Vauxhall/Opel Dealerships

[Spottedlaurel]

Re Forts, yes I think the larger main dealer was called Fairways. Whatever, it was, and still is as far as I know, at Deepdale

 

...............

 

To be completist the Kadett had a coupe version which did not have a Chevette equivalent. The three door hatch was initially only a Vauxhall but was then also then launched as the Opel Kadett City (the bodies were pressed in the UK - the rear panel pressing had a place for the license plate under the bumper a la Chevette even though the Opel version had the license plate above the bumper). All were available in the UK

 

................

 

Now, and this is where it gets even more exciting, after the Kadett C was discontinued the Chevette was sold rebadged as an Opel in Germany, and maybe a few other markets, priced below the Kadett D as an entry model to the Opel range until the first Corsa A was launched in 1983.

 

Thanks for Fairways clarification.

 

You've now only just made me notice that Kadett saloons didn't have the number plate pressing in the rear valance!

 

1977 Opel Kadett J (2.0 conversion) by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

 

It always bugged me on the hatchbacks.

 

1978 Opel Kadett City J by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

 

Also didn't know about an Opel-badged Chevette being available after they stopped selling RWD Kadetts. That is exciting news!

[Bianconeri]

DTV and presumanly DOT were funded by a tariff on each new car sold, say £5 or whatever. This explains the "Dealer" bit in the team title.

When I was a teenager in Bristol in the mid-1970s there was a solus Opel dealer near where we lived that had a bit of a reputation for tuned Mantas, there was quite a "thing" about the "Downend Manta" if memory serves. Mind you, for all I know it could have been a yellow base model with a pop-up sunroof and a Barry spoiler that got a lot of local press coverage.

[Zantimisfit]

Opel Chevette sales brochurage

 

Note lack of your actual Opel badges, a sad brandless, orphan car, a bit like last, post Austin, Maestros and Montegos. Story has it the Chevette should have died with the Kadett C, but with the D only being made in Germany and imported to the UK, the Unions kicked off. So the Chevette lived on to keep Ellesmere Port busy until somebody could think up something longer term. I suppose for Opel this was their CityRover...a cheap, slightly embarrassing import.

 

 

 

 

This is the kind of stuff you learn if you have been held hostage in a cellar for five years with only a Chevette brochure to read....not that this has happened to me of course. Still exciting though!

[oldcars]

Just spotted this Ascona outside my gaff. Shite caravan too. Bloke owns the yellow Asconsfied estate that is seen about Ipswich.

20170614_172330.jpg

20170614_172348.jpg

That is class. Winner.

[Spottedlaurel]

Was there a RWD Kadett equivalent of the Chevanne, or did Opel rely on the Rekord as their panel van offering?

 

Opel Rekord 2000 panel van by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

 

In the UK I’m wondering if there was a point where lucky buyers had the choice of Bedford HA Van, Chevanne and Rekord all from the same dealership.

[Zantimisfit]

Not sure about a Kadett C van. Logic suggests there would have been one, but certainly not in UK.

 

Pretty confident the Rekord van was not sold in UK. First one I saw was over here. Before that I had no idea they existed. Having said that, your photo looks like a right hooker? There was an overlap in sales of the HA and Chevanne (I think the HA lasted to 1983 maybe), but the aspiring Bedford owner would then have to trade up to the CF

[Spottedlaurel]

Pretty confident the Rekord van was not sold in UK. First one I saw was over here. Before that I had no idea they existed. Having said that, your photo looks like a right hooker? There was an overlap in sales of the HA and Chevanne (I think the HA lasted to 1983 maybe), but the aspiring Bedford owner would then have to trade up to the CF

 

It would seem they were available here, albeit briefly. That scan is from a UK brochure and on Flickr there’s a comment from someone who actually used to drive one.

 

I’ll try and remember to dig that brochure out and see what date is on it.

[oldcars]

Id love that B plate Opel Kadett 1600GT, a proper UK spec Opelised version of the mk2 Astra, fucking immense!

 

 

Thats because old car dealerships are my other main interest apart from shit old cars.

 

I think you will like the topic im about to post about old dealer logos and the collection of number plates, stickers, tax disc holders and keyrings for old Scottish dealers me and a pal have been collecting, which is another interest, should hopefully ignite some indepth conversation in which other members might be able to enlighten me more about the very little i dont already know about the Scottish motor trade from the early 80s right up to the present day. 

slightly more exited about this new thread than i should be. Get posting 

[Spottedlaurel]

In the description for my Flickr photo I linked to this website which showed a picture of an S-reg van: http://blackwood-hodge.typepad.com/home/northampton/

 

Taking another look at that site, a couple of excellent photos of another one have since been added:

 

http://blackwood-hodge.typepad.com/.a/6a00e55079f731883401b7c7a2b524970b-800wi

 

http://blackwood-hodge.typepad.com/.a/6a00e55079f731883401bb0846cf62970d-800wi

 

DVLA say it lasted to 1985. The rear window sticker suggests it came from a dealer that sold Opel only. Looks like McGill Automotive Ltd were based in St Albans.

[Hendry]

slightly more exited about this new thread than i should be. Get posting 

 

Posted for your viewing pleasure now squire!

[face]

I worked in a Vauxhall Opel garage in 1985 (Chantry garage Saffron Walden now long gone) and the signage was just as you have it pictured. We sold the whole range but it was only UK models so no Ascona's just Cavaliers. They were Renault up until about '84 so I don't know what GM were doing before then. We did sell Manta's and Senator's and I think there were a couple of Monza's but that was it for Opel. As for vans it was mainly Astra vans except we had an old Opel Reckord van as the parts van. I used to thrash that poor bugger everywhere.

 

Where in town was that please m9?

[Eddie Honda]

You had this conversation before face!

 

http://autoshite.com/topic/39-old-garages/page-5?do=findComment&comment=369341

[mercrocker]

Here is the brochure I have showing that very Rekord van..... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perhaps they were only actually bought by GM participants or agents?

[AnthonyG]

Opel was launched in the UK in late 67 or early 68, with the Kadett B and Rekord C. It was discontinued in 1988 when the last Manta was sold.

 

Even the last of the first-generation Senators was badged Vauxhall, which I didn't know until seeing a picture of a D registration police car recently.

[Jimbo]

In 1990 I worked at a Vauxhall dealer.

We had the Vauxhall GM Opel signage.

The only GM product we sold other than Vauxhalls and Mantas were Bedford vans which became Vauxhall badged that year.

It is also the year they launched the round griffin badge as I recall.

Off topic, when BL was formed there were a lot of towns that ended up with multiple dealers. We had 2 not 500 yards apart at one stage before one switched to VW and the other eventually went to Fiat.

Neither survive.

Our market town had 7 dealerships in my youth. Some swapping marques quite regularly.

Only ones left are the Ford dealer - now Kia and a village Skoda dealer which has just gone to Suzuki after 30+ years of selling Czech shite.

The Lada / Yugo dealer just down the road is now a Great Wall dealer and has sold at least 2.

Your not in Ely by any chance?

[Timewaster]

Your not in Ely by any chance?

Wow. Good spot!

 

I take it you are..... Local?

[delux]

I worked for Arnies in Dundee not long after he took it over from Lex. Previous to that it had been SMT. We still had tool boards and brochures for chevettes etc about. We had an ex RAF hydraulic press which you could use to flatten 2ps!

Was unusual (in the trade) that most of the staff had worked there for years. Several techs had started with SMT in the sixties!

Used to do warranty work for Neil Pyper from Pypers Couper Angus. They were not prepared to build a better showroom so they took a settlement payment and gave up the dealership. For a while they imported new cars as well as selling used ones. Neil took me to the touring cars once because his son Gavin was racing an Alfa. Great day out, substantial buffet!

 

Have worked with Kerr and Smith in Cumnock too not long after they sold off their Ayr branch to Arnies. There was a scrap book kicking about with pics of mk2 Cavaliers lined up outside and the current MD playing on his bmx, LOL! Jimmy Smith (senior) is into his old trucks.

[Jimbo]

Wow. Good spot!

I take it you are..... Local?

Littleport...lol

 

I read your post thinking this all sounds very familliar.

[Hendry]

I worked for Arnies in Dundee not long after he took it over from Lex. Previous to that it had been SMT. We still had tool boards and brochures for chevettes etc about. We had an ex RAF hydraulic press which you could use to flatten 2ps!

Was unusual (in the trade) that most of the staff had worked there for years. Several techs had started with SMT in the sixties!

Used to do warranty work for Neil Pyper from Pypers Couper Angus. They were not prepared to build a better showroom so they took a settlement payment and gave up the dealership. For a while they imported new cars as well as selling used ones. Neil took me to the touring cars once because his son Gavin was racing an Alfa. Great day out, substantial buffet!

 

Have worked with Kerr and Smith in Cumnock too not long after they sold off their Ayr branch to Arnies. There was a scrap book kicking about with pics of mk2 Cavaliers lined up outside and the current MD playing on his bmx, LOL! Jimmy Smith (senior) is into his old trucks.

 

Far travelled then, East Coast to South West!

 

I think Lex and SMT were the same company or at least related, they were massive, a lot bigger than Arnie at one time, and traded under a few different names too, Croall & Croall, Merrylee Motors, Ritchies, etc and then they all changed names to Lex then a few of their places got sold off (I think in addition to Dundee Vauxhall Arnie took over Broxburn Rover, and Glasgow South and North VW branches) some got taken over in management buyouts like some of the Vauxhall branches became SVL, one was taken over by Ian Grieve, and the Greenock branch became Inverclyde Rover, then they sold off the ones they still had, like Airdrie Vauxhall, to Pendragon. 

 

I think when Arnie took over Kerr & Smith Ayr it was because they had just parted with Honda and their Ayr Honda branch was now without a franchise, so Vauxhall got moved into their Honda branch and the K&S dealership is now an Arnies rental branch, kinda went full circle because Arnies Honda Ayr branch which they bought K&S to put Vauxhall into used to be Ayrs Vauxhall dealer before it closed down and K&S got the franchise, think it was Rosefield Motors, and K&S premises was Bass Rock Renault. 

 

K&S have sold off a few of their other branches now too, and its just Cumnock Vauxhall and Iveco trucks, Baillieston Iveco and a bodyshop in Ayr thats left. Theyve always been into heavy commercials I think. They must be one of the longest established Vauxhall dealers in the UK now. 

 

Pypers Coupar Angus I remember, I think they parted with Vauxhall around 1997. Those were the days, now its pretty much Arnie, Peter Vardy and Evans Halshaw who run Vauxhall in Scotland having swallowed up all the independents or put them out of business. Think the only independents are James Haugh Dumfries, K&S, Fiskens of Forfar, and a couple of smaller groups, Tustain Motors. and Regency, Mackays of Dingwall and Autovision who are all affiliate companies

[ProgRocker]

A few Vauxhall/Opel garages from my area were:-

 

Trimoco in Great Yarmouth

Hartwell in Norwich, I think it was Belvedere Motors before that - please feel free to correct me.

 

Before Hartwell in Norwich it used to be called 'Delves'. This used to be located on Aylsham Road. I remember my dad taking his '79 Royale 2.8 there a few times with it's dodgy water pump in 1986. I'm 99% sure that they sold Bedfords there at the time.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.6504383,1.2805237,3a,75y,88.73h,90.18t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1ssLTYwLgoawflPc20IOpK-g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

There was also a Trimoco dealers in the 1980s at Mountergate in Norwich City Centre.

[delux]

Far travelled then, East Coast to South West!

 

I think Lex and SMT were the same company or at least related, they were massive, a lot bigger than Arnie at one time, and traded under a few different names too, Croall & Croall, Merrylee Motors, Ritchies, etc and then they all changed names to Lex then a few of their places got sold off (I think in addition to Dundee Vauxhall Arnie took over Broxburn Rover, and Glasgow South and North VW branches) some got taken over in management buyouts like some of the Vauxhall branches became SVL, one was taken over by Ian Grieve, and the Greenock branch became Inverclyde Rover, then they sold off the ones they still had, like Airdrie Vauxhall, to Pendragon. 

 

I think when Arnie took over Kerr & Smith Ayr it was because they had just parted with Honda and their Ayr Honda branch was now without a franchise, so Vauxhall got moved into their Honda branch and the K&S dealership is now an Arnies rental branch, kinda went full circle because Arnies Honda Ayr branch which they bought K&S to put Vauxhall into used to be Ayrs Vauxhall dealer before it closed down and K&S got the franchise, think it was Rosefield Motors, and K&S premises was Bass Rock Renault. 

 

K&S have sold off a few of their other branches now too, and its just Cumnock Vauxhall and Iveco trucks, Baillieston Iveco and a bodyshop in Ayr thats left. Theyve always been into heavy commercials I think. They must be one of the longest established Vauxhall dealers in the UK now. 

 

Pypers Coupar Angus I remember, I think they parted with Vauxhall around 1997. Those were the days, now its pretty much Arnie, Peter Vardy and Evans Halshaw who run Vauxhall in Scotland having swallowed up all the independents or put them out of business. Think the only independents are James Haugh Dumfries, K&S, Fiskens of Forfar, and a couple of smaller groups, Tustain Motors. and Regency, Mackays of Dingwall and Autovision who are all affiliate companies

 

As a 4th year apprentice with Arnies nearby I was posted to Lex Rover in Broxburn with another apprentice and some screwdrivers to take the boards off the windows when Arnie bought it. It was a sunny Friday afternoon and after discovering you didnt need to take every screw out before tearing the boards off we spent a couple of hours sniffing about inside. Pretty sure I still have some BL/Rover workshop manuals etc. at my Mum and Dads!

I remember it being McLaren, then Lex. Arnies opened it as a McHargs first. Last time I passed it it was Arnies and sold Seat too.

 

Kerr and Smith sold off their Ayr Vauxhall branch to fund a new commercial garage in Ayr but it didnt work out so they sold it to Imperial (I think). They pretty much skint themselves building it so needed a return on it quickly, which didnt happen. Kerr and Smith started in the late sixties and moved to their current Cumnock garage in 1978. As well as the Vauxhall/Iveco garage they have a commercial bodyshop in Cumnock. As someone who is used to working on cars it is pretty impressive seeing an artic tractor unit masked off with a guy on a step ladder painting it!

Jimmy Smith is the Dad who likes his old trucks. The stores had loads of spares for old Bedfords because we had a few Bedford recovery trucks and some of the open cast mines still used them. Jimmy had some Stonefields at the back of the garage. Locally made 4x4 things.

Chester, the older brother used to run the Ayr garage, Wullie ran the Cumnock Vauxhall one and Paul Kerr ran the recovery side of things.

They were a decent company to work for but the car workshops were a shitehole!

[Hendry]

As a 4th year apprentice with Arnies nearby I was posted to Lex Rover in Broxburn with another apprentice and some screwdrivers to take the boards off the windows when Arnie bought it. It was a sunny Friday afternoon and after discovering you didnt need to take every screw out before tearing the boards off we spent a couple of hours sniffing about inside. Pretty sure I still have some BL/Rover workshop manuals etc. at my Mum and Dads!

I remember it being McLaren, then Lex. Arnies opened it as a McHargs first. Last time I passed it it was Arnies and sold Seat too.

 

Kerr and Smith sold off their Ayr Vauxhall branch to fund a new commercial garage in Ayr but it didnt work out so they sold it to Imperial (I think). They pretty much skint themselves building it so needed a return on it quickly, which didnt happen. Kerr and Smith started in the late sixties and moved to their current Cumnock garage in 1978. As well as the Vauxhall/Iveco garage they have a commercial bodyshop in Cumnock. As someone who is used to working on cars it is pretty impressive seeing an artic tractor unit masked off with a guy on a step ladder painting it!

Jimmy Smith is the Dad who likes his old trucks. The stores had loads of spares for old Bedfords because we had a few Bedford recovery trucks and some of the open cast mines still used them. Jimmy had some Stonefields at the back of the garage. Locally made 4x4 things.

Chester, the older brother used to run the Ayr garage, Wullie ran the Cumnock Vauxhall one and Paul Kerr ran the recovery side of things.

They were a decent company to work for but the car workshops were a shitehole!

 

Aye Arnie opened it as a Machargs thats right, was a Fiat and Rover dealership, when Rover went it was just Fiat for around 10 years, I think Seat is just a recent addition as Arnie has Seat at Seafield in Edinburgh and the other Edinburgh Seat dealer which was Western at Colinton Road and also did Alfa Romeo, Suzuki and Seat closed down and was earmarked for flats to Broxburn took on Seat to cover the side of Edinburgh left vacant with the closure of Western at Colinton. I think it changed to Arnold Clark in about 2006 as did the Nissan dealership at Royston Road in Glasgow which was also called Machargs (formerly Prossers Rover) when Arnie relocated the main Machargs from Castlebank Street in Glasgow to the 3 storey building at South Street and that was the only one to retain the Machargs name, it too changed to Arnold Clark in 2015 and the Machargs name is gone totally now. 

 

Speaking of Arnies Vauxhall Dundee, there are plans in to do something with their vehicle compound situated between where the showroom is and where the separate standalone service department/workshop is, and theyve acquired land directly opposite the showroom to make into a used car display forecourt. 

 

Im sure it is Imperial Commercial who bought K&S Ayr commercial workshop, Im sure K&S officially went into business in 1975, I think they still have a heritage fleet of old recovery wagons that are sometimes seen at shows etc. and they had a Fiat Professional commercials franchise for a while, they sorta ran the other Iveco dealers Mackinnon and Forbes in Paisley and Calderbank Motors in Airdrie through being the main Iveco distributor in the area through the Baillieston branch, they were listed as satellite branches on their website for a while but not any more. Have seen inside the Ayr Vauxhall workshop thats largely unchanged except the ramps have all been removed and it didnt look too bad, certainly no worse than a lot of main dealer workshops ive seen. Their former site is a bit wasted on just Hire Drive, which previously had a small section of the premises at the Ayr Honda, now Vauxhall dealership further along Prestwick Road. I think if a suitable franchise comes up it might go in there tbh as the site is too big for just renting cars from. Or perhaps the bodyshop from their Ford branch across the road could go in there to ease the space issues at Ford. 

 

Id heard when K&S were awarded the Ayr Vauxhall franchise and moved into the former Bass Rock premises they just rented the branch from Bass Rock who still owned the freehold, although no doubt with it being Arnie they will have now acquired that as they dont really do leased premises.

 

I photographed a mint G reg Calibra I put photos on here of which was new from K&S Cumnock with even Bedford tags on the plates which I found in the service parking of AC Ayr Vauxhall. 

 

Speaking of Ayrshire Vauxhall Opel dealers and in keeping with the thread, ive done some digging and it appears there were no less than 3 dealers in Kilmarnock at one time, J & W Scott on Grange Street, Grange Motors on Wellington Street (youd think they wouldve been the Grange Street one going by the name) and Wellington Motors (dont know where they were but you wouldve imagined Wellington Street where Grange Motors were going by the name) 

[sierraman]

I bet the 2.3 Diesel Auto Rekord diesel was err... leisurely...

[Zantimisfit]

The Railway pub is still there....thats the main thing

 

 

......no its not. It closed. B******s

[delux]

Aye Arnie opened it as a Machargs thats right, was a Fiat and Rover dealership, when Rover went it was just Fiat for around 10 years, I think Seat is just a recent addition as Arnie has Seat at Seafield in Edinburgh and the other Edinburgh Seat dealer which was Western at Colinton Road and also did Alfa Romeo, Suzuki and Seat closed down and was earmarked for flats to Broxburn took on Seat to cover the side of Edinburgh left vacant with the closure of Western at Colinton. I think it changed to Arnold Clark in about 2006 as did the Nissan dealership at Royston Road in Glasgow which was also called Machargs (formerly Prossers Rover) when Arnie relocated the main Machargs from Castlebank Street in Glasgow to the 3 storey building at South Street and that was the only one to retain the Machargs name, it too changed to Arnold Clark in 2015 and the Machargs name is gone totally now. 

 

Speaking of Arnies Vauxhall Dundee, there are plans in to do something with their vehicle compound situated between where the showroom is and where the separate standalone service department/workshop is, and theyve acquired land directly opposite the showroom to make into a used car display forecourt. 

 

Im sure it is Imperial Commercial who bought K&S Ayr commercial workshop, Im sure K&S officially went into business in 1975, I think they still have a heritage fleet of old recovery wagons that are sometimes seen at shows etc. and they had a Fiat Professional commercials franchise for a while, they sorta ran the other Iveco dealers Mackinnon and Forbes in Paisley and Calderbank Motors in Airdrie through being the main Iveco distributor in the area through the Baillieston branch, they were listed as satellite branches on their website for a while but not any more. Have seen inside the Ayr Vauxhall workshop thats largely unchanged except the ramps have all been removed and it didnt look too bad, certainly no worse than a lot of main dealer workshops ive seen. Their former site is a bit wasted on just Hire Drive, which previously had a small section of the premises at the Ayr Honda, now Vauxhall dealership further along Prestwick Road. I think if a suitable franchise comes up it might go in there tbh as the site is too big for just renting cars from. Or perhaps the bodyshop from their Ford branch across the road could go in there to ease the space issues at Ford. 

 

Id heard when K&S were awarded the Ayr Vauxhall franchise and moved into the former Bass Rock premises they just rented the branch from Bass Rock who still owned the freehold, although no doubt with it being Arnie they will have now acquired that as they dont really do leased premises.

 

I photographed a mint G reg Calibra I put photos on here of which was new from K&S Cumnock with even Bedford tags on the plates which I found in the service parking of AC Ayr Vauxhall. 

 

Speaking of Ayrshire Vauxhall Opel dealers and in keeping with the thread, ive done some digging and it appears there were no less than 3 dealers in Kilmarnock at one time, J & W Scott on Grange Street, Grange Motors on Wellington Street (youd think they wouldve been the Grange Street one going by the name) and Wellington Motors (dont know where they were but you wouldve imagined Wellington Street where Grange Motors were going by the name) 

 

 

 

LOL, Yeah, worked with Western in Colinton too!

I left when Suzuki withdrew their franchise. They lost it because they didnt meet sales targets and wouldnt bring the workshop up to Suzukis requirements. The place was a bit run down because it had been sold before they took on Suzuki. We used to look after SAABs from the Western SAAB dealership that had been turned into flats so I was allowed to carry my Vauxhall training over to SAAB. I usually got landed with rotten old SAABS cos Suzukis only ever came in for servicing!

The plan (sorry, bit off topic!) was VW would move from its former Gorgie road branch to Newbridge 1st (because Western own Newbridge, Gorgie road was still owned by the Sloan family). Then Nissan/Mazda would move to Sighthill on land next to West End Skoda. Seat and Alfa would then move to the Nissan and Mazda showrooms and workshops.

Planning permission for Colinton was declined, the new garage deal in Sighthill fell thru and Nissan were putting pressure on for a dealership with the workshop and showroom in the same building!

A new plan was drawn up to build a new Nissan and Mazda dealership at Newbridge on land intended for a big warehouse type Car deal warehouse. CDW was shoved to the back of the Newbridge development.

Seat didnt make any money anyway and the pressure was on from Arnies in Seafield as you mentioned so when the agreement with Alfa was up for review they shut the garage and paid most people off. The good guys were shifted to Newbridge. 

 

Kerr and Smith may have existed as Kerr and Smith since 1975 but the family have run garages in Cumnock since the 1950s. Before their present Cumnock location the current MDs grand dad built the garage on Glaisnock street (going up the hill towards New Cumnock etc.) as a petrol station/garage. There is a small garage still there. The petrol station is still operated by some sort of Smith relative.

 

I've got pics on my phone of their 1963 Bedford recovery truck. Had to work late on it one Christmas because it was used to pull the round tables santa sleigh and no-one else knew how to set points! LOL! (Its a petrol!) I dont have any sort of photohosting though so if someone wanted to PM me their email address I can email them and they could post them.

 

Finally, Arnie in Dundee. When I worked there the valet bay was between the showroom and workshop where City quay cars is now. They sold off the fruit market (where Kevin Pirie is now) and Arnies lost their valet bay. I know they use storage further along Dock street (near the transport museum) to store cars. Perhaps they have done some deal with West End Honda/Suzuki because they own City quay cars?

 

Does anyone remember Woods of West Calder? Still a Vauxhall dealership (Arnies). I rememeber there was a Manta 400 (the Andrews heat for hire) one parked outside frequently when I was young.

[Hendry]

LOL, Yeah, worked with Western in Colinton too!

I left when Suzuki withdrew their franchise. They lost it because they didnt meet sales targets and wouldnt bring the workshop up to Suzukis requirements. The place was a bit run down because it had been sold before they took on Suzuki. We used to look after SAABs from the Western SAAB dealership that had been turned into flats so I was allowed to carry my Vauxhall training over to SAAB. I usually got landed with rotten old SAABS cos Suzukis only ever came in for servicing!

The plan (sorry, bit off topic!) was VW would move from its former Gorgie road branch to Newbridge 1st (because Western own Newbridge, Gorgie road was still owned by the Sloan family). Then Nissan/Mazda would move to Sighthill on land next to West End Skoda. Seat and Alfa would then move to the Nissan and Mazda showrooms and workshops.

Planning permission for Colinton was declined, the new garage deal in Sighthill fell thru and Nissan were putting pressure on for a dealership with the workshop and showroom in the same building!

A new plan was drawn up to build a new Nissan and Mazda dealership at Newbridge on land intended for a big warehouse type Car deal warehouse. CDW was shoved to the back of the Newbridge development.

Seat didnt make any money anyway and the pressure was on from Arnies in Seafield as you mentioned so when the agreement with Alfa was up for review they shut the garage and paid most people off. The good guys were shifted to Newbridge.

 

Kerr and Smith may have existed as Kerr and Smith since 1975 but the family have run garages in Cumnock since the 1950s. Before their present Cumnock location the current MDs grand dad built the garage on Glaisnock street (going up the hill towards New Cumnock etc.) as a petrol station/garage. There is a small garage still there. The petrol station is still operated by some sort of Smith relative.

 

I've got pics on my phone of their 1963 Bedford recovery truck. Had to work late on it one Christmas because it was used to pull the round tables santa sleigh and no-one else knew how to set points! LOL! (Its a petrol!) I dont have any sort of photohosting though so if someone wanted to PM me their email address I can email them and they could post them.

 

Finally, Arnie in Dundee. When I worked there the valet bay was between the showroom and workshop where City quay cars is now. They sold off the fruit market (where Kevin Pirie is now) and Arnies lost their valet bay. I know they use storage further along Dock street (near the transport museum) to store cars. Perhaps they have done some deal with West End Honda/Suzuki because they own City quay cars?

 

Does anyone remember Woods of West Calder? Still a Vauxhall dealership (Arnies). I rememeber there was a Manta 400 (the Andrews heat for hire) one parked outside frequently when I was young.

I'd heard Western binned off Suzuki and Seat because they decided to get rid of all franchises they couldn't get scale with, because they also sold off their Seat dealership in Newcastle to Arnies.

 

I'd also heard the plan for Sighthill where Western Toyota used to be before it went to Newbridge and was Nissan used car sales when Nissan and Mazda new sales was at Corstoprhine and after sales was at Gorgie, was that Alfa was going there in a joint Jeep/Alfa showroom. However its possible if the Gorgie VW land was still owned by Sloans that so was the Sighthill dealership because I think it had originally been Sloan Honda at a time when Toyota was at the big Abercromby site at Seafield before they became defunct and Arnie took over that site, 

 

The writing was on the wall for Alfa and Western when they closed their Perth branch and their satellite Alfa branch in Glasgow where Saab/Lexus was/is got canned, mainly owing to Lexus relocating in Glasgow from Kennedy Street (originally Murray Volvo, then became Western Lexus when Arnie lost the Lexus franchise in Glasgow, and is now an Evans Halshaw Carstore) to the former Western Saab place at West Street.

 

I remember Western Saab at Balcarres Street in Edinburgh which as you say was sales only, im sure originally Colinton was Saab sales too plus covered aftersales for both branches and Seat only came in after Saab bit the dust.

 

Quite surprising that they couldnt meet Suzuki sales targets which I dont imagine wouldve been that high, especially with them being the only Suzuki dealer in a place the size of Edinburgh (I think Belmont/Murray at Sighthill was Suzuki before this and gave it up/lost it, Western got it, and then after Western closed it went back to Belmont/Murray once again, not 100% though) 

 

Im not sure they actually "sold" sold the Colinton site, Im sure the ownership just transferred to another Eastern Western company, Eastern Western Properties or something, because the plan to build flats on the site was submitted by a company with a name sounding like it was an associate or sister company of Eastern Western Motor Group. 

 

I think EWMG still own the old Corstorphine site which was originally Eastern BMW and then became Nissan/Mazda when BMW went to Newbridge, they just lease it to a company called Leven Car Co who were set up by a guy called Hugh McMahon who took over Appleyard Audi in Glasgow, renamed it Lomond Audi, ended up relocating to Braehead as Glasgow Audi and then took over the Audi dealerships in Edinburgh, Stirling and Ayr before selling the whole lot to Lookers in 2012, he then bought over John Martins Murray Motor Co Rolls Royce and Aston Martin, they moved Rolls to Corstorphine so they could enlarge the Aston Martin dealership into the site vacated by Rolls and now Corstorphine as i said is Rolls in the lower showroom and the upper is like exotica/supercars. 

 

CDW just moved into a large new build showroom at Newbridge and the old CDW next to VW is now GTi World or something. I must say CDW looks like the sort of place youd like to buy a car from if you were buying from a dealership, I follow them on facebook and they seem very friendly and customer orientated and supposedly have the cheapest equivalent cars in the UK. 

 

The only garage I knew of on Glaisnock Street in Cumnock was Central Garage who were a Ford dealer up until the mid 80s and then changed to Renault and then latterly just used cars, and they went a few years back. Ford went to Cumnocks Rover dealer JK Thomson who were Ford until June there and had their franchise entirely removed for not selling enough new cars. Sad day! 

 

Arnies in Dundee, the storage for cars you mention is the bit I mean, theyve got plans in to resurface and change the layout of their storage compound, their service department is even further along Dock Street now, if thats not where it always was, but theyve also put in plans to have a used car forecourt literally across the road from the showroom, looks to be where a building called "Langlands & McAinsh" is/was. 

 

As for Woods, this is a bit contrived but months before it happened there was rumours of them being stripped of the franchise as it was going to Arnies at Livingston, who were a Nissan dealership before the Arnie/Nissan fallout happened, seemingly Arnie went to Vauxhall and asked for the franchise because their Livingston branch was now without franchise, Woods Vauxhall franchise was also up for renewal, Vauxhall wanted Woods to spend something like £250,000 on upgrading their premises, what then happened was Woods agreed to it but were told by Vauxhall this would only guarantee them the franchise for a further year and not the 5 they were originally told, they told Vauxhall to bugger off, Arnie got the Vauxhall franchise in Livingston, Woods were in discussion with other manufacturers over a new franchise when Arnie then went and bought over Woods anyway, and Woods ended up remaining Vauxhall anyway just under the Arnold Clark banner, however it dropped from a full dealership down to aftersales only, seemingly now just a "service satellite" of the Livingston branch, however Arnie hasnt spent any money at West Calder but has had new Vauxhall signage put on so it looks like a full Vauxhall sales dealer still, has refurbished the showroom to latest Vauxhall CI, has brand new stuff in the showroom, and can sell new cars, and ACs website bills it as a full Vauxhall dealership but both Vauxhall websites dealer locators only list it as service and parts, warranty, workshop, but generally when that happens all the sales signage gets removed and you get 1 wall mounted sign and 1 totem sign saying "Vauxhall service & parts" so its clear its just a service centre, but to look at West Calder youd think it was a full dealer. Arnie has form for that though, theres a few of his branches that are just service and parts outlets for a particular manufacturer but their website bills it as a full dealership with new car sales and to look at the premises with all the signs and the showroom done to manufacturer CI with brand new cars inside youd mistake it for a full sales dealer, the only giveaway is looking at the manufacturers own site, Milngavie Vauxhall, Bearsden Renault, Helensburgh VW (its not even an authorised service, warranty and parts dealer, its not affiliated to VW officially in any way) and Greenock VW are examples of this. One of the guys whos family owned the Woods dealership still works there as a salesman, Dave Dempsey, used to write pieces for Total Vauxhall magazine and has had numerous of his own personal cars featured in the mag. 

 

Theres a few places id love to see pics of back in the day, Lows Vauxhall Opel on Holmbank Avenue Shawlands, Queens Vauxhall Pollokshaws Road before it was Arnie owned and the service department wasnt across the road and down a bit in with ACs old head office, And Peat Road Motors, it was Lada and Vauxhall/Opel at the same time, despite being a tiny site, doubt it changed much in the whole time Arnie owned it either after PRM went belly up because it was dated in 2000 when Proton Arnold Clark when my dad bought a car there, nor in 2007 when it was Renault Arnold Clark when I bought a car there. Or any of the various Kilmarnock Vauxhall dealers, particularly J&W Scott, or AFG/Caledonia/Reg Vardy on Dean Street before moving to Queens Drive. Supposedly it was a Renault Arnies branch in the 80s before for whatever reason Arnie shut it down.