How about a 'period' classics pictures thread

[aeropilot]

uk66fastback said:

P5BNij said:

The Great West Road, 1970...

Loved the Firestone building ... pity it was demolished ...

Anyone remember the office block with Alfa Laval on it by the side of the M4 (south side) - just before Chiswick, mid 80s ...

It shouldn't have been demolished.......contractors went in on the Sunday of the August Bank Holiday and ripped the façade down when they found out it was probably going to be listed effective from the following day.
I remember it vividly, as not only did I live local, but I was starting my first full time job (in the construction industry) immediately after the Bank Holiday, and the circumstances around the demolition by a 'rival firm' was the hot topic of conversation in the office on my first day at work.

[RichB]

aeropilot said:

It shouldn't have been demolished.......contractors went in on the Sunday of the August Bank Holiday and ripped the façade down when they found out it was probably going to be listed effective from the following day.
I remember it vividly, as not only did I live local, but I was starting my first full time job (in the construction industry) immediately after the Bank Holiday, and the circumstances around the demolition by a 'rival firm' was the hot topic of conversation in the office on my first day at work.

Indeed, it was in the papers and everything. I think it's one of the reasons the Hoover Building at Perivale on the A40 got so much attention because they realised what land owners were prepared to do.
p.s. I grew up just off the Boston Manor Rd...

[RichB]

Keep it stiff said:

Is that a Marcos in lane 3 with Mk1 Cortina rear lights?

[KateV8]

Hope this is in keeping with the spirit of the thread, I scanned the photo in from a 1985 copy of Car magazine I found in an antiques shop. The field of cars was called 'Paul Ford's Farm' which was in Cheshire and apparently was very popular in the day, the Ford family bought new or nearly new cars from dealers and sold them at small profit margins relying on high turn over to make money. There is no clue in the article as to where it was or what became of it and despite being from Cheshire myself I don't remember it. Does anyone else, or did any of you buy a car from here? If nothing else the photo is a glorious 80's fest of ordinary cars for the masses. You can almost hear Dire Straits playing in the cassette machines...

[JZZ30]

Early days of 'Fords of Winsford'?

[droopsnoot]

Yes, I think that's the start of Fords of Winsford. I never went to see them at that location, but when I saw that photo I immediately thought "Car magazine article", I've got that somewhere. Moved to what is now the Car Transplants damaged-repairables site, then on to purpose-built place on the by-pass.

[aeropilot]

droopsnoot said:

Yes, I think that's the start of Fords of Winsford.

Thought they'd been going since the early 60's....?

[KateV8]

Well I did think there was an obvious Ford's of Winsford connection but I seem to remember going to that place only a few years after the photo was taken and it was a professional looking car supermarket then. So either they expanded very quickly or my memory is letting me down.

[droopsnoot]

aeropilot said:

Thought they'd been going since the early 60's....?

Oh yes, seems that they started in 1959. I hadn't realised they'd been around so long, but then I wasn't interested much before the mid to early 80s.

ETA: Now I've posted, I'm beginning to wonder whether I've just presumed that the farm in the Car article became the current business, or whether it was just similarly-named. There is (or was) a pair of brothers around here running separate businesses that I'd always thought were linked but turned out not to be, though not in the car trade. I wonder if I've done the same here. Nothing about their history on the official web site though.

Edited by droopsnoot on Tuesday 7th February 11:25

[Spanglepants]

I can't find an appropriate thread to post this, but found this looking for photos of where I grew up.
Its Wadham Stringers on Brixton Hill

[Yertis]

Spanglepants said:

I can't find an appropriate thread to post this...

I think you just did - great pic!

[aeropilot]

Spanglepants said:

I can't find an appropriate thread to post this, but found this looking for photos of where I grew up.
Its Wadham Stringers on Brixton Hill

Great pic.....I'd guess taken around 74-76 ish?

2 x FD Victors, a MkIV Zody, a Triumph 2500 in the showroom, and a rare Wolseley Six on the forecourt

[droopsnoot]

aeropilot said:

2 x FD Victors,

FEs.

[dbdb]

KateV8 said:

Hope this is in keeping with the spirit of the thread, I scanned the photo in from a 1985 copy of Car magazine I found in an antiques shop. The field of cars was called 'Paul Ford's Farm' which was in Cheshire and apparently was very popular in the day, the Ford family bought new or nearly new cars from dealers and sold them at small profit margins relying on high turn over to make money. There is no clue in the article as to where it was or what became of it and despite being from Cheshire myself I don't remember it. Does anyone else, or did any of you buy a car from here? If nothing else the photo is a glorious 80's fest of ordinary cars for the masses. You can almost hear Dire Straits playing in the cassette machines...

Yes, that's what Fords of Winsford was like in the 1980s. I remember visiting that site. They did expand very rapidly shortly after this.

[aeropilot]

droopsnoot said:

aeropilot said:

2 x FD Victors,

FEs.

Fat finger syndrome......

If only the D wasn't right below the E

Victor FS or FW etc might have stood out as being obviously wrong

[Morningside]

dbdb said:

KateV8 said:

Hope this is in keeping with the spirit of the thread, I scanned the photo in from a 1985 copy of Car magazine I found in an antiques shop. The field of cars was called 'Paul Ford's Farm' which was in Cheshire and apparently was very popular in the day, the Ford family bought new or nearly new cars from dealers and sold them at small profit margins relying on high turn over to make money. There is no clue in the article as to where it was or what became of it and despite being from Cheshire myself I don't remember it. Does anyone else, or did any of you buy a car from here? If nothing else the photo is a glorious 80's fest of ordinary cars for the masses. You can almost hear Dire Straits playing in the cassette machines...

Yes, that's what Fords of Winsford was like in the 1980s. I remember visiting that site. They did expand very rapidly shortly after this.

Just checked the Rover and it was last taxed in 1995. Plus it was one of those utterly dreadful 2000cc engines. Utterly crap they were. I should know...I had one and it was so gutless it could barely climb a kerb.

[vixen1700]

Can't be too many of those boxy Alfas left.

[TR4man]

vixen1700 said:

Can't be too many of those boxy Alfas left.

That's not necessarily a bad thing is it?

[vixen1700]

True.

[forsure]

Morningside said:

Just checked the Rover and it was last taxed in 1995. Plus it was one of those utterly dreadful 2000cc engines. Utterly crap they were. I should know...I had one and it was so gutless it could barely climb a kerb.

I'd forgotten that there was a 2-litre version; can't be many of those left, if any.