Old Dealerships, Dealer Items.

[Hendry]

As alluded to in my post about old Vauxhall/Opel dealerships, for those of you who read it, I said id put up a post about one of my other main interests which aside from shite old cars, and shit modern cars is the motor trade industry, particularly main dealerships, its been commented before by various people that I should go on Mastermind with a specialist subject of "Old Scottish Car Dealerships 1980 - Present" such is my wealth of useless knowledge on this subject, but anyway it fascinates me, and I suspect due to the interest in original period dealer items on cars on here and quite a few people whove had such things reproduced there may be an interest in this kind of thing on here, and may spark up an interesting discussion and maybe even ill find out the small titbits of information I don't already know on this subject.

 

My interest came mainly from remembering old dealerships in the days when Arnold Clark, Evans Halshaw, Lookers and Parks were relatively small, I began photographing old cars with ther original dealer stuff on, there was quite a few people on flickr who also do similar, ive participated in topics reminiscing about various old dealerships in Scotland from the 60s/70s onwards, and then got chatting to a guy from flickr who lives near me who is interested in the same things, mainly because he was on the lookout for rare Ford dealer items from the dealers who sold his 3 old Fords new in order to have them reproduced, and between us we started taking pictures of anything old and interesting, and from there we started a collection between us of old dealer items from dealers in the Glasgow, Ayrshire, Renfrewshire and Lanarkshire areas of Scotland, plus my pal has quite an interest in Merseyside stuff, particularly Ford and also Dumfries and Galloway so I thought id share some pics of my own collection and some interesting pieces from other people I know.

 

Verve Kilmarnock by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Lindsay's of Dumbarton by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Clanford of Paisley by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Kerr Baillie MG Rover, Pier Garage Harbour Street, Ardrossan 2002 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Watson of Airdrie Vauxhall by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Wylies Keyring by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Wylies Ford Darnley by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Fiat Fiorino 1.4 Base Cube Van by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Garnock Valley Ford by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Clanford of Paisley Keyring by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Dalry Motor Company Citroen by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Reproduction Robert Wyper Sticker by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Blair & Gray (Kilmarnock) Ltd KA3 1RL by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Robert Wyper (Motors) LTD by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1240 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Verve VW by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Parkhall Garage Toyota by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Low's Garage by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Shields Mazda by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Hytec Hyundai by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Arnold Clark Mazda Stirling by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Bickets Mazda Kilmarnock by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1359 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

[Hendry]

IMG_1360 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1361 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1543 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1545 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1546 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1547 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1548 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1549 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1552 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1768 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1769 (1) by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1775 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1743 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1745 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1748 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1755 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Goudies of Paisley Peugeot Talbot by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

St Andrews Skoda by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Arnold Clark branch directory late 1999 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1836 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1835 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1834 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1833 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1832 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1831 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1830 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1829 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1828 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1827 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Taggarts Jaguar Cathcart by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1805 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1796 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

[Hendry]

IMG_1795 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1787 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

[Hendry]

Whitecraigs by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1784 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Vardy Continental by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1781 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1777 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_1776 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Dalblair of Ayr - 1998 by CUL197Vinnie, on Flickr

 

South West Scotland dealer stickers by CUL197Vinnie, on Flickr

 

Tax disc holder collection by CUL197Vinnie, on Flickr

 

GK Group, Dumfries & Stranraer's home of Ford 2002 - 2009! by CUL197Vinnie, on Flickr

 

MaConochies of Kilmarnock! by CUL197Vinnie, on Flickr

 

2000 AA Tax disc wallet from Clark of Kilbirnie Escort by CUL197Vinnie, on Flickr

 

2000 Ford Escort Finesse, W242 ACS by CUL197Vinnie, on Flickr

 

Strathford "Simply the best!" - 1999 by CUL197Vinnie, on Flickr

 

1998 Dalblair of Ayr dealer sticker! by CUL197Vinnie, on Flickr

 

Peoples of Paisley dealer sticker by CUL197Vinnie, on Flickr

 

Clanford of Paisley dealer sticker by CUL197Vinnie, on Flickr

 

Strathford dealer sticker 1999 / 2000 by CUL197Vinnie, on Flickr

 

There is also a collection of old dealer newspaper adverts from the 1980s on my FlickR if you fancy a gander.

[Hendry]

Should also add me and my pal managed to acquire what may be the last Ford dealer stickers brand new unused for the Ford dealer W&J Duncan Rothesay Isle of Bute, and we did secure the last ever Ford dealer stickers for J K Thomson & Sons of Cumnock who lost their Ford franchise in its entirety last month and is now just a used car sales place.

 

If anyone knows of or sees ANY car with any Strathford of Kilmarnock dealer items on it as per my photos or also any car with Dalblair of Ayr Ford items on it at all, even if its just 1 number plate and nothing else, or just the tax disc holder, could you let me know?

[carlo]

Fantastic stuff!  Now if you could just find me a tax disc holder and rear window sticker for Hortons of Watford Peugeot (long gone) I'd be well chuffed.

[Junkman]

[Spottedlaurel]

/\ A sad photo, knowing why it was taken. Presumably fixed now?

 

I don't actively collect physical stuff to do with old dealerships, but I do look out for old stickers and tags to photograph and it's good if I can tally them up with a photo of the premises (modern day or a period shot) and/or an old advert.

 

It's all about context.

[Hendry]

Part of the reason I put this up was not only because I thought a lot of you might like to see it, but I mentioned it in another topic and shumarialto expressed that he was really interested in the sound of it so felt maybe others would too, and seeing certain dealer names might recall memories, stories, tales or recollections of these places, where they were, what the premises were like, what they were like to deal with, what cars you had from there and so on. 

 

Because i really do enjoy no conversation more than recollections of cars, dealers, showrooms, sales stories and so on from the 80s and 90s. 

[Hendry]

Fantastic stuff!  Now if you could just find me a tax disc holder and rear window sticker for Hortons of Watford Peugeot (long gone) I'd be well chuffed.

 

Getting you one may be a tall order but im sure we could probably unearth a photo of a car with them fitted somewhere to allow you to get reproduction ones made? 

[carlo]

Getting you one may be a tall order but im sure we could probably unearth a photo of a car with them fitted somewhere to allow you to get reproduction ones made? 

 

I've already made plates up from a photo but have yet to find a decent image of the tax disc holder/rear window sticker

[Junkman]

/\ A sad photo, knowing why it was taken. Presumably fixed now?

 

 

Yeah, all fixed now. Sans sticker, of course.

[MorrisItalSLX]

Interested in international dealerships?

 

WIN_20161014_173512 by MorrisItalSLX, on Flickr

[Lord Sterling]

Hey, have you got any spare purlle and gold Reg Vardy stickers laying about? I just peeled the last remaining part of the one on Ma's Micra as it was peeling and breaking itself off the window.

 

My KV6 Rover Sterling came from Shields Rover in Glasgow, it doesn't have the dealer sticker or plates but does have the business card which I've got a shot of somewhere.

[mercrocker]

This has the hallmarks of becoming an excellent thread 

[oldcars]

Fantastic stuff!  Now if you could just find me a tax disc holder and rear window sticker for Hortons of Watford Peugeot (long gone) I'd be well chuffed.

If you can find even just a photo of there dealer sticker then DMB can make one up for you, and plates.

[oldcars]

Hendry, great thread think this is going to be a good one. Cheers for posting it up.

[oldcars]

The plate from my Shuma, Fairfield garage Dundee. Kia dealer until they went bust. From memory the owner lost a lot of money in some high end car scam.

[cpjitservices]

Anybody remember (not rally a dealership more parts dept) Edmunds Walker. ?

 

My old man worked there, Was manager at Halifax for quite some time, and Carlisle I believe. I remember as a kid going to work with him and I would read through the parts 'Catalogues'. Though, they where more a fairly thick, dark blue ring binder. Until recently, used to see a few trucks with Number plates with Edmunds Walker stamped on the bottom.

[Spottedlaurel]

Having looked through my Flickr album of nearly 400 sticker/tag photos for anything of Scottish content, I can only find these:

 

Douglas Cameron Perth Porsche dealer sticker by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

 

Which was seen on a 1984 911, and…..

 

C.H. Bull & Sons, Bridge of Weir Rover dealer sticker by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

 

On a 620.

[Hendry]

Hey, have you got any spare purlle and gold Reg Vardy stickers laying about? I just peeled the last remaining part of the one on Ma's Micra as it was peeling and breaking itself off the window.

 

My KV6 Rover Sterling came from Shields Rover in Glasgow, it doesn't have the dealer sticker or plates but does have the business card which I've got a shot of somewhere.

We have a couple mate but they aren't the best of conditions as the newest ones are now 11 years old, however if I find a good one I'll keep it aside for you, my mate also has a mint Reg Vardy burgundy and gold tax disc holder, mint keyrings, and some copies of some Reg Vardy logo plates.

 

I could probably get you a Shields sticker for your 800 if it's any use, a lot of cars Shields sold are now coming into breakers, I can also supply photos of Shields number plates if you want to get reproductions made, the only thing I may struggle to find is a Shields Rover tax disc holder, as Shields put the manufacturer logo of whichever brand sold a car on them so we do have a few but they are Shields Ford, Shields Mazda etc.

 

Shumarialto, I believe Arnold Clark may have killed off Fairfield Garage because although they didn't directly take them over, they were awarded the Dundee Kia franchise, and Fairfield were stripped of it and closed down after that. I still remember a photo of their showroom with a yellow TVR in the middle of the showroom with brand new Kia's surrounding it.

 

The plan me and my pal have is to have a full set of plates, tax disc holder and rear window sticker and even keyring for every old Scottish dealership as a reference point if anyone wants anything like that made up. We have even thought of doing something similar to DMB and producing repros, which we would need to be sure it was going to make us even enough money to cover overheads before doing it, not only that but actually having originals to copy from and not just photos of originals we are confident of their accuracy. DMB do some excellent work but need to rely on photos, and not only that but me and my pal are OCD so we can spot minor differences between and real one and a repro straight away while others wouldn't notice.

 

The other point is that we actually enjoy finding old cars, getting these bits from them, it's a challenge, it's kinda all in the acquisition for us, tracking down something rare and hard to find.

 

Unfortunately the things we do desperately want to find are the things alluding us at the moment, original sticker and tax disc holder from Strathford Kilmarnock, tax disc holder for Dalblair or Ayr, tax disc holder for Clanford Paisley, and sticker and tax disc holder for Wylies Ford Glasgow. As you've probably guessed our main interest is Ford dealers as we grew up with Fords.

 

Most breakers are really good and let us roam and take what we want for a nominal fee as it's otherwise getting crushed with the car and no use to anyone else, other breakers are arsey, but they are the arsey sorts who have parts on the shelf or remove the parts for you anyway and don't let anyone roam free. Kinda spoils it when we know we could probably find a treasure trove of stuff in these places.

 

While in the subject, avoid Birnam Salvage Blantyre Farm Road Uddingston near Glasgow, they basically told me I was wasting their time and to come back with a written detailed list of what I needed so he could price it all up before he removed it, none of this stripping the bits you want which you might not realise you need until you're removing another part and maybe think "oh that bits in better nick than the one in my car, I'll take that" and then going to the window with a price. Utter arseholes!! Shame because their yard had about 600cars, all models and ages, I daresay if there was a part you needed that they didn't have then no yard would have it.

[Lord Sterling]

We have a couple mate but they aren't the best of conditions as the newest ones are now 11 years old, however if I find a good one I'll keep it aside for you, my mate also has a mint Reg Vardy burgundy and gold tax disc holder, mint keyrings, and some copies of some Reg Vardy logo plates.

I could probably get you a Shields sticker for your 800 if it's any use, a lot of cars Shields sold are now coming into breakers, I can also supply photos of Shields number plates if you want to get reproductions made, the only thing I may struggle to find is a Shields Rover tax disc holder, as Shields put the manufacturer logo of whichever brand sold a car on them so we do have a few but they are Shields Ford, Shields Mazda etc.

Yeah, that might be an idea. Cheers man. Yes any Reg Vardy sticker will do as long as it's still fairly in colour and I can stick it back in the window. I was thinking of approaching DMB as the Micra needs an original front plate (amongst other things).

[Hendry]

My pal and I just found out another 2 small Scottish dealerships have bitten the dust, sad times.

 

Ardneil Garage of Troon, established 1955, and BL dealers until 1980 and then Daihatsu from then right through till 2011/2012 when they exited the UK have completely closed down.

 

J K Thomson & Sons of Cumnock, long established garage which had held the Ford franchise since around 1983, and also were Rover dealers for years upon years until around 2000, have been stripped of their Ford franchise for suddenly apparently not selling enough new cars, however they havent just lost Ford new car sales, theyve lost everything, Ford approved service agent/authorised repairer so now Service, Repairs, Warranty, Parts for Ford at all now. 

 

Very sad times as these were the typical friendly local family owned excellent customer service places, we managed to get the last 4 Ford branded rear window stickers from Thomsons as theyve now had to change the design to remove the Ford logo, we are also hopefully going to acquire their Ford oval signs.

 

We also visited another sadly now no longer Ford dealership in Girvan, Ayrshire, called Old Street Garage, Established in the 1930s and Ford right up until the late 2000s, one man band owner who has a cracking selection of old chod in his back compound which we hope to acquire the old dealer items from. He too has a 1990s Ford sign still on the back wall, and a selection of his own old tax disc holders, dealer stickers still with Ford logo dated from the late 80s as he bought around 1000 of them and never sold that many cars, and also has a pile of brand new Dalblair of Ayr Ford keyrings from pre-early 1990s with an 0292 instead of 01292 area code, being as a retail dealer in South Ayrshire they sourced all their cars via Dalblair who were the main dealer in Ayr. 

 

This garage also has a genuine original 1 owner Ford Capri sold new by Maconochies of Kilmarnock Ford, D188NCS, in his showroom, he wants around £3000 for it. 

[Felly Magic]

My old works van, down in Suffolk, but supplied by Benfield Ford Leeds, who must have had the lowest tender for vans in the fleet at the time for Iceland 

 

 

Hayes of Clacton, who supplied my Favorit new, and also My Felicia sported Hayes dealer plates and sticker

 

 

Favorit keyring

 

 

Felicia dealer plate

 

 

BennyJP's Riva plate 

 

 

Lada Centre Holbeck decal, mum's 1200L came from this dealer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Billy - Medhurst]

My old works van, down in Suffolk, but supplied by Benfield Ford Leeds, who must have had the lowest tender for vans in the fleet at the time for Iceland 

 

Benfield.JPG

 

 

DECEMBER 2003 ROVER STREETWISE SE TD 1994cc KV53RZB by JOHN, on Flickr

[Guest Hooli]

Somewhere (if they haven't been lost) I've got all the all 2x3ft wall posters for lube points, service items etc etc for Austin 1100s etc. I hope to get them back from where I think they are stored once I move house.

[Billy - Medhurst]

1976 FORD ESCORT MK2 1834cc RS 1800 ORM18R by JOHN, on Flickr

DEALERS DECAL / STICKER CORDINERS GARAGE FORD - HARBOUR ROAD INVERNESS TEL 38001 by JOHN, on Flickr

CIRCA 1977 - CAR DEALERS STICKER CORRIES BRITISH LEYLAND DUMFRIES by JOHN, on Flickr

[Timewaster]

Anybody remember (not rally a dealership more parts dept) Edmunds Walker. ?

 

My old man worked there, Was manager at Halifax for quite some time, and Carlisle I believe. I remember as a kid going to work with him and I would read through the parts 'Catalogues'. Though, they where more a fairly thick, dark blue ring binder. Until recently, used to see a few trucks with Number plates with Edmunds Walker stamped on the bottom.

Yes I remember. The local "Eddie Walker" closed and the place I worked kind of took up the position as town motor factor having been a fluffy dice and seat covers sort of place.

[Hendry]

My old works van, down in Suffolk, but supplied by Benfield Ford Leeds, who must have had the lowest tender for vans in the fleet at the time for Iceland 

 

Benfield.JPG

 

Hayes of Clacton, who supplied my Favorit new, and also My Felicia sported Hayes dealer plates and sticker

 

Hayes sticker.JPG

 

Favorit keyring

 

Favorit keys.JPG

 

Felicia dealer plate

 

Felicia reg plate.JPG

 

BennyJP's Riva plate 

 

Lada Riva reg plate.jpg

 

Lada Centre Holbeck decal, mum's 1200L came from this dealer

 

Lada centre decal.jpg

 

I remember when Iceland ran fleets of Merc Sprinters as their home delivery vans, i remember a lot of the local ones had Sprinters supplied by "Enza Motors Mercedes Benz".

 

1976 FORD ESCORT MK2 1834cc RS 1800 ORM18R by JOHN, on Flickr

DEALERS DECAL / STICKER CORDINERS GARAGE FORD - HARBOUR ROAD INVERNESS TEL 38001 by JOHN, on Flickr

CIRCA 1977 - CAR DEALERS STICKER CORRIES BRITISH LEYLAND DUMFRIES by JOHN, on Flickr

 

Bloody hell that County Garage one is a relic, im sure their Lanark branch later moved to Carluke, and they ended up with a few more branches as ive seen later stickers and so on with more branches on it. Sadly I think CG Ford ended up taken over by GK Group who themselves sold off 4 branches to Arnold Clark (Carlisle, Dumfries, Penrith, Workington), 1 to Border Cars (Stranraer) and the rest to Perrys (Chesterfield area, Mansfield, Alfreton, Workshop, Sheffield)

[Felly Magic]

Iceland are back on Mercs and they seem to have head office area issue plates. They've also gone back to standard panel vans with chiller conversions, not the Solomon coachbuilts as well.

 

My old Fiesta Ghia (R476KNR) sported GK Motors plates, dealer sticker and tax disc holder.

 

Barker's Motor Group of Malton in the late 90's expanded rapidly, with dealers in South Milford (Citroen, Skoda, then Kia), Malton (Peugeot) Hull & Grimsby. The Hull & Grimsby ops were sold off when they started to struggle with the loss of franchises in South Milford, and now just have Malton left as a used car business after a major financial meltdown in 2008, the Citroen dealer in South Milford was bulldozed and is now a BP petrol station, and the former Skoda & Kia south Milford site was demolished and was empty overgrown lot last time I saw, shame, as the dealer there wasn't too bad. I think they got up every Skoda dealer in the north of England's noses when they bought 50 identical Felicia cube vans, pre reg'd em, and knocked em out at over £2k below list, I think that was the start of the end of their relationship with Skoda, as the powerful DM Keith empire spat their dummies out, Barkers Skoda Sth Milford closed in September 2001, 3 weeks after I bought a brand new Fabia from them. My works van was one of those pre reg'd jobs, and in March 98 mum bought a Felicia from them, a few months after I bought my N reg example.