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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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There was always a cartoon type advert in the NEP for Shipsides, drawn by a guy named Keith Armstrong, He signed his cartoons "KARM"

Very nice chap, he was in the NEP a few years back for having a "pet" fox. I believe he lived in the Bestwood lodge area.

Would be nice to see those cartoons again if anyone has a picture or copy of the NEP from the 60s/70's

Rog

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Other old car dealers were

Morkel and Carnell on talbot street and Cripps (sold Routes Group cars) on lower parliament street also Oscrofts on castle boulevard these were the original Vauxhall dealers and lastly the carter gate motor company next to the corpo bus depot on parliament st

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The proliferation of new car dealerships in former times is quite amazing. I guess in the days before conglomerates like British Leyland, there were lots of independent makes to sell.

Before WW2 most garages were 'agents' for manufacturers so they sold cars on behalf of the maker's. This means that the car stock belonged to the maker, not the garage. They usually were members of the 'Motor Agents' Association' and sold a variety of makes.

Following WW2 garages started to buy their own stock and were called 'dealers' and focused on a smaller number of aligned makes.

In legal terms an 'agent' and a 'dealer' are quite different. Even the Motor Agents' Association had to change its name and cease using the term 'agent'.

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  • 6 months later...

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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Found this old thread about Quality Cars, this is where my husband got his first car from, a Ford Anglia in 1964 still got the receipt see attached

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Hi Kath, Not been on for a while just seem to have been really busy. Yes it is 1964, he should have kept the registration as it is his initials .

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Blacknells M/c and scooter dealers but also had a car garage at the junction of Arkwright st and London rd. just before Trent bridge. They also manufactured motorcycle sidecars until the Mini hid the market. The first sidecar factory was at the bottom of Derby rd. entry via the skills car park. It was then moved to the Tidmas factory on Alfred st south and the last move was to Clatons Warf at the side of the river Leen Gregory st. Lenton. This last move was around 1960 if I remember right until production ceased.

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  • 2 months later...

Atkeys Austin were on Huntingdon Street. Sytner bought it, or maybe the next door Truman Rolls Royce or maybe both. The site is now where Aldi is.

So a bit of old folklore. Barry Thomas (of B&K Thomas) and George Beardall (of Beardall Motors next door to Asda) and others including my Dad were drinking in the George in late 1945. They had been de-mobbed from the forces. The conversation turned to their future careers. They had all been associated with the motor trade pre-war. Barry said "I think I have got the agency for Mercedes Benz" George said "I'm in with a chance of a dealership in this new Volkswagen setup". A cry went up from somebody "You both must be bl***y mad - nobody's going to buy German cars".

BMW and Sytner came much later.

I reckon I can remember the lady who pumped petrol at B&K. My Dad had an account there. She always made a fuss of me. She wore a maroon coloured overall coat, had dark hair and a soft pink complexion. I could almost remember her name if I was reminded. Was it Joyce? They stopped selling fuel about 1970, I reckon.

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Re #112, Blacknells were Vespa dealers and Hugh (?) Blacknell was a member of the Vespa club but it didn't help with any discount when as a fellow member you spent any brass there!

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As a young man in one of my first jobs I used to barrow the parcels over to the post sorting office on Lower Parliament st next to Shipsides Showroom, would always oggle the little sports cars there but I cannot remember what they were, don't think they were any more than a few hundred quid back then though.

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re #120, they would have been your namesake, MG Midgets, B's and AH Sprites. As you surmise, I reckon prices would have been around the £600 - £1200 mark in the late 60's but fetching a hell of a lot more today.

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Clffton, I actually worked as a pump attendant in the 70s, part time at the (then) Co-op garage on Wollaton Vale when my main job was milk roundsman. Easy money and unwanted co-op stamps thrown in.

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As a young man in one of my first jobs I used to barrow the parcels over to the post sorting office on Lower Parliament st next to Shipsides Showroom, would always oggle the little sports cars there but I cannot remember what they were, don't think they were any more than a few hundred quid back then though.

Shipside's were main dealers for Wolseley, MG, Morris and Vanden Plas. Atkey's were the main dealer for Austin and the rest of the BMC makes.

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