Old NW car dealers

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Discussion

Blown2CV

28,697 posts

202 months

Tuesday 22nd July 2014
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B1G GK said:
MarsellusWallace said:
A bit OT but Smokies-that was a rum place!
Was it Fingerblast Thursday's there - Singles night?
lol, was that the real name or did you just call it that?!

SCOUSE99

19 posts

116 months

Wednesday 23rd July 2014
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Blown2CV said:
My Dad's mate used to own Leaders. It was Lada too back in the day. Has a new place in lpool but not sure which.
I visited Leaders several times, they always seemed a decent dealership; very helpful. I think they struggled when Stoneacre got a Fiat franchise nearby.


SCOUSE99

19 posts

116 months

Wednesday 23rd July 2014
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A few more from the Merseyside area;

Rybrook Volvo Liverpool - Now Lightcliffe Honda.

Kings Chrysler/Jeep - Now Lookers Citroen.

Thornton Garage Daihatsu {previously Peugeot} - Crosby - Now a Tesco Metro.

Hall Motors Peugeot - Wirral - Now M53 Ford.

Lewis Reed Nissan/Renault - Wirral - Now branded as Renault Retail.

SCOUSE99

19 posts

116 months

Wednesday 23rd July 2014
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Does anybody know what is now on the site of Arnold Clark Citroen in Aigburth, Liverpool {on the way to Liverpool airport]? It seemed to shut down almost overnight around 6-7 years ago, and seems to have been demolished.

Emeye

9,773 posts

222 months

Thursday 24th July 2014
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Blown2CV said:
B1G GK said:
MarsellusWallace said:
A bit OT but Smokies-that was a rum place!
Was it Fingerblast Thursday's there - Singles night?
lol, was that the real name or did you just call it that?!
Smokies. Jesus, I had some interesting nights out there.

I also once took a yellow Metro GTA for a test drive from the garage across the road. The garage owner gave me and my mate the keys, which surprised us. After we'd blasted up the lane towards Park Bridge, we pulled over for a nosey and discovered that only the front half was an original yellow Metro GTA, the rear half was a white one sprayed yellow!

We drove more slowly back to the garage...... hehe

J4CKO

41,284 posts

199 months

Friday 25th July 2014
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Anyone remember Moss Nook garage on Styal Road near the Airport ?

tfin

366 posts

121 months

Friday 25th July 2014
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SCOUSE99 said:
Does anybody know what is now on the site of Arnold Clark Citroen in Aigburth, Liverpool {on the way to Liverpool airport]? It seemed to shut down almost overnight around 6-7 years ago, and seems to have been demolished.
Yeah I remeber that, its a block of flats or something now. It did seem strange the way it just shut, I remeber going there with my parents when they bought a Picasso 7ish years ago.

SCOUSE99

19 posts

116 months

Monday 28th July 2014
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Anyone remember Switch Car???

Big used car supermarket on Dunnings Bridge Road in Netherton, Liverpool. They seemed to do good business, despite the majority of their stock always seeming worse for wear; I remember looking at a three-year-old VW Polo that was covered in scuffs and had a flat tyre!
They were eventually bought out by Carcraft about 6/7 years ago, who promptly shut the site and moved the stock to their own showroom in Knowsley.

The showroom is still there now, and is literally falling to bits! Not sure whether Cacraft is still going. The last time I passed the Knowsley showroom the forecourt was empty.

SCOUSE99

19 posts

116 months

Saturday 2nd August 2014
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Clint Motor Company, a Hyundai dealership and former Skoda main dealer based in Wavertree appear to have lost their franchise to Johnsons, who have recently opened a Hyundai dealership next to their existing Toyota/Lexus dealership on Rimrose Road in Bootle.
I think the Toyota dealership was previously Evans Halshaw Toyota?

encnew

6 posts

115 months

Sunday 3rd August 2014
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School lane garage Hollins Green ... later Awesome GTI
Red Rose car sales... Adlington few different dealers under one roof specializing in hot hatch... GT Turbos,205 GTi, XR3, cosworth etc etc
Fast Lane cars Wigan ... as above
Knibs Fiat Bolton ... brother was a mechanic there... they also had a female mechanic at the time

Anyone remember Jaguar House near Freckleton on the A6 Blackpool road?

SCOUSE99

19 posts

116 months

Monday 11th August 2014
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I remember the Daewoo dealership on Sefton Street in Liverpool.
Didn't Daewoo themselves initially own all of their UK dealerships? Every Daewoo I seem to see {which these days is very little} has the Daewoo logo and a phone number on the number plate.

Anyway, the Liverpool dealership was eventually taken over by Arnold Clark, who continued the franchise when Daewoo were bought by Chevrolet.
I always found that odd, as Lookers also had a Chevrolet dealership about 10 minutes up the road!
Arnold Clark eventually lost the franchise, and moved their hire car business from nearby Great Homer Street into the Chevrolet dealership.

SCOUSE99

19 posts

116 months

Monday 11th August 2014
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Widnes Car Centre, a Nissan dealership for many years, have become Bristol Street Nissan Widnes.

SCOUSE99

19 posts

116 months

Friday 15th August 2014
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SCOUSE99 said:
Leaders Citroen/Fiat - Bootle - Now a Aldi.

Caledonia Peugeot - Had two franchises in Merseyside, one in Bootle and one in Old Swan. Bootle dealership shut around ten years ago and is now an Lidl, while the Old Swan dealership was taken over by Peugeot's dealer group, Robins and Day.

Arnold Clark used to have a large presence in Liverpool, with a SEAT dealership on Great Homer St, Nissan and Chevrolet dealerships on Sefton St and a Citroen dealership in Aigburth; they now only have a Kia/Mazda dealership on the site of the former Nissan dealership and a car rental unit in the place of the Chevrolet dealership.
Talking of Caledonia, I remember how massive they were in the early 2000's. At one point, they had several Fiat and Renault franchises, as well as the Peugeot one in Liverpool. It was quite a surprise when they went bust.

Wacky Racer

38,099 posts

246 months

Friday 15th August 2014
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eddy02 said:
Wacky Racer said:
Yes, it was in the bottom of Bardsley Brew, on the right going up towards Oldham. I very nearly bought a Maroon Pontiac Firebird from there in 1978 for £3000, until I came to my senses when I found out the mpg figures.

Val Morton in Stalybridge was another American car dealer at that time......
Are you getting mixed up with the perfomance car place that was there,the American cars were further up next door to Park Cake bakeries.
Yes, you are quite correct, the dealer you referred to further down didn't sell large American cars........

Blown2CV

28,697 posts

202 months

Sunday 17th August 2014
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SCOUSE99 said:
SCOUSE99 said:
Leaders Citroen/Fiat - Bootle - Now a Aldi.

Caledonia Peugeot - Had two franchises in Merseyside, one in Bootle and one in Old Swan. Bootle dealership shut around ten years ago and is now an Lidl, while the Old Swan dealership was taken over by Peugeot's dealer group, Robins and Day.

Arnold Clark used to have a large presence in Liverpool, with a SEAT dealership on Great Homer St, Nissan and Chevrolet dealerships on Sefton St and a Citroen dealership in Aigburth; they now only have a Kia/Mazda dealership on the site of the former Nissan dealership and a car rental unit in the place of the Chevrolet dealership.
Talking of Caledonia, I remember how massive they were in the early 2000's. At one point, they had several Fiat and Renault franchises, as well as the Peugeot one in Liverpool. It was quite a surprise when they went bust.
many of the big chains go pop. There have been countless over the years. Problem is, if you're aiming for scale then you are operating on very low margins (typically lots of fleet deals) and you need to keep that huge throughput up. They're not very resilient to negative changes in the market, even temporary ones. It's still quite a people-intensive business too. Ironically it was during the boom of the mid 90s to the mid 00s that many of them went. Can only assume they tried to be too ambitious, and once you're big you lose control of what's happening on the ground. Lots of the big chains have truly ste reputations for customer service, quality control etc.

SCOUSE99

19 posts

116 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
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Maclaren Nissan Liverpool - On the dock road. Went about 2001/02 and now Arnold Clark Kia/Mazda.

Duerdens Vauxhall in Formby has recently gone; probably struggled with rivals like Lookers Vauxhall in Bootle.

The old Peoples Ford dealership on Linacre Lane is still standing, about ten years after they relocated to nearby Orrell Lane!

berlintaxi

8,535 posts

172 months

Wednesday 20th August 2014
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J4CKO said:
Anyone remember Moss Nook garage on Styal Road near the Airport ?
That was a strange old place if I remember correctly, one week £250 bangers, next week it would be full of Ferrari and Porsche.

J4CKO

41,284 posts

199 months

Saturday 23rd August 2014
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berlintaxi said:
J4CKO said:
Anyone remember Moss Nook garage on Styal Road near the Airport ?
That was a strange old place if I remember correctly, one week £250 bangers, next week it would be full of Ferrari and Porsche.
I worked there in the late eighties and it was generally Fords and Vauxhalls, bread and butter stuff, think it changed hands about 2000 and was owned by travellers who perhaps had some fancier cars on there, its a Limo company now.

crostonian

2,427 posts

171 months

Saturday 23rd August 2014
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Does anyone remember the name of an Alfa dealer in Blackburn near the top of Montague Street, and was there an Alfa dealer in Great Harwood back in the 70s? Been racking our brains at work and no-one can remember.

andicog

28 posts

156 months

Saturday 30th August 2014
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I worked at Trimoco Peugeot in Crosby around 1990, the bodyshop was a mess compared to others, I worked for Tom England's in Thornton before that (happiest place I've ever worked at) , Peugeot build quality was laughable compared to Audi/VW, happy days, 205gti's and 405 mi16's made up for it. Remember doing a full repaint on a brand new 405 before it went into the showroom and 605's having rust removed when new. Remember Pollards Ford by Lark Lane, dad bought a brand new mk1 face lift Capri there in 73, what about Wallworks Volvo? Does anyone remember 'Cars of distinction' , they sold Ferrari, Lamborghini, porsche etc, they were on Hatton Garden near the city centre, spent many a youthful Saturday peering through the window.

Edited by andicog on Saturday 30th August 18:48


Edited by andicog on Saturday 30th August 18:49