FAO West of Scotland Shiters.

[Hendry]

Mate has a mk6 Escort and a smiley Transit hes restoring, and yes i do mean pretty much concourse jobs as hes even more anal than me, even down to not fitting parts from a car built the same month as his because the date markings on it wouldnt be correct. Now part of this is getting period correct original supplying dealer stuff for them, luckily managed to find most stuff, but we are trying to find out more information if anyone older remembers the dealers, had any dealings with them and can tell us anymore about them.

 

- Dalblair of Ayr

- Strathford of Kilmarnock (I believe they also had Ford branches in Dumbarton and East Kilbride which are now an Arnold Clark Renault and an Evans Halshaw Ford)

 

Both dealers are now surprise surprise Arnie Shark and have been since 2000.

 

1999 Ford Transit 80, V425OCS by CUL197Vinnie, on Flickr

 

IMG_2724 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_2716 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

IMG_2715 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

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

 

Dalblair of Ayr - 1998 by CUL197Vinnie, on Flickr

 

1998 Ford Escort Finesse - R654 XSD by CUL197Vinnie, on Flickr

 

[Eddie Honda]

Re: Strathford - I used to go to school with Vicky (daughter of Tom). I see that he sadly passed away just over a year ago. https://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-tom-inglis-motor-trade-executive-1-4307492

[Ghosty]

Worse than Hendry?!

I expect Hooli will be along with a quip about that shortly.

[Eddie Honda]

if anyone older remembers

Older than what? I'm no old! Remembers what?.

 

 

Here's another piece: http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12654897.Ford_in__1_5m_legal_action_on_subsidence/

[doug]

Was Dalblair not owned by Lord Sorn? I remember when he passed away going to the auction for all his cars. A fantastic collection he had. I still have the auction catalogue somewhere. My brother in law worked for Dalblair as bodyshop manager in Ayr.

[Kiltox]

Lord Sorn

Drove through Sorn the other day, wanted to stop for a photo of my van in it’s likely natural habitat next to a sign but was told no

[doug]

Sorn is a smashing little village. Not been in the hotel for years but it used to be good. Lord Sorns castle is on the right heading west out of the village.

[Hendry]

Re: Strathford - I used to go to school with Vicky (daughter of Tom). I see that he sadly passed away just over a year ago. https://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-tom-inglis-motor-trade-executive-1-4307492

 

 

Older than what? I'm no old! Remembers what?.

 

 

Here's another piece: http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12654897.Ford_in__1_5m_legal_action_on_subsidence/

 

 

Was Dalblair not owned by Lord Sorn? I remember when he passed away going to the auction for all his cars. A fantastic collection he had. I still have the auction catalogue somewhere. My brother in law worked for Dalblair as bodyshop manager in Ayr.

 

Thanks for the replies, yeah I knew Tom Inglis had passed away, as I understand it he started out working in sales at Dalblair of Ayr, quickly progressed to sales manager and Ford took note of his talents and offered him funding through them to take over Skellys dealership in Dumbarton in 1980 i think, the same Skellys as Ian Skelly the large VW/Audi dealer group. He then opened in East Kilbride in 1991, then was awarded the franchise in Kilmarnock in 1997, then Ford decided to recarve dealer territories and marketing areas and he had to sell East Kilbride in 1998 to Wylies to large Glasgow Ford dealers who amalgamated with another Glasgow dealer Premier Ford who took over the remaining independents in Glasgow and surrounding areas, renamed as First Ford, went bust within 3 years and their branches got divvied up by uncle Arnie and Sir Pedro Vardy, they then closed in Dumbarton in 1999, leaving just Kilmarnock Ford and at some point he got the Jaguar franchise in Ayr, then in late 2000 Arnold Clark took over the entire group.

 

Dalblair from what ive found out went into receivership in the mid 80s and ended up being saved by a buyout from a guy called Stanley Thomson Gauld who ran a load of filling stations in Glasgow, and also the Rolls Royce and Range Rover dealership at Mosspark Boulevard in Glasgow, later moved to Garscube Road in Maryhill and changed first to Land Rover then Volvo, the Dalblair name was also used on a Subaru and Hyundai dealership in Drumchapel in the early 90s, and Mr Gauld also had an involvement with another Ford dealer in Stewarton, MacFadzeans, then Arnie bought out first Dalblair from them in mid 2000 then Gaulds itself late 2000 to use the premises for a Vauxhall dealership to convert the existing Vauxhall dealership they had in the North of Glasgow to a Lexus dealership. 

 

Your brother in law wouldnt happen to have any bumf from Dalblairs would he such as keyrings, tax disc holders, etc? 

 

Was hoping someone from the autoshite community may have bought a car from either, had dealings with them or even worked for them and could give any insight into the companies at all. 

[dome]

Sorn is a smashing little village. Not been in the hotel for years but it used to be good. Lord Sorns castle is on the right heading west out of the village.

 

There used to be a cracking pub there for food, not been there in years though.

[doug]

Your brother in law wouldnt happen to have any bumf from Dalblairs would he such as keyrings, tax disc holders, etc? 

 

 

Doubt it, but will ask.

[oldcars]

Was Dalblair not owned by Lord Sorn? I remember when he passed away going to the auction for all his cars. A fantastic collection he had. I still have the auction catalogue somewhere. My brother in law worked for Dalblair as bodyshop manager in Ayr.

No tax on any of the motors, they were all sorn........................

[BavarianRetro]

They were all sold long before SORN.