealership for repairs, servicing and warranty work by Rover technicians, Skoda wanted them to sort out a workshop at the Skoda dealership but they refused as they couldn't justify 2 service depots/workshops and 2 lots of mechanics so Skoda pulled the franchise, I bet they wish they had agreed to Skodas demands and sacked off Rover after what happened as they would've had a profitable and well selling franchise in Skoda, I suspect they were too loyal to Rover. After Rover went under, all operations eventually moved to the former Skoda dealership and they sold the Rover dealership land to Asda. A couple of years after that they somehow managed to get a Ford franchise which they will have now despite it hardly changing in the last 20-odd years and being the polar opposite of a glass and chrome palace type showroom. It does not at all look like a Ford dealership and save for a couple of Ford signs you wouldn't think it was.

 

In addition to Ford, Skoda, Rover and MG (and presumably over the years all the other BL/AR brands like Morris, Austin, Triumph, and so on) they have held Datsun at some point and Hyundai when they first came to the UK and their model range was Pony and Stellar.

[Hendry]

[Hendry]

[mrcitroen]

I bought a year old Citroën Xantia from Alastair Fleming in Ayr. They were / are on the Prestwick road. I dealt directly with Alastair who was a real gent and made the whole process so easy. I never had any issues during the warranty period & as such I have never been back in Ayr since.

 

That was back in 2000 and I now think they have been taken over by some larger group, and maybe retained the name for a while. Back then that was the only branch they had.

[Split_Pin]

A wealth of info, cheers chap! I remember that Ford Dealership too. Cracking pic of the MG Rover dealer too!

[doug]

J K Thomson in Cumnock is stll going as far as I know, as well as Central Garage in Cumnock.

 

 

[Hendry]

I bought a year old Citroën Xantia from Alastair Fleming in Ayr. They were / are on the Prestwick road. I dealt directly with Alastair who was a real gent and made the whole process so easy. I never had any issues during the warranty period & as such I have never been back in Ayr since.

 

That was back in 2000 and I now think they have been taken over by some larger group, and maybe retained the name for a while. Back then that was the only branch they had.

Alistair Fleming was on Elmbank Street just off the Prestwick Road, was originally Mossgiel Garage for years, in 2003 they opened another branch at the Queens Drive Retail Park in Kilmarnock (existing Kilmarnock Citroen dealer Dalry Motor Company who originally had sites in both Dalry and Ayr up to the late 90s were told by Citroen in 2002 to either improve their premises drastically or relocate and they refused and became independent for a while and then closed in 2004, site is now an Aldi or Lidl) and then in 2005 I think they took over John Martin Groups Belmont Citroen branch at Dryburgh Industrial Estate in Dundee and then later took on Seat in Dundee as well. For a time both Citroen branches in Ayr/Killie were also Chevrolet dealers, possibly 2004-2008, before Chevrolet insisted on proper showrooms which Flemings didn't have space for, their new Chevrolets were all displayed on the forecourt and no Chevrolet branding on the buildings which were both fully Citroen. In 2014 TOM Vehicle Rental who started out in Airdrie and then mushroomed into a huge company and also run the ex Glen Henderson Caledonian Trucks Merc commercials in Ayr, and John R Weir Merc commercials in Aberdeen (acquire from Arnie when they took over the whole JR Weir group) and various van rental depots and used van sales pitches took over Alistair Fleming and dropped Seat in Dundee (now run by John Clark Specialist Cars) mainly wanted Citroen franchise to grow their new van sales and provide a way of supplying vans to their rental fleets without going to other dealers to buy them, they've built a big van sales centre in Kilmarnock on the spare ground next to the Citroen dealership and their Facebook page largely has posts about vans rather than cars. They closed the Ayr branch in 2015 and it now lies empty and available for rent/lease.

 

JK Thomson Ford Cumnock was originally a Rover dealer I think, while Central Garage Cumnock were the Ford dealer, at some point I think Central changed to Renault and JK Thomson took on Ford and was Rover and Ford for a while until they stopped doing Rover in the late 90s I think.

 

Kerr & Smith are slowly dwindling as well, they started out as Iveco Ford commercials and Vauxhall cars and vans in Cumnock, opened Iveco in Baillieston, then got the Vauxhall franchise in Ayr in 1998 at the former Bass Rock Renault dealership at 146 Prestwick Road after the existing Ayr dealer Rosefield Motors at 196 Prestwick Road closed, They also had an involvement in McKinnon & Forbes Iveco in Paisley, a body shop in Ayr and DAF commercials in Ayr.

 

Arnie Clark got the Ayrshire Honda franchise in 1999 and put it in ex Rosefield Vauxhall dealership at 196 Prestwick Road and thus killed off ATM Honda Stevenston in the process. Then in 2013 Arnie ceased to be a Honda franchisee altogether and thus bought Kerr & Smith Vauxhall Ayr and moved the franchise back to 196 Prestwick Road, going full circle, Kerr & Smith site now Arnie Clark Rental branch. Kerr & Smith have also sold their Ayr DAF commercials branch to Imperial Commercials as well now, suspect they will end up back how they started with just Cumnock dealership.