Memory dealer?

[Guest]

one of the best memories i have is getting took out in a Esort mk3 1.3GL ( EHG 60W where are you now?) about 3 weeks before it was launched.

Registration EHG60W

Make FORD

Model ESCORT

Description GL

Date of Liability 01 04 1990

Date of First Registration 01 09 1980

Year of Manufacture 1980

Cylinder Capacity (cc) 1296CC

Fuel Type Petrol

Export Marker Not Applicable

Vehicle Status Unlicensed

Vehicle Colour BLUE

[Charlie Croker]

Thanks for that. It looks like it died reasonably young then. Shame that. I would like to think it was in a garage somewhere just waiting for me to love it again. Funny thing was when it was sold after a few months on demonstrator duties i never saw it again. A real memory car for me.....i would have my balls cut off (well maybe.lol) to find that car.

[Tayne]

.

[Simon M]

The BMW Wood dealership used to be something else, possibly Ford or a mixed carlot, the old owner still comes in the shop I work in. Top bloke.

It was Cloverleaf Cars, wasn't it? As far as I can recall that was either a BMW or Merc dealership - I remember back in the 80s they had a miniature ride-on Mercedes for spoilt rich kids which I desperately wanted. It cost over a grand, even then!

 

The Q8 garage opposite the Swan Pub used to be an FSO dealership, I think.

[CreepingJesus]

I remember Fews Ford in Perth, Riggs Road, the site is now a Lidl. Ford is now sold by Macrae & Dick in Perth.

 

Grassicks BMW in Perth (Leonard St across from the bus station), now located on the Dunkeld Rd Motor Mile, the site is now flats.

 

John R Weir Mercedes (King St, Aberdeen) moved up to Altens with most of the other dealers. The site is now flats.

 

I was told the other day about a dealer called Airport Mazda here in Aberdeen who were, surprisingly, on the way to the airport. Now a petrol station.

 

And this little place is located not far from where I live.

 

 

Crikey, Dacia! Where's that?

I remember going up to Frews in Perth, when I worked for Laidlaws in Cupar, (part of the Quicks empire now) shame, they were good to deal with. Ditto for Grassicks.

There's one in Aberdeen I recall from my time there - the Fiat garage at the roundabout between Anderson Dv, and the top of Denburn Rd. I can't recall who operated it, but it was a disused wreck even then (early 90's), and was still a disused wreck the last time I was there, about 3 years ago.

 

EDIT:Come to think of it, I worked for Dickson's Honda on Springfield Rd, and I'd heard they'd lost the franchise to Anderson Cars. Is that one still there? I'd bet not, land will be worth a bob or two in Craigiebuckler!

[Tayne]

.

[Cavcraft]

I should point out we may sound flash travelling round Talbot and BL showrooms looking at new cars, but I don't think my dad ever bought a brand spanker as he had company cars.

 

Other local/ish memories include George Boyle Datsun, Ellesmere Port which is now M53 Ford.

Swan Garage, Bunbury, Cheshire was a Ford main dealer but was a properly pokey little village hall-esque affair.

 

In far less exciting (but on-topic) news it seems Chester now has two Peugeot dealers. That'll be some more hideous wide-mouthed Frogs kicking about then.

[CreepingJesus]

Frews - that was it. I was struggling to remember the name.

 

The Dacia dealer's premises were on Fraser Place.

 

And i think you mean Auchmill Rd by the Haudagain roundabout for the Fiat dealer. Its now a parade of small shops, only two are occupied though - Pizza Slut and Majestic Wine.

You're right. I dunno why I thought it was Denburn Rd. Probly senility...

Predictably enough, I was stuck in traffic at the Haudagain at the time! If there'd been the shops there, I'd have got my tea, parked up in the truck park, and had a quiet night in!

 

Also, there's the former Arnold Clark Volvo place along in Kirkcaldy near the railway station. The franchise has been relocated elsewhere in town, but garage remains boarded up. Presumably there's not much call for more 'executive' flats in Kirkcaldy...

[Tayne]

.

[CreepingJesus]

My point exactly. But just a little bottle of wine, one of those sad loner ones...

[Polystratus]

Woodleigh's in Chesterfield, they was originally a Reliant dealer, then they took on Fiats and Daewoo, they still have the Fiat/Chev dealership. Think at some time they had a dabble in selling Mircocars.

 

In Nottingham, Bristol Street Motors had a site near Sherwood, also more in the city, there was Andy Bone, dealer for Honda motorcycles. Two big Ford dealers, I remember which sold everything from cars, vans, and LGV's - Blacktons Garage in Sutton in Ashfield, that site got re-developed into a small retail centre, and Evans Halshaw on Chesterfield Road in Mansfield, again now longer there since a Tesco supermarket stands on the site.

 

Going further East, Cowies Ford at Newark, that was on Farndon Road, there's still a Ford dealer in Newark (Sandicliffe) a bit more in the town centre, also use to a Rover-MG dealer too.

[Tayne]

.

[Charlie Croker]

Here are some more dealers from Colne in Lancashire. Ratclife and thorton....austin/rover. Long gone. Now a antique showroom. Eagle service station...fiat then lada. Now demolished making way for a new sainsburys. Holden and hartley. Now sited across the road and branded premier vauxhall. Kitchens...renault. Now a convenience store. Most of these closed in the late 80s around the same time as my beloved seed ford...the site of wich was cleard and turned into a kwik save of all things.

[AnthonyG]

I grew up in Malvern in the 70s and early 80s; given the prevailing demographics, there was a fairly wide range of interesting motors (and 'motor dealers...)

 

* Chevron Motors - Citroen - apartments there now

* Rothwell & Milbourne - Rover ("not Orstin-Morris, old boy...") - proper old-fashioned setup with hand-operated petrol pump on the roadside, now an interior design shop (but the pump survives)

* Three Counties Garages - BMC/Leyland, then South Hereford Garages - VW/Audi - now Lidl

* Scrivens Garage - Volvo - now a filling station for some obscure brand

* AD Davies - Renault - still there!

* Brooklyn - Ford - can't remember the original name, but the showroom building was the original Morgan factory, now all gone for retirement apartments

 

There were dealers for Vauxhall/Opel, Peugeot and Fiat too, but I'd need to look those up - the memory ain't what it was!

I remember some of them! - lived in Droitwich and Bromyard in the 1980s and we visited Malvern a lot.

 

Scriven serviced several of my dad's Volvos. I remember:

Brooklyn for Ford in Worcester and Malvern.

Droitwich Garges for Austin Rover (still exists on out of town site for Land Rover).

South Hereford and Pearsons for VW.

Colmore Depot in Worcester for Volvo, later changed name, possibly bought by Scrivens.

A Peugeot/Talbot garage on an out of town site nr Worcester.

Browns of Hereford, Renault and then BMW.

Autopalace (then Camden) in Hereford for Austin Rover.

A E Clegg was Vauxhall in Worcester as I remember.

 

The oldest independent dealer still going is Bishops of Bromyard, an old school small town Ford dealer. It moved location in the late 1990s but is still in business to this day .

[AnthonyG]

Do any of these still exist?

 

Gordon Ford

Greenhouse Vauxhall

 

 

Gordon Ford was in West Dulwich, Sarf London. It was bought by Trimoco in the late 1980s/early 1990s and rebranded Trimoco or Hartwell, Hartwell having taken over Trimoco in 1992.

 

Hartwell were a large Saudi-owned group which went on a buying spree in the 1990s, I worked for them in the late 1990s. It's a totally separate company to George Hartwell, once Rootes, now Peugeot on the South Coast. George Hartwell was responsible for some very hot Imps and was a well regarded Rootes tuner.

 

I remember working at the Gordon Ford site in the late 1990s, also at a Ford place in Eltham which was closed down soon after I left (1999). The Eltham one was at a terrible location, just near a major dual carrigeway junction which meant passing trade was zero.

 

Both of these London Hartwell Ford sites were much reduced operations with a lot of derelict buildings and empty offices. Perfect for a cigarette break which took half an hour!!

 

Hartwell bought Charles Clarke around 1994 or so and rebranded some of the West Midlands Rover sites with their own name, but left others alone as Charles Clarke as the name was so well known. All Electric is now selling Skoda in Brum.

 

Greenhous (no 'e') Vauxhall was in Shrewsbury and at one time, Hereford. Still exists in Shrops and Staffs at various sites.

 

Furrows of Telford (Ford) is still about too, always thought that was a great name, at one point in 1997 or 1998 it had the highest customer satisfaction scores in the UK on Ford's own figures.

[Pete-M]

Furrows of Telford (Ford) is still about too, always thought that was a great name, at one point in 1997 or 1998 it had the highest customer satisfaction scores in the UK on Ford's own figures.

When I worked for Budget we used to buy 50 cars at a time from Furrows of Telford. Used to get some right oddball jobs thrown in.

[Lord Sterling]

...Furrows of Telford (Ford) is still about too, always thought that was a great name, at one point in 1997 or 1998 it had the highest customer satisfaction scores in the UK on Ford's own figures...

Furrows for Ford (of Telford), were originally based in Wellington town centre at the old Odean Cinema, there was also a small franchise somewhere on the old A5 between Wellington and Shrewsbury. I dont remember much of the original Furrows at the Odean but do vaguely remember the A5 franchise being quite a small showroom.

 

My mum bought her Mk3 G-reg (G886KAW) Ford Fiesta new from there, my Dad having part-ex'd his Mk2 A-reg Cavalier for it.

 

I once "nicked" a 'Galaxy' numberplate off a Ford Galaxy being displayed at Furrows when I was about 15. Still got it somewhere.

[Cavcraft]

Furrows of Shrewsbury's showroom partially flooded once when the (river) tides came to town.

Still recall standing outside chatting to some of the lads that worked there and some chavvy twat on a pushbike came riding down the hill full tilt and straight into the flood on purpose.

He wasn't laughing when it came up to his neck, but we were.

 

The Shrewsbury gaffe is a really nice old building (assuming it's still there) right opposite the river and must be worth it's weight in split screen campers to a developer.

 

Staying in Shrewsbury, Shuker's old building when they were flogging agricultural shizzles was class, real sort of old world farmer's type place. Then they got the Land Rover dealership and it became one of them there new fandangled modern horror buildings.

[Mr Lobster]

Here are some more dealers from Colne in Lancashire. Ratclife and thorton....austin/rover. Long gone. Now a antique showroom.

Thought it was Ratcliffe & Tattersall? Not that it makes any difference now! The showroom still looks like an old Austin Rover place though - I think they just took the letters down and used the black / white background for their own sign.

 

Eagle service station...fiat then lada. Now demolished making way for a new sainsburys. Holden and hartley. Now sited across the road and branded premier vauxhall.

Guy who owned Eagle retired as Sainsburys made him a decent offer I believe. Vauxhall dealer is Perrys now, was Vantage until a year or so back.

 

Kitchens...renault. Now a convenience store.

Kitchens still trading in Burnley, albeit under different ownership. Before they redeveloped the Burnley showroom is was a superb place and big as well. Bland now though.

 

seed ford...the site of wich was cleard and turned into a kwik save of all things.

Seed Ford at Colne was a massive site. Big compound round the back if I recall correctly. Must have closed late '80's as you say. Seed Ford at Nelson was a nice site too. It's a Lidl now

 

Just up the road was Churchills Rover. They went bust years ago but the site is still largely the same except its a Spar / Subway. What was the workshop above the showroom is the same though - been empty for a very long time now.

 

I take it you are / were from round these parts?

[Charlie Croker]

Hi. Yes i am from that neck of the woods. I lived in Colne until i moved to Edinbugh 12 years ago. The Churchills site in Nelson was a also a Ratcliff and Thornton BL showroom until 1986ish. They had a small showroom on ground level wich would now be the spar and a much larger one upstairs. The workshop was down down a side street nearby. I think it was close to the big weaving mill. Its great to hear sombody else who remembers these garages. Great blast from a very happy past.

[ashmicro]

Spent a lot of time in car dealers with my Dad when I was a nipper. There used to be a Ford dealer in the middle of our town called Wilsons of Rathkenny, and I still remember going with Dad to look at new Capris in 1981.

 

Another one was the now ex-Rover/Jaguar dealer near my grandparents house, run by an enormously fat man (he is still there!). What a crook. Dad was looking at an SD1, and was looking to trade in a mk2 Mexico. The fat villain made a derisory offer for the Escort, saying "I'd have bother shifting that, no-one wants them, you never see them" At this point my Dad pretty much exploded, saying "OK, tell you what, I'm gonna go for a smoke outside, and in the few minutes it takes, I'll count all the mk2 Escorts that go past" Never did get the SD1.

 

The Ford dealer where I got my blue mk4 Escort is still there, Erwins of Antrim. A great place. I got my Escort in 1992. When I went up with my Dad to pick it up, the salesman said to Dad "I remember I sold you a white mk3 Cortina 2 door in 1972"

[Cavcraft]

Just remembered Quicks (Ford) had a place in Vicars Cross, Chester and sold the car amongst the motorhomes they had on display.

Mate of mine had an uber tidy Spitfire and got £700 for it against a 18 month old Capri.

He'd been offered £500 discount with no part-exchange and I just couldn't get it through to him that he'd actually got £200 for the Spit in real terms.

 

Said garage now a petrol station and has been for many years.

 

There's probably a whole new thread/add on to this one about former petrol stations, only thinking the other day how many have disappeared locally.

[warren t claim]

 

There's probably a whole new thread/add on to this one about former petrol stations, only thinking the other day how many have disappeared locally.

100 petrol stations have gone in the Wirral and Neston area in the last 20 years. Myself and a colleague added them up one day when we were bored.

[The Liberator]

The Shrewsbury gaffe is a really nice old building (assuming it's still there) right opposite the river and must be worth it's weight in split screen campers to a developer.

It's now a development of new build faux-Georgian townhouses. They're three storeys high so at least there are two storeys to live in when the area floods. Furrows have moved to a new industrial/retail park in Harlescott.

 

What was Shrewsbury Motors, the VAG dealer near the English bridge, and Charles Clark (Citroen) in Abbey Foregate have both suffered the same fate, although the building occupied by the old Fiat dealer (Signpost Motors?) at the bottom of Wyle Cop survives.

[Charlie Croker]

There was a BMW main dealer just outside Colne in a wee village called Earby. Prestons it was called. They moved into the usual glasshouse in Colne itself around the mid mid 90s i think and its still there dont know if it still called Prestons though. The old site is still a car lot and has changed very little.

[Mash]

I grew up in Beverley which is a medium sized market town near Hull. For the size of town it used to be well catered for with dealerships up to the 80s and 90s with:

 

Armstrong Massey (BL/Rover)

Crystal (Ford)

Clock Garage (Renault)

Thompsons (Vauxhall)

Walfred (Volvo)

 

Now all there is is a car supermarket after the recent closure of the latest Ford dealerhsip (CD Bramall). I well remember going in all the above as a kid in the 80s afer brochures. Most time was spent in Massey's however as we generally had BL stuff.

 

This is a pic I took of Crystal just after it closed in about 1993:

 

 

This is Armstrong Massey in the mid 80s, photos I stumbled across on Flickr of a place I thought I'd never see again; it made my day. Clock Garage is next door. You'll also notice Massey's sold Rollers at this time too!

 

 

When that site closed to make way for a supermarket, they moved to another site near the local scrappy which was handy if dad wanted parts for our Allegro. Unfortunately I don't have a pic of it when trading.

 

 

I also remember the main ones in Hull. Thompsons had their main branch on Anlaby Road and if you look carefully among the other buildings on the hospital site near it you can still see the old showroom. Parishes and Kennings sold BMC and BL, Crystal Ford of course and Triangle were Rootes. Jordans had Datsun for a long time and I remember when Seat came out in the mid-80s, David Swann had a showroom on Beverley Road.

 

An old friend of mine now in his 60s grew up among Rootes cars as his dad had 3 small garages in the town before finally selling out to Triangle in the late 1960s. Loads of others. It's long been my aim to get a car from the 60s or 70s locally supplied by one of these garages and there are still a few in the area seen at shows. A guy I know has a big collection of local Fords from the 70s squirrelled away some of which are even registered in the same series as each other.

[Cavcraft]

The Shrewsbury gaffe is a really nice old building (assuming it's still there) right opposite the river and must be worth it's weight in split screen campers to a developer.

It's now a development of new build faux-Georgian townhouses. They're three storeys high so at least there are two storeys to live in when the area floods. Furrows have moved to a new industrial/retail park in Harlescott.

 

What was Shrewsbury Motors, the VAG dealer near the English bridge, and Charles Clark (Citroen) in Abbey Foregate have both suffered the same fate, although the building occupied by the old Fiat dealer (Signpost Motors?) at the bottom of Wyle Cop survives.

I'm trying to remember where Shrewsbury Motors was (as in picture it in my head), can only recall the Audi dealers (parts of EMH I think) at Featherbed lane. This is where most of the dealers are, Audi on the corner along with Mazda and somebody else and was formerly Wadham Kennings?

 

IIrc Remember Charles Clarke were sort of the other side of the railway bridge from the Post Office depot and the prison, think it was a Nissan garage once?

 

Town Walls Fitting Centre had gone last time I was anywhere near the place, and Greenhous had moved to their fancy new gaff at Old Potts Way. I seem to remember the old Greenhous place was across the bridge from the old Gay Meadow on the opposite side down a small side road almost opposite the multi story carpark.

 

Are Furrows where Carnelian Rover once were do you know, and is Perkins Engines still going? I loved going in the latter, in there at least once a week and usually for most of the day. Met some cracking people in there (bosses included) and always had a laugh with the lads.

[Gompo]

For aslong as I can remember (20 years or so) there's only been 2 'main' dealers in my hometown, Retford. One is Ford and has been for aslong as I can remember, the other is Honda which was a Harrison's Vauxhall until maybe 10 years ago. A Kia dealer has popped up in the last 5 years or so on part of the site which the previous mentioned Ford dealer used as a place for none-new Fords and the odd other brand.

[The Liberator]

I'm trying to remember where Shrewsbury Motors was (as in picture it in my head), can only recall the Audi dealers (parts of EMH I think) at Featherbed lane. This is where most of the dealers are, Audi on the corner along with Mazda and somebody else and was formerly Wadham Kennings?

 

IIrc Remember Charles Clarke were sort of the other side of the railway bridge from the Post Office depot and the prison, think it was a Nissan garage once?

 

Town Walls Fitting Centre had gone last time I was anywhere near the place, and Greenhous had moved to their fancy new gaff at Old Potts Way. I seem to remember the old Greenhous place was across the bridge from the old Gay Meadow on the opposite side down a small side road almost opposite the multi story carpark.

 

Are Furrows where Carnelian Rover once were do you know, and is Perkins Engines still going? I loved going in the latter, in there at least once a week and usually for most of the day. Met some cracking people in there (bosses included) and always had a laugh with the lads.

You're right about Charles Clarke (although that's gone now too), I was thinking of Charles Lewis on Abbey Foregate. The ex-Rover/Audi/'Kennings Motor Village' - they had Mazda, Fiat and Alfa as well for a while - is now a huge B & Q.

 

I'd forgotten about Greenhous, but the Shrewsbury Motors site was very close to them, on the left as soon as you got over the bridge from the Gay Meadow, before the turning for Greenhous. I seem to remember that Shrewsbury Motors had a workshop or new car storage beneath the showroom, which must have been GR2 when the Severn burst its banks.

 

I think that the old Carnelian Rover showroom is now Audi, and Furrows are about halfway between there and the old Audi/Kennings site, along Harlescott Lane.

 

I'm not sure if Perkins is still going, I only get the chance to see Shrewsbury when visiting the Liberator elders who live near there.

[Pillock]

 

In Nottingham, Bristol Street Motors had a site near Sherwood, also more in the city, there was Andy Bone, dealer for Honda motorcycles. Two big Ford dealers, I remember which sold everything from cars, vans, and LGV's - Blacktons Garage in Sutton in Ashfield, that site got re-developed into a small retail centre, and Evans Halshaw on Chesterfield Road in Mansfield, again now longer there since a Tesco supermarket stands on the site.

 

I remember the one in Sutton being Evans Halshaw too, was it Blacktons before that? It was EH right up until they demolished it and built that nasty little retail park. My mum collected her competition-prize Escort Dash from there, and the Mk4 Scrote she had before used to get serviced there.... remember it being a massive site, loads of room behind.

 

The Chesterfield Road site was Evans Halshaw, then GK Ford after that before it got Tesco-ised.

 

How about Neville EMV on Nottingham Road, just down from West Notts College? Huge Vauxhall dealer, of the era when it was all red, blue, yellow. Had a little Suzuki place tacked onto the side if I remember rightly... It then turned into a Citroen dealer, the Suzuki place became a secondhand dealer, and now it's the ubiquitous hand car wash and awaiting redevelopment. Despite the fact there's a Tesco Express next door, I bet it becomes a supermarket.....