DJ KETTERINGHAM REVISITED 01.10.2010

[AnthonyG]

The cheaper prices are for the car with no MOT, I think, certainly for the Favorit and Rover Sterling. Where is this? - in most inner city estates it would have been firebombed by now!

[Guest]

Heard today from a guy I gave the garage details to-he was interested in the Astra. The story of the garage was told to him by the owner"BIG NEWS.....I got in touch with the guy at the garage!!!!!!!!!!!!!His name is Grenville and from what I can tell he seems like an old boy. Very nice and gentle person to talk to.Found out a lot of useful info about his garage too....Yes he is still trading but sees it as a part-time thing now as he had two family bereavements (one was his wife) - and so grieved for a while and decided not to continue running the garage as much.The cars that are there are what he called 'Starter Cars' - i.e. these cars were prepped with younger/new drivers in mind which seems to be the case with the Metro and Astra at least.With the advent of 0% finance cars and later on the recession, he sort of half gave up trying to sell any more vehicles and these were the ones he was left with."

[brammy777]

so are the prices on the cars correct?

[Guest]

so are the prices on the cars correct?

He's not discussed real prices yet-the Astra had over £400 spent on it at one point but he has said £50 wont buy it. £50 was quoted by seller so I assume someone tried it on recently

[brammy777]

well if it wasnt so far away, id be interested in the metro, thats for sure!Id give him 200 for it............

[Guest]

So a London trip sprung on me by work yesterday had me passing the legendry DJ Ketteringham motors again. And he was open!!

Some additional pics to go with the previous posings on the previous pages.

These still light up

And the stuffs not changed since it was an Austin Rover dealer - finishing in 1982.

 

More to follow.

[Lord Sterling]

Wow great stuff there. I've always wanted to go to that DJK garage, never got around to it. Might have been better if I went in my Rover Sterling, but thats not going to happen. He has a a few cars around the back, I know someone took a photo of a Red mk1 Sterling sometime back.

[Mr Lobster]

Now THAT would be a great venue for the next Autoshite Day Trip!

[Spottedlaurel]

Looking forward to more photos and info!

[Guest]

The biggest surprise for me was that the brochures were still on the wall from 1982.

 

Car pictures shortly.

[Lord Sterling]

Now THAT would be a great venue for the next Autoshite Day Trip!

 

Yeh, its one of those - If Autoshite did dealerships

[Guest]

[trigger]

Amazing! The garage reminds me of the Austin dealers near where i grew up in the 80's, Cyril J Deals was the name of the garage, It was identical to that one. Sadly it's now a Proton dealership.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

If I went in there and saw those old brochures, posters etc i'd just burst into tears, so best I give it a wide berth I think.

[Guest]

 

Thats all - what a great place though

[Marshall]

The biggest surprise for me was that the brochures were still on the wall from 1982.

 

Car pictures shortly.

 

That is quality!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I wonder whether if you turned up with £2500, you could actually buy that Regata. I reckon you'd get some story about it being available in a couple of weeks or something and to come back (or better still, ring back) then.

[Lord Sterling]

Did they not have a Gold D-reg Rover 820 in there? I remember there being one in a photo someone took a while back.

[Guest]

Did they not have a Gold D-reg Rover 820 in there? I remember there being one in a photo someone took a while back.

 

 

Did not see that today - some cars around the back were packed in too tight to picture. Maybe its among those.

[Spottedlaurel]

Did you find anything out while you were there?

 

The brochures coincide exactly with ones I was collecting from my local BL/ARG dealer or being given by my Transport-Manager-at-Marconi Grandad in the early '80s.

 

The place and all its contents should have a Grade 1 listing slapped on them.

 

Derek J. Ketteringham Motors former BL dealership, London by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

 

The outside stock when I stopped in July this year.

[Guest]

I first visited that garage with Andrew Elephick some years ago now. The kind old gent offered us brochures, but as Andrew correctly says, to take the brochures, -as much as we'd have loved to done- would spoil the effect for others visiting and indeed, of the whole ambience. Nobody loves collecting BL stuff as much as me, but we resisted -just.

 

I then visited again last July and engaged the gentlemen owner in conversation. I too work at a faded old Austin Rover dealership so I was quite on the level with him. Most of the cars in the showroom have a story behind them. The SD1 for example was sold to a local builder who also ran a van. One would love to think a Sherpa, but I digress. The SD1 was therefore only used as a Sunday car and then when the gent packed-in driving, it came back to the garage. I recognised the SD1 from a batch built for Rover Management. This was the case as the garage owner bought the car at a Closed Rover Auction. The bloke is as sharp as a button mind, he knows the values of SD1 and knows you'll be hard pressed to find a V8 as late as this, especially with air con. He open to offers on it, but not daft offers.

 

Moving on, we discussed the white 820 auto. Again, bought from a Closed Rover sale and sold to a gent to celebrate his 90th birthday. However, the bithday boy prefered his Mini, so it came back into stock. The cars are started and ran regularly, although not actually moved. The 820 for example has just had a new fuel pump. I'm not sure the owner likes to be looked on as a museum curator, but he certainly friendly enough with me.

[wedgeman]

I've been told of a similair ex BL dealership in Exmouth, Devon, never seen it myself though - anyone on here know of it or indeed any pics?

[Gompo]

Fucking fantastic place and pics. Definitely needs to be kept in 'good' hands.

[Mr Lobster]

Reminds me, I really need to have a drive past this place -

 

 

Primrose Garage in Clitheroe. Was a Rover dealer well into the late '90's and carried on as an independent but with lots of Rover signage and stuff still about. I think it closed earlier this year though...

[Guest]

WOW! Rover 'cakeband' fascia!!