Memory dealer?

[Rustybullethole]

On 2/27/2020 at 5:45 PM, keef said:

Here's some photos from there.

 

I did my work experience there when it bae came Lex Rover. Still have the overalls somewhere. 

[Rustybullethole]

Stormont Woolwich. When I was at the poly in 91 my dad picked his H plate seirra lazer lease car from there and stop outside the gates to show it off to me and my mates. Nearly caught me smoking! This pics from 72 only one I could find. It’s now long gone and became a beefeater/prem inn. They pulled my school down too though that still sits a sad and empty site. Was a lovely old building that school. 

 

[warren t claim]

8 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

In the 60s when my dad was able to buy brand-new cars, he always bought Fords, which meant, in Southport, Holland Motors in Virginia Street, on the edge of the town centre.  I remember sitting in the various new Fords in the showroom (at primary-school age).  Across the road was where they sold their commercials: being Ford, that would be 307E Anglia Vans, 400E Thames, and then the hot new ticket, the Transit.  Oh and the Trader and then D-series "big stuff."

The site of the car showroom has been a Lidl for many years, and the commercial section has gone in favour of a petrol station, or at least that's what was there last time I looked.  Bear in mind it's nearly 14 years since we left Southport!

Near where I grew up there was Riddington and Rimmer, which I remember being a Rootes dealership, but it's spent many years now touting Mercedes-Benz, and I'm sure the R&R name vanished years before that.  My mate's girlfriend pumped gas there in about 1986, I used to go in with my Maxi.  Almost opposite was another petrol station with a showroom, which my dad often used for his gas.  "Two gallons please!" wouldn't go that far in the Zephyr...  Years later I would go in with my mum's Mini, or my Anglia, because I sort-of fancied Jan and Toni, the two girls working the pumps.  Never did anything about them though: I was always too shy (and they both seemed ridiculously confident) and very much a deciding factor was that they both smoked.  I can't remember if it was actually a dealership for a particular marque; doesn't matter, houses were built on the site about 20 years ago.

I could probably come up with some more, but to bring them up to date I would need to revisit Southport, and I have no real desire to do that.  Also no real reason.

My much missed  XR3i was originally purchased from Holland Motors of Southport. I even remember the reg but as I use it as a password on some web sites I won't repeat it here. 

[AnnoyingPentium]

Thought of this thread when I was rummaging through my Dad's old computer and found this from May 2007.

[RayMK]

I have not found any photos from the 1990s of the Fiat dealership whose sticker is on my 1994 Tipo, but they've been trading for about 60 years and are still with Fiat in 2022.  

[Austin-Rover]

This photo took some finding! It's one I took of Richard Cort's Rover dealership at Blackford Bridge, Bury two days after MG Rover had gone bust - 10th April 2005. 

The main building still stands, but with quite a few additions and extensions to it. It changed hands a long time ago and now sells Volvo. Volvo moved to this site from half a mile further up the road. The old Volvo site is now the home of Mercedes Benz Whitefield... which is not in Whitefield.  

 

[Stroller133]

Used to pass The Clock Garage, Castle Bromwich on the way to visit relative in the 80/90s one of the first signs of being in Birmingham after leaving the M6. I can only really remember it being a Peugeot dealer, but I think it had previously been talbot/Rootes.  
 

It's been demolished and just a fuel station now. The new clock is a bit weaker as a local landmark!

 

[Stroller133]

In Tamworth there were a few dealers that are no longer around. One of the most prominent was Bolebridge Garage,  was a Rover dealer, but not sure what  BL brands it sold in earlier years. It was demolished in about 2008 and there is a LIdl and Travelodge on the site, with the modern Ford dealer located behind it.  I can't find a picture of it in the 80s/90s I remember, but did find an earlier one showing it in a street scene, where in my living memory it was in a more open, slightly out of town setting, that probably meant then business remained more access in its later years.

I remember going into the parts shop with a mate who was looking for some bits for a Mini, and we'd barely walked in and he told us what we wanted was no longer available before we'd even asked. 

[Niffleman]

I grew up in Twickenham,  South West London, and for many years there was a Volvo dealer called Tamplins in the main street.  Twickenham in the 80s and 90s was a Volvo kind of place.  I wonder if there are any surviving old Volvos with a Tamplins sticker still in the back window.   

[Eyersey1234]

On 16/06/2010 at 23:34, Polystratus said:

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.

Whereabouts in Newark was Sandicliffe Ford?

[wesacosa]

On 23/01/2021 at 11:16, martc said:

Just to finally put the Finkle St/Baynard Ave discussion to bed. I've had a long hard think about it and, certainly when it was a Renault dealer, the service dept was on Finkle St, but the showroom was on Baynard Ave. Looking at Google Maps some of the buildings (the service dept) are still there but used by a cleaning products supply company.

some pictures from Facebook of Cottingham Ford on Baynard avenue in 1995 looks like just after it closed down 

Also similar era pictures of Jordan's Mazda on Northgate 

Not my photos despite seemingly having my name on them!

I don't remember a Renault dealership 

 

[Markeh]

On 22/01/2021 at 00:38, Markeh said:

Already seen a few familiar names crop up here from round my neck of the woods (grew up in Mansfield and my dad's worked in the motor trade round here his whole life, including a decent chunk of the garages below), but some updates:

The old Rainworth Skoda site last time I drove past appears to now sell catering equipment - I did some IT work for a previous occupier of the building and may have been offered weed while trying to fix their PC.

The Lucas Subaru/Daihatsu/Proton garage has long been bulldozed and is a car park. Half the time me and my friend parked in there shortly after passing our tests because we could park in the corner and not have to deal with other cars.

The old Neville EMV site, which if I remember rightly became CD Bramall Citroen and Nissan, got bulldozed and is now a housing estate - Citroen and Nissan still exist on Southwell Road East, between our family we've had a C3 Picasso, 2 Jokes and my Qashqai from this site. Nissan is in what I think is the old Fiat building, Citroen moved to the bigger building (I want to say this used to house Honda, before it moved down the road into the old Mercedes garage, opposite Renault), and the old MGRover building is now part of Pendragon's training academy. Whole site is now Evans Halshaw.  I also remember going into GK Ford before it moved from Chesterfield Road (must've been 05/06, I think it moved very soon after) when my folks were looking at a C-Max. 

I think I remember the Renault dealer in Kirkby - did it become Arriva for a bit before closing down? If it's the one I'm thinking of, it became a frozen food place, then an auction house. It's been a while since I've been that way, so don't know if it's still standing. Interesting side note, my Megane arrived with plates from Kirkby Motor Services.

I can't picture the site of Blackton's in Sutton - it wasn't by any chance where Matalan is?

Other ones I know of:

Hooleys Ford on Derby Road in Nottingham - there's a nice micropub basically opposite where it used to be which had this photo on its wall - this must have been shortly before demolition based off the cars in shot. (please forgive slightly blurry photo of slightly blurry photo taken while slightly drunk)

Gordon Lamb on Lortas Road/Nottingham Road in Basford - dad worked here and we got our old Tacuma from here. I think throughout the years this was at various points Daihatsu, MG Rover, Mazda, Daewoo/Chevrolet, then Ford, it's since been flattened and is now an Aldi. Gordon Lamb as a franchise is now under the Vertu/Bristol Street Motors umbrella, think brand might be gone now.

Arriva Renault, somewhere on Ilkeston Road, around the time the Mk2 Laguna came out. Remember very vaguely visiting dad at work here, only know it was on Ilkeston Road from having edited his CV!

Remember various dealers locally under the Co-Op Motor Group, then Sunwin, then back to Co-Op name, then I think Vertu bought them all 2012/13 time. I think the ones in Lincolnshire were outside of this and were still Co-op til a few years ago, these are now Pentagon. Off the top of my head, Renault in Mansfield (now with Dacia and Hyundai), Nissan/Peugeot in Ilkeston (Peugeot is gone, Nissan and the other building still there), Nissan/Renault/Mazda/Volvo in Derby (think they got rid of Mazda and Volvo and added Skoda, amongst others - I may be misremembering this one), think the Renault site on Haydn Road was also one too. That for a time also handled Alfa servicing, I think.

Also lost to Vertu (pretty recently, last few months, I think!) was Sandicliffe Kia in Basford which was also Fiat when it opened. Perhaps more well known for the abandoned office block that was built new and never occupied around the same time and has fallen into disrepair. Recently their Skoda garages went to Marshalls I think - think they're just focusing on Ford/Mazda/Nissan now.

John Fox Audi, also in Basford, now Marshall Volvo.

A recent loss was Chris Variava, also in Basford (garages in Nottingham seem to be either in Basford or down the Lenton Lane area near the old studios) - was Mitsubishi primarily but also dabbled in Suzuki/Chrysler/Jeep for a bit. Now Stoneacre.

Central Garage Ford in Hucknall, had two big buildings on site if I remember rightly, one is now a wedding place, the other I think is a garage.

Vague memories of Draycotts Kia in Alfreton, think a Lidl now sits on the site, still going strong in Sutton.

Completely miles away from all of this, but also remember Horsham Car Centre (basically at the end of my uncle's road) as a Chrysler/Jeep dealer. Think the last time we went down there it was now an MG garage!

Has the Sam Scorer designed petrol station/possibly Ford dealer on Brayford Wharf in Lincoln been mentioned? It is now a Nando's, Prezzo and was a Handmade Burger Co before they went bust.

Let's have some updates, shall we? I'll add pictures too.

The former Rainworth Skoda site on Southwell Road East is now houses. It was knocked down shortly after this post! The new site further up the road is still going strong. Here it is as Spectrum in 2009

The old Lucas site is still a car park. The Gala bingo you see in the background is now a Travelodge!

Here's the old Neville EMV then CD Bramall then Evans Halshaw Citroen/Nissan site on Nottingham Road in 2009. Flattened around 2017.

What I believe was Arriva Renault in Kirkby. It was certainly A Renault dealer of some description for a bit. It's been Rightfit for about 10 years, before that it was briefly an auction house and a discount frozen food store - I believe the frozen food store was the first one to inhabit it after Renault left - I do

The Vertu empire has had a swap round in a few places. In Basford, it's now Hyundai and they're just fitting out the old Citroen as Skoda. This is the site that used to be Stratstone Volvo where Hyundai now sits and Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge in the now Skoda building. Here it is under Stratstone. Citroen has now ended up alongside Vauxhall at Evans Halshaw down in Lenton near the Showcase.

The Haydn Road site had a more interesting past. The Renault building used to also house Nissan. That then went, to be replaced by Honda bikes, and I believe that half of the site is now being used to store vans and also by Nottingham College if a sign I saw the other day is to be believed. There's also a housing complex next door - that used to be Bristol Street Citroen, but they must have moved up to the Nuthall Road site seen above once Vertu acquired Sunwin/Co-op. 

Across the road from that, you see a more interesting site. Currently t.i.m Subaru and Isuzu, it did used to run Fiat. Before that, though..

The old Variava site appears to have now sacked off any Mitsubishi commitments, as well as at least new Suzukis. It's now taken over Nissan from Sandicliffe (who I'm sure took MG from them!) and is running that alongside Fiat. And if you want an Alfa or a Jeep, sod off to Derby. I imagine someone will take over Suzuki locally - I wonder if Ron Brooks will expand out this way.

The old John Fox Audi/Marshall Volvo building in Basford is now Marshall Omoda and Jaecoo.

And a pic of the old Lortas Road Gordon Lamb/Sandicliffe site which is now an Aldi. The Daewoo/Daihatsu stuff used to be that showroom on the side, I think the front was always Mazda? Can't quite remember where MG Rover was, could very well have been along the front. I was only a kid when my dad worked here.

2 hours ago, Eyersey1234 said:

Whereabouts in Newark was Sandicliffe Ford?

This is the only Ford garage I knew of in Newark, in 2009 - building's still there now but Ford had gone by the next time the cameras came around in 2014. John Harrison are probably more known for their Peugeot showroom in Lowdham - which they lost the franchise for in 2020 (the new car showroom now being a Spar for the attached petrol station)  and if the latest street view pics are to be believed, may now have shut up shop.

Another Peugeot name lost is the old Campions in Lincoln - rebranded to Robins and Day, then Abacus, closed around 2018, houses exist on half the site now.

[Eyersey1234]

2 hours ago, Markeh said:

Let's have some updates, shall we? I'll add pictures too.

The former Rainworth Skoda site on Southwell Road East is now houses. It was knocked down shortly after this post! The new site further up the road is still going strong. Here it is as Spectrum in 2009

The old Lucas site is still a car park. The Gala bingo you see in the background is now a Travelodge!

Here's the old Neville EMV then CD Bramall then Evans Halshaw Citroen/Nissan site on Nottingham Road in 2009. Flattened around 2017.

What I believe was Arriva Renault in Kirkby. It was certainly A Renault dealer of some description for a bit. It's been Rightfit for about 10 years, before that it was briefly an auction house and a discount frozen food store - I believe the frozen food store was the first one to inhabit it after Renault left - I do

The Vertu empire has had a swap round in a few places. In Basford, it's now Hyundai and they're just fitting out the old Citroen as Skoda. This is the site that used to be Stratstone Volvo where Hyundai now sits and Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge in the now Skoda building. Here it is under Stratstone. Citroen has now ended up alongside Vauxhall at Evans Halshaw down in Lenton near the Showcase.

The Haydn Road site had a more interesting past. The Renault building used to also house Nissan. That then went, to be replaced by Honda bikes, and I believe that half of the site is now being used to store vans and also by Nottingham College if a sign I saw the other day is to be believed. There's also a housing complex next door - that used to be Bristol Street Citroen, but they must have moved up to the Nuthall Road site seen above once Vertu acquired Sunwin/Co-op. 

Across the road from that, you see a more interesting site. Currently t.i.m Subaru and Isuzu, it did used to run Fiat. Before that, though..

The old Variava site appears to have now sacked off any Mitsubishi commitments, as well as at least new Suzukis. It's now taken over Nissan from Sandicliffe (who I'm sure took MG from them!) and is running that alongside Fiat. And if you want an Alfa or a Jeep, sod off to Derby. I imagine someone will take over Suzuki locally - I wonder if Ron Brooks will expand out this way.

The old John Fox Audi/Marshall Volvo building in Basford is now Marshall Omoda and Jaecoo.

And a pic of the old Lortas Road Gordon Lamb/Sandicliffe site which is now an Aldi. The Daewoo/Daihatsu stuff used to be that showroom on the side, I think the front was always Mazda? Can't quite remember where MG Rover was, could very well have been along the front. I was only a kid when my dad worked here.

This is the only Ford garage I knew of in Newark, in 2009 - building's still there now but Ford had gone by the next time the cameras came around in 2014. John Harrison are probably more known for their Peugeot showroom in Lowdham - which they lost the franchise for in 2020 (the new car showroom now being a Spar for the attached petrol station)  and if the latest street view pics are to be believed, may now have shut up shop.

Another Peugeot name lost is the old Campions in Lincoln - rebranded to Robins and Day, then Abacus, closed around 2018, houses exist on half the site now.

Thanks, I had wondered if that was the Ford dealer

[martc]

5 hours ago, wesacosa said:

some pictures from Facebook of Cottingham Ford on Baynard avenue in 1995 looks like just after it closed down 

Also similar era pictures of Jordan's Mazda on Northgate 

Not my photos despite seemingly having my name on them!

I don't remember a Renault dealership 

 

Thanks, the Ford dealership was definitely a Renault one originally, when operating on Finkle street, they had a one car showroom, usually with a 5 or 18 in it. Later they extended through to Baynard Ave where they built the showroom in the photo. You can see Finkle St's terraced houses through the gates. The Ford showroom is now demolished and covered in cheap bungalows. However the out buildings at the back, the original Renault showroom on Finkle street, are still there used by a cleaning products supply company.

Opposite the Renault dealer on Finkle street was a second hand car dealer, they had a glass showroom at the back which had 4 or 5 immaculate, black 30's or 40's cars that never ever seemed to move. As far as I know there was no connection to the Renault/Ford dealer. Next to this dealer was an abattoir, further down Finkle street was a chip shop, cop shop, Derby and Joan, the massive Cottingham Memorial Club and a post office. Now this may make Finkle St seem to be a major road, it isn't, it's just a typical Victorian terraced street, no idea why it had so much going on down it.

The Rix garage is still there, although the Mazda showroom is now a small on-site supermarket.

[martc]

On 12/09/2022 at 13:41, Eyersey1234 said:

 I'm told the garage at Flamborough used to be a Skoda agents too. 

Monument Garage, definitely a Skoda dealer, I got a red post VAG take over, Favorit from there. I px'd a beige Favorit I got from the other East Yorks Skoda dealer, Maudsons.

Both Monument and Maudsons lost the franchise following the VAG re-organisation which ditched all the old Skoda dealers.

Monument Garage carries on as a general repair type place, but the showroom is now a burger/pizza/kebab hell hole. I recently went past it and it looks like they may have put the shutters down.

Post Skoda, pre hell hole.

Hell hole.

 

[wesacosa]

5 minutes ago, martc said:

Thanks, the Ford dealership was definitely a Renault one originally, when operating on Finkle street, they had a one car showroom, usually with a 5 or 18 in it. Later they extended through to Baynard Ave where they built the showroom in the photo. You can see Finkle St's terraced houses through the gates. The Ford showroom is now demolished and covered in cheap bungalows. However the out buildings at the back, the original Renault showroom on Finkle street, are still there used by a cleaning products supply company.

Opposite the Renault dealer on Finkle street was a second hand car dealer, they had a glass showroom at the back which had 4 or 5 immaculate, black 30's or 40's cars that never ever seemed to move. As far as I know there was no connection to the Renault/Ford dealer. Next to this dealer was an abattoir, further down Finkle street was a chip shop, cop shop, Derby and Joan, the massive Cottingham Memorial Club and a post office. Now this may make Finkle St seem to be a major road, it isn't, it's just a typical Victorian terraced street, no idea why it had so much going on down it.

The Rix garage is still there, although the Mazda showroom is now a small on-site supermarket.

thanks, I don't remember the Renault dealership at all, it was always Ford from the memories I have although I didn't live in Cottingham, but went to school there 

It also got me thinking about some other second hand dealerships , I think you mentioned Gordon Fussey in an earlier post.  Our scout troop used to use an ex St Johns mk1 , and later mk2 Transit ambulance as a minibus and it was kept and looked after by Gordon Fussey I later found out

Also if you lived in Hull or Cottingham in the mid to late 90s and listened to the local radio you would surely have heard about 500 ads a day for Big John at Karelia Cars

I also remember Dixon's too, and his big house. He wasn't too popular with Hull City fans at the time as the club was struggling in the bottom division and he sponsored Grimsby town instead despite living in Hull and having at least the majority of his dealerships there

We only ever bought 2 cars from any kind of dealership when I was a kid.  We bought a k10 Micra from AFG , Mount Pleasant and a K11 Micra from JCT600 which I can't remember exactly where was but was that end of Hull somewhere 

[martc]

3 minutes ago, wesacosa said:

thanks, I don't remember the Renault dealership at all, it was always Ford from the memories I have although I didn't live in Cottingham, but went to school there 

It also got me thinking about some other second hand dealerships , I think you mentioned Gordon Fussey in an earlier post.  Our scout troop used to use an ex St Johns mk1 , and later mk2 Transit ambulance as a minibus and it was kept and looked after by Gordon Fussey I later found out

Also if you lived in Hull or Cottingham in the mid to late 90s and listened to the local radio you would surely have heard about 500 ads a day for Big John at Karelia Cars

I also remember Dixon's too, and his big house. He wasn't too popular with Hull City fans at the time as the club was struggling in the bottom division and he sponsored Grimsby town instead despite living in Hull and having at least the majority of his dealerships there

We only ever bought 2 cars from any kind of dealership when I was a kid.  We bought a k10 Micra from AFG , Mount Pleasant and a K11 Micra from JCT600 which I can't remember exactly where was but was that end of Hull somewhere 

Gordon Fussey was a BL dealer, they had a showroom on Beck Bank, always worth a look in, 5 or 6 '70's colours aglow in there.  I think they went all the way back, behind Thwaite street petrol station, which I'm sure must have had some connection with them. Only the Railway Pub got in the way of them dominating the corner of Beck Bank/Thwaite street. They lost the franchise but carried on with 'quality' second hand cars. Fusseys, the pub a and the petrol station are all gone, replaced by an awful bland block of awful bland flats.

There was a very small second hand dealer in Cottingham but their exact location beats me. I can remember us all going, mum, dad, me, my brother and sister to look at an orange  Honda N600 to see if we would fit in it. It was closed so we three siblings crouched side by side along the back of it to judge the width. We wouldn't fit, obvs. The place had a gravel display area and was at the back of two houses, accessed by a ten foot. It may have been at the far end of Hallgate (near West Green) or on the ubiquitous Finkle street.

There was a petrol station on the King Street/South Street Junction which had pumps which stretched over the footpath, you stopped on the road, near the busy junction, to fill up. They flogged a few second hand cars. There was also a garage on Crescent St, off George street, which went through to Hallgate. I'll see if I can remember any more.

[Lord Sterling]

Lancaster Jaguar in Abingdon Square, Northampton. It was a Guy Salmon site for a while after before closing and becoming a gym 🙁

When it was Lancaster, it was featured in the Keeping Up Appearances episode "The New Car" when. Hyacinth tricked Richard into taking a Rolls Royce from the dealership out for a test drive.