Gone but not forgotten Dealerships/Garages

[Drive-By]

For a while now i've been wanting to get down to the local rags office and peruse their microfiche for pics of the dealerships I've worked at way back and maybe find pics of dealerships my Shite stepped onto the tarmac from.

 

Just wondered if any AutoShiters had done this and found pictures or adverts from long gone Shite dealers.

[AXrescuer]

I tried looking for some info about our long gone Henlys formerly Dennis Barley & Sons in Welwyn Garden City but drew a blank.

[Mr Lobster]

I've tried looking for stuff local to me. But other than the odd one or two on Flickr or wherever theres not much about.

[Richard]

The local library should be able to sort you out with back issues of various local rags from any year you like.

[AXrescuer]

The local library should be able to sort you out with back issues of various local rags from any year you like.

Not mine, it's bloody useless. Even our local rag doesn't have much of an archive!

[reallyloud]

I tried a few years ago to get more info on a Vauxhall Garage that originally sold Datsuns in the late sixties. Personally I found that speaking to the manager of the current dealer goes a long way - certainly in terms of contacts. Regretably the owner had very little other than a few letters and brochures. Another place where I got loads of data (from magazines and journals mostly) was the motor archieve at Beaulieu - they were really helpful and although I didn't find what I was looking for I got distracted by plenty of other articles and photos.

[Drive-By]

That never occurred to me that Beaulieu would be able to help. I think Richard is bang on too the library may gleen some good info and pics.

[trigger]

There's often dealer photos in old issues of Autocar and Motor magazines, It's worth looking on flickr as there quite a few old period photos on there, Spottedlaurel has a group with a few photos in.

 

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1261441@N23/pool/

[254575]

i still have henlys of ewell dealer plates on my '83 maestro.. always wanted to know a bit more about them

[Dead_E23]

The British Library's newspaper collection at Colindale has just about all the local papers ever printed. I think you would need a pretty good idea of what you were looking for though; they have to retrieve most stuff from storage for you and prefer you to pre-order. One for the more dedicated tat researcher, maybe!

[AnthonyG]

The British Library's newspaper collection at Colindale has just about all the local papers ever printed. I think you would need a pretty good idea of what you were looking for though; they have to retrieve most stuff from storage for you and prefer you to pre-order. One for the more dedicated tat researcher, maybe!

You would have a good 'research' reason for them the get the newspapers out for you, just looking at old car adverts may not cut it IIRC this will not be at Colindale much longer, will move up to Boston Spa.

 

The main branch of the local library may have old local newspapers, not so much in paper format, more likely microfilm or a CD Rom. Smaller branch libraries will have very little, there's no space and papers are usually binned after 6 months or so.

 

P.S. If you know the old street address try the local studies dept/archive for photographs.

[Formula Autos]

A bit of an oblique way of getting info, but Planning files at your local Council are 'in the public domain' - so if you know of any alterations to a dealership over the years, this might be a good place to start.

 

As with local papers the info is now likely to be on CD-Rom or microfiche, and you may have to trawl through the records yourself. You may strike gold though and plans (and sometimes even photos) of a long lost dealership could be in your hands for a nominal copying/printing charge.

 

If your local Council is anything like mine (where I work) they'll be well used to pains-in-the-arse coming in and hunting through the records, so if you're polite and don't bother them too much they'll no doubt be OK about you hanging around for hours (i.e you'll be a nice change for them from the usual trouble makers). Bring in a packet of biccies (chocolate hob-nobs is usually best) to share around and you'll no doubt get offered cuppas too.

[Drive-By]

There's often dealer photos in old issues of Autocar and Motor magazines, It's worth looking on flickr as there quite a few old period photos on there, Spottedlaurel has a group with a few photos in.

 

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1261441@N23/pool/

That's fantastic, I'd love to contribute to that or a website/page that anyone could add pics of old garages or old garages as they are now like Spottedlaurels page.

[Spottedlaurel]

Anyone with a Flickr account can add to a group such as that one. I'd love to see more additions so it's not just me and one or two others.

 

I either ry to scan photos from days gone by, or take current photos of places that obvously date back several decades. If I can get both, all the better!

 

Former Mann Egerton then John Grose dealership in Ipswich:

 

 

 

And a random Colt one that you'll like Drive-by:

 

 

As well as old local papers, which aren't always easy to find, another good source of info is regional magazines. County specific, or perhaps something like the East Anglian, usually published by the people who do the newspapers. If you're lucky they'll have something like the Mann Egerton ad above, but even if not there'll be plenty of ad's for dealers which will tell you who used to operate from what premises.

 

 

What is surprising is how many retail dealers there used to be, offering the same marque just a few miles from a rival. I found something like six Hillman dealers in Ipswich in the 1960s, for example.

 

 

Of course old issues of Motor, Autocar and the like are good, especially if they have a supplement on a particular marque as they used to do in the '70s. Manufacturer's literature too sometimes.

 

 

I think a few of these places have a stay of execution right now, due to the lull in the property market, but once things pick up again we'll lose more of them as it seems the dealers want to move out of town and the sites are often well-located for development. As happened here back in the '90s:

 

 

 

Finally, one of my favourites:

 

[Pillock]

Mega-bump! Thought I'd add these here instead of creating a new topic, my day incorporated some urbex-meets-autoshite.

 

A few months ago I had a wander around the yard of this place, just looking to take photos of stuff.

 

 

Lucas of Mansfield - the local catch-all dealer which closed down nearly two years ago. Not surprising really, a tiny showroom and not much space outside can't compete with the purpose-built car supermarkets.

 

So I passed today and I notice something odd..... A bit of the boarding missing! Popped home, grabbed the camera and decided to spend my Sunday afternoon trespassing

 

In we go then.... it's almost inviting me in. Feels more welcoming than AvailableCar, at least....

 

I wasn't expecting much else to be honest, but this showroom is TINY! It's hard to believe they managed to get more than three cars in here. Worth noting that the showroom was split into two, with the other across the yard - that was still firmly boarded up though. Boo.

 

A bit gloomy at the back... Umbrella? Your guess is as good as mine. It wasn't car manufacturer-branded though, hence it's still there....

 

Plenty of dealershite still lying around, two years on. Glasses guides dated '07, the trade plates ran out in 2008. For some reason, a big pile of headrests and the remains of some head units (looks like they were also in a big pile, but no more.... I guess they swap for drugs easier than headrests)

 

Out into the back, let your eyes adjust to the light. This room was actually full of random parts - loads and loads of Daihatsu rear lamp clusters in particular, and lots of spare wheel covers for 4x4s.

 

Up into the loft.... some "stuff that will come in handy" and a christmas tree. I guess car dealers are no different to your nan's house after all.

 

I was expecting more really... maybe some promo posters for the 1993 Justy tucked away. Oh well.

 

I have no idea who these kids were (officer....) - they were skating in the yard outside, saw me go in with a camera and high-viz and assumed I was official! "Can we come in mate?" lolz

 

Oh well. Time to go home before the kids fall through the loft and pin it on me.

[keef]

I managed to save a few photos when they were having a clear out at a local BL dealers I used to work for.

 

http://www.cbcadmin.com/gallery2/main.p ... temId=6635

http://www.cbcadmin.com/gallery2/main.p ... temId=6639

http://www.cbcadmin.com/gallery2/main.p ... temId=6642

[Angrydicky]

Lex Dartford?

[keef]

Lex Dartford?

Lex Bexleyheath

[Drive-By]

fantastic pics all. Pillock I do hope you left "with" the trade plates

[Station]

There's a Daihatsu/Mitsubishi dealer in Sandycroft in Deeside/North Wales I used a couple of years ago a lot. They have a parts department which is basically shared with the showroom. I think they still use microfiche, but this is how tidy it is:

 

 

There's stored Christmas decorations (spot Christmas tree) and old boxes of brochures, and the odd middle section exhaust sitting all over the showroom. It's very cramped, my adventure was documented here:

 

http://jibijib.blogspot.com/2008/07/parts-race.html

[Pillock]

fantastic pics all. Pillock I do hope you left "with" the trade plates

Sadly not.... I'm always conscious of how it'd look if the owners/police turned up whilst I'm trampling around. If I've got a camera and a torch.... probably a ticking off. If I've got pockets full of stuff, well....! Especially 'official' things like trade plates.

 

There were also some head units, computer equipment, boxed parts - had to leave the lot.

 

(well, most of it...)

[keef]

There were also some head units,

I wouldn't have thought you'd be able to move with a cylinder head in each pocket! LOL

[hammy]

Try looking at your local council archives if they have a website, Oxfordshire has about 80,000 pictures online submitted by people and I've posted many of them here before as street scenes but some included car dealerships with tat in stock.

 

I know a local town history group may help too, the one in Biggleswade certainly had a guy who used to photograph everything and his books included car dealers.

 

I also have a picture from 1988 when my Dads then brand spanking new Astra 1.6L estate (complete with handpainted signwriting) was pride of place in the window of A.W Watkin of Biggleswade.

[warren t claim]

I remember somewhere oop north the was a Bentley dealer slap bang in the middle of some terraced houses. One car could of bought the entire street.