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Yes that was him,I remember now he was a butcher, sorry to hear he died. I presume your Berkeley 325cc was the Villiers 3t which was a bored out 2T.

Regarding canvas roofed 3 wheelers, a guy that we used to see when we hung about on Central Avenue, W.Bridgford had an old Reliant van, it had girder forks and canvas roof. The owner was in his 20's, very well spoken,well dressed and always had a silver hip flask of whiskey.

He was drunk when he crossed Radcliffe Road at the old swing bridge junction at Rutland Road, he was hit and overturned by a Bonneville with Avon Steamliner ridden by Steve from the Meadows. We helped him get it back on its wheels. Steve lost his front teeth and cut his lip, he took off the Streamliner soon afterwards. They where terrible in head-on bumps.

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I remember the number plate being on the Corniche I did lots ofJensens they were a nice motor good bird puller I was working on one in the showroom and when I turned round there was a woman standing

Not really relevant to this thread but to those who know about my ordeal with my first car, Pixie, the C3. She was bought from me on Tues for £150. I didn't want anything for it other than to no longe

I had a thames camper in the sixties me and my mate put a four speed gearbox in had the same problem we put a separate lever in between the drivers legs You had to make sure you were in neutral before

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Can't recall a 3T, there was a villiers 4T which was a later square finned 250 as fitted to RE Turbo Twins (another British bike disaster) as stated Berkley had 325 Excelsior Engine, think that their own engine? also had same engine in a greeves road ride

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Re the Villiers 3T, I had a 1959 Panther Model 35 250cc which had the 2T, Panther also made a Model 45 325cc which had the Villiers 3T. I think some of the other small manufacturers which used Villiers had the 3T. The trouble was that once people had passed their test on a 250cc they didn't bother with a 325cc.

I have just found a showroom leaflet for the Berkeley, a real one, not online,optional extras included spare wheel and tyre (tyre not available from manufaturers), fuel gauge and luggage grid.

The BMC Mini was so much better and finished off many utility vehicle makers.

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  • 2 months later...

Morkell and Carnell moved to their Talbot Street / Wollaton Street site around 1963. Before that they had a multi-storey showroom on Derby Road near the Albert Hall - which got demolished for the Maid Marian Way / Parliament Street / Derby Road roundabout. It had a huge lift inside for moving the cars in and out.

Another independent car dealer was Teds Motors near the junction of Mansfield Road and Huntingdon Street. He dispalyed a sign 'any make of new car supplied'. There was a neon sign above the glass doors saying 'TEDS MOTORS'. The the late 1950s my dad bought an Austin A55 Cambridge there. Later on it changed hands and the new owners not wishing to spend money on a new neon sign wound some tape around the tube so that it read T-D MOTORS.

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Re the 3T, thinking back about that greeves I had now not so sure what engine it had, may well have been been such esp as 325cc, I remember I took the baffles out the silencers, sounded superb tone wise but way over the top volume wise esp at tick over, which is what it was doing when plod pulled me over, in court recall him consulting his note book and saying how far his tape had gone before it hit an obstruction, (probably the pistons!)

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Not a good idea to take the baffles out of the 3T's silencers Ashley. Wasn't the back pressure caused by the baffles neccessary for optimum performance? I doubt the silencers were "tuned" for such, more likely just as their name implies? as I recall sort of a standard type fitted to a few types, maybe coming down bray hill at 18,000 rpm you'd notice a difference but not down milton street, lol. Talking of noise turn up volume an and hit play! (ok a 4 stroke but couldn't find that yam 250)

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There was one of the "bomb site boys" quite well known in Basford, (that well known I've forgotten his name! Bob something or other, unusual surname too) am sure others will know of him, esp Craig Strongman, had various sites over the years plus a scrap yard at and behind the former five ways garage. But the "best" (some will say cheeky ist) was a guy living on the ring road in ex council semi with tarmac'd front garden, had various cars up for sale, sometimes 5 or 6 at a time c/w with proper dealers "One Owner" "Low Mileage" "P/E Welcome" etc plus price screen stickers on said tarmac and wide pavement outside! We used to joke re petrol pumps being installed and tyre fitting bay in his garage, needless to say didn't last long! but an interesting episode.

i remember that, ashley! he wasn't a million miles from where i used to live.

another car dealer had a pitch opposite southwark school for a time in the mid 70's,on the little triangle of land thats got benches and flower beds on it now.

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As you said, quite local to you Phil! recall the other one you mentioned, remember the one that used to be at Northern Bridge? on the old railway entrance station area? or the one on Northgate sort of next to Tweeds?

No not that Bob, Mick2Me, the one you are thinking of at colwick is still going strong or was about 10 years ago! not sure if same owners though

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Borrowing this from the Cinemas thread, I don't remember the "Quality Cars" dealer on the corner of Mansfield Road/Shakespeare Street - complete with a Ford Consul Classic in the showroom.

(And a bit further along Shakespeare Street was Dawsons the motorbike dealers?)

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I reckon it might be this that replaced the Mechanic's Institute building we were talking about Mick?

The Mechanics From 1964

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In 1964 the Mechanics' Institution decided to redevelop the building on the same site. The stone façade of the 1845 building was exported by an American and re-erected as his Californian hunting lodge.

The new building was called Birkbeck House and cost around £750,000 (£11,327,921 as of 2010). The Mechanics' used the first floor and rented out the rest of the building to tennants.

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Allied Carpets were in the ground floor of Birkbeck House.

There was a court room in the Mechanics used by the East Midlands Traffic Area office. They used to hear cases to grant or rescind HGV Operators Licences and licence bus operators and bus routes. It became redundant when stage transport was deregulated in 1988-ish

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Any one remember, F Mitchell on Derby road, my uncle worked for them in their Farm services department, as a lorry driver, before going to their, industrial sector, they specialised in Massey Ferguson machinery, the Farm services department was at the back of the garage, they also had a large hanger on beeston fields golf club.

My uncle got to know Frank Mitchell quite well, and after Frank sold his part in the business, he moved to Godshill, Isle of White, and invited my uncle and his family to stay several times on holiday.

I don't know about the garage, or farm services but part of Mitchell's is still operating in Sutton-in-Ashfield, under the name of Mitchell Powersystems they now specialise in Allison Transmissions....

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I'd forgotten Shipsides until they were mentioned recently by Jigsaw, and for the life of me can't remember where they were prior to moving to Huntingdon Street.

Someone tell me please, I'm racking what's left of me brain here !!

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They had two showrooms one on Lower Parliament Street, and another at South Nottingham Automarket Clifton Bridge

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leicester-vehicle-photography/5971352093/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leicester-vehicle-photography/with/5971351965/

On this last link scroll through first 20 or so photos and you'll find almost every garage/main dealership Nottingham has ever had, I'm sure it will blow away a few cobwebs

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