Raymond 6 Posted October 23, 2015 Report Share Posted October 23, 2015 Hi bill what a memory you have got taff anf the point cleaning we all rember well by the way he taught me to drive as for george suter whst a man he was I have been living in one of his houses some 50 yesrs and still there I remember tje psint job he did at holbrookes his son in law painting the stairs and the pole that was laying on it I remember the vanguard with a broken chassis instead of weliding he fixed it with concrete I went from blue star to coop and then to zipsers and stsyed there till I rrtired best move I ever did I am still driving I have a rover 45 impression nice to keep those memories going freda and I are celibrating our 65 years msrried I With the famiily started with freda and me now there is 22 of us thats about it for now all the best rauI 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
meeowed 314 Posted October 24, 2015 Report Share Posted October 24, 2015 hi Ray do you remember Jimmy Fathers he worked with us at blue star He went to the coop with us he worked in the service bay outside at chapel bar he came to me one morning looking like death quick bill come with me I got to the service bay could not believe my eyes he had left a Simca 1500 on the ramp draining the engine oil overnight The lift had lost pressure and gone down The car was stood on its rear bumper balancing on the oil drainer what a job took ages to get it down without damage then on a brand new car he fitted a different number plate on the front than the one on the back and it went out so he must have done it twice we were all rolled up The last bloke I saw before I left for Australia sadly he was gone by the time I came back What about the clown car at blue star a Citroen light 15 like the one in Maigret the detective it had two rams and being front wheel drive you put the handbrake on and then drove off it stretched twice its length then handbrake off and the back came back to meet it I think it was billy Smarts circus they used to give us free tickets I bet you never forget Bowley you used to torment him everyday Derek Marsden greatest car salesman ever he never left the stove they used to come in take my money He worked for the coop for a while never will be times like that again Ray great days we never thought we would get old Meeowed 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Raymond 6 Posted October 25, 2015 Report Share Posted October 25, 2015 Hi bill I remeber jim fathers grand bloke my family use to hire his caravan on the east coast quite a lot of things I have forgot nice of you to remind me as for bowely what a chap I think I drove him up the walli can see him now with that bowel in his hand never much in itas for derek marsden I thought he was married to the stove but another fair bloke I remeber eric the butcher I use to get my meat off him paying at the weekend I would say how much eric 2 half crowns wow he asked me to change his number plates bcause he did not lke the numbers and letters I said you cannot do thatwell thats about all for bill keep them coming all the best ray 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
plantfit 7,580 Posted October 25, 2015 Report Share Posted October 25, 2015 Raymond/meeowed,these are lovely posts,I bet most of us can relate to your experiences in our own way with people we have worked with in the past,keep em coming Rog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
meeowed 314 Posted October 25, 2015 Report Share Posted October 25, 2015 When I worked at the Coop Ray I got caught by ken hicks with a girl I was seeing while on road test he said your gone this time so I said fair enough and I was glad he didn't give me a rollicking in front of her Oh he said I wasn't bothered who you had got in the car He said do you know who the car belonged to only the chairman of the Coop and he has been going mental in the showroom demanding to know where his car was for the last hour I went to wheelhouse he offered me to start the following week on the Friday I was due to leave the area manager came down a man called Bates needless to say we used to call him Master Bates they decided to give me a final warning only because they had no one who knew anything about Simca cars I said your to late have already got another job he replied is this a personality clash I said no I just want to work on some decent cars for a change Chick Wheelhouse was a great Boss just like Holbrook real old school the first job he asked me to look at was a lamboginni took me ages to find how to get the bonnet up Ha ha Wheelhouse told me that he and the rest of the motor traders thought the coop would wipe everyone out the money they were spending if they only knew hope you and the missus keep well and enjoy a long life Meeowed 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rob.L 1,088 Posted October 25, 2015 Report Share Posted October 25, 2015 Great to read you reminisces! Did either of you ever work with Pat Loftus? Form what he has told us over the years, he worked in pretty much the same places as yourselves. He's a neighbour of ours and a mate of LizzieM too. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Michael Booth 7,364 Posted October 25, 2015 Report Share Posted October 25, 2015 Raymond and meeowed, I was going to put a post on this morning regarding your posts but deleted it as I didn't want you to go private. I've really enjoyed reading your posts and I'm still laughing about the Simca 1500 that was on the ramp draining the engine oil overnight (#334). I hope you both keep posting because I'm sure there are many Nottstalgians, like myself, who are enjoying reading about your memories. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
meeowed 314 Posted October 25, 2015 Report Share Posted October 25, 2015 thanks for you kind response I think I did work with pat when the Coop moved to abbey bridge and I believe he worked for Wheelhouse shortly before me a good mechanic but the Coop involvement in the motor trade was coming to an inevitable end it really was chaos Perhaps he remembers hurtling round the workshop on a go kart it was just normal then the reception manager came upstairs to the workshop seeing the place covered in dense smoke and this go kart roaring round He just shrugged his shoulders turned around and went back down in total despair meeowed 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rob.L 1,088 Posted October 25, 2015 Report Share Posted October 25, 2015 Yes, I messaged his wife, and Pat remembers that incident! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,458 Posted October 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2015 One of the places which meeowed and Raymond have been talking about; the Co-op garage at Chapel Bar. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
meeowed 314 Posted October 26, 2015 Report Share Posted October 26, 2015 Raid the memory banks again Ray do you recall Captain Lovatt when we were at Blue Star he came in one morning in full military uniform saying they had broken down while in convoy We proceeded to Western blvd to find a convoy of three ton bedfords all stopped in line we went through the usual checks and found there was no fuel in the engine Tracing the line back just in front of the petrol tank was a highly polished brass tap clearly in the off position we proceeded down the line turning them all on His reply was egg on face chappy keep stum It was nice to know that in the days of a four minute warning we were more than ready for any attempted Russian invasion Mrs Lovatt went on to work for the Coop as well Also we did work for the tyre firm next door and a rather large chap used to come round in a morning to warm his backside at the stove This stove was a really mean piece of kit it burnt all the old engine oil and it used to glow red hot right up to the chimney and he would hog this for himself the rest of us couldn't get near it So what we did was turn off the oil feed then without him noticing turn it back on it would smoke a little then boom an almighty explosion would rent the air needless to say he took off like a rocket never looking back and then we all got a turn to get warm Meeowed 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Raymond 6 Posted October 27, 2015 Report Share Posted October 27, 2015 Hi bill my memory is failing fast I do remember mrs lovat did she help mrs orajge at wollaton service station I am sure she work there mhen I was there dennis orange was the manager lol perkins was on the pumps mrs orange and mrs lovat assisted the manager ii was on my own in the workshop we use to have a customer name mr phipps who had a rolls royce he was rather concern that his sreen might be when went to council house as the lord mayors rolls screen had been broken hee asked me if I would take him to the counil house and I could have rolls allday well freda and myself went all overthe city unbelievable they were great times as you I worked on simcas when I went to zipser motors mrr zipser told there was a car I could use guess what simca 1000 all for now bill ray 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
meeowed 314 Posted October 28, 2015 Report Share Posted October 28, 2015 Hi Ray not to sure of the timeline myself I think you and Derek Marsden went to the coop first and I stayed at Blue Star with Wilf Humphreys taking on the managers job Denis Orange ran Trent Bridge for the coop for a bit The last I heard of him he had gone to Harrisons at Lowdham I think mrs lovatt came to the Coop with Marsden that's how I got the job Wilf Humphreys was a character do you remember that pipe he had for years it was held together with a piece of heater hose I recall that he rigged a breathing mask of the airline so he could spray the inside of one of the tyre services vans it worked he was spraying away happily Then Peggy the petrol girl who had suffered endless torment by Wilf took the selfgrips from my toolbox and clamped them firmly on his breathing pipe I think it took about five seconds before Wilf staggered out of the van with the mask stuck to his face and going blue I got the blame for it as usual He didn't torment Peggy again Ha ha Meeowed 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
meeowed 314 Posted October 30, 2015 Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 can you recall the boyfriend of Peggy he used to collect all the scrap batteries and exhausts at Blue Star she once put a hole in his head with a stiletto heel he was irish and a real bruiser he had all of his facial features but as Eric Morecambe would say not necessarily in the correct order when I was at Wheelhouse he came in he didn't recognise me but I remembered him I took him out in a Buick convertible and he said Wheelhouse isn't the only bloke with money he pulled out a wad of notes and said there is £10000 there in another pocket he another £10000 I said strewth what do you do for a living He said scrap I thought that's a lot for scrap exhausts etc He said I scrap pit heads when all the pits closed he scrapped them He certainly had come on a lot bet Peggy wished she had stuck with him This was 1975 and later I saw him on tv with the directors of Derby county football club Don't know where I went wrong Ray meeowed 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Raymond 6 Posted October 31, 2015 Report Share Posted October 31, 2015 Hi bill yes peggy and her boyfriend taught about cat and dog thats all I will say on that one thing I remember taff and me took the speedboat to car mill dam liverpool to race against the outbourds what a laugh we were last in very race the wheel bearings on the trailor collapsed we finished replacing on the road site near knutsford the polce was not very pleased all for the moment bill I will get mythinking cap on again once again bill cheers ray 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rob.L 1,088 Posted November 1, 2015 Report Share Posted November 1, 2015 Bill, I've sent you a private message. You can read it by clicking on the red icon top right of the screen. Cheers! 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
meeowed 314 Posted November 1, 2015 Report Share Posted November 1, 2015 when we worked at Hollbrookes ray do you recall that enormous Alfa Romeo that he got hold off it had two spare wheels on the back it was like sitting on top of a double decker bus When he came up from town it sounded like a spitfire coming it took half the garage up at night when we fetched it in I was watching some vintage car rally on tv some years ago Talk about a small world up comes the bloke I worked for in oz driving the identical car On e bay the other day was a cotal gearbox like the one you did on that Delahaye they wanted $3000 just for the box when we were at Blue Star I saw an Allard a flat head v8 it would spin the wheels in all the gears One on e bay asking $22000 the most expensive car I ever worked on was a Plymouth hemi Barracuda at Wheelhouse massive v8 ram air induction I went up the ollerton ramper wont say how fast but really quick I found a video on you tube one in America went for auction fetched $3.5million dollars if we ever get to the pearly gates Ray a voice will call out just the blokes weve been waiting for come and have a look at this chariot the wheels keep coming off and it will be here we go again meowed 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
meeowed 314 Posted November 1, 2015 Report Share Posted November 1, 2015 as regards giga post I know the feeling I went to a dealer in Mansfield for a ariel leader motorcycle came out with a massive s7 shaft drive sunbeam They were good salesmen then The citreon light 15 used to wear out the keyway on the front hubs and we had to fit what they called a step key so it fitted both keyways but this clown car was hilarious it used to go twice its length then concertina back together Billy Smarts circus had it also went outside to fit a new battery to one of their wagons only to find a lion in a cage in the back I said forget it meowed 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Raymond 6 Posted November 1, 2015 Report Share Posted November 1, 2015 Hi bill just a brief outlay befor holbrookes I started at the age of 14 1944 at central garage next door to the county hotel working 8 tll 6 5 days 8 till 1 saterday 1 pound per week my first job was the removable of a austin 7 engine I was given a set of spanners and a screwdriver pair of pliers all with my number on verystrict I wasthere 2 years I then went to a garage in west bridgeford further 2 years I was then called up to do national service in the army I asked for motor section but they would not ha have me they said we do repair vehicles we just swop things after leaiving the army as a corporal chief clerk and a typist civvy street to holbrooks the rest you know ray 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
meeowed 314 Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 I would love to see a picture of Wheelhouse garage on Mapperly plains all housing now as is Speeds garage they were the Volvo agents another really old one was Ristes on forest road They were Rolls and Bently I think they are still trading on gamble street Meeowed Quote Link to post Share on other sites
I Know Nothing 2 Posted November 7, 2015 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Wonder if anyone remembers the little Gogomobiles (think that's right spelling) that Beardall's use to sell back in the 1950's ? and how about their recovery vehicle a much modified split screen VW Transporter registration number ending in TUG? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,458 Posted November 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 For info re: Chequered Flag see post #190 onwards in this thread. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
I Know Nothing 2 Posted November 7, 2015 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 A few from Bestwood area, Hammonds of Daybrook, British Leyland dealers. Renshaw and Newsome, Edwards lane Skoda dealers. NCV garage Hucknall road. How about Hutchinson Brothers at red hill? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
meeowed 314 Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 when I worked at holbrookes we sold a brand new gogomobile I think they were two stroke powered if Ray sends in he would know more about it a little four wheeler never saw one since I thought beardall was on beechdale road I got a nice mk2 zodiac from him in the 60s just near the island meowed Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,458 Posted November 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 Beardall's was the VW dealer on Loughborough Road (next to ASDA / GEM). They later became Bristol Street, then various other VW names. See post #66 onwards in this thread. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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