Discussion
Me too! I took the train to Victoria and walked via Eaton Square garage up to Hyde Park Corner (where Taylor and Crawley were), then along past Harrods to South Ken and HROwen, Coys, CAR Howard, Gregor Fisken and Nick Mee at one point. There always Mews garages open with cars in them - I remember one 3 car garage with a Dino and a red Jersey registered 250 California in it. Then I’d take the tube to Parsons Green for Heathmans and two or three other dealers in the same unmade road with a BMW dealership on the end. Then down to Kimber Road, but it was a long walk from Southfields Tube. I did this many many time at weekends and in the school holidays, always with a camera. Oh no ... I may have to post some photos for you all... there were always dealers opening and closing - anyone remember very short lived Dunhills? Under the arches in IIRV Black Prince Road. I’ll have to dig out some photos and post them as a trip down memory lane!
Edited by Robert W on Saturday 13th March 11:55
Robert W said:
Me too! I took the train to Victoria and walked via Eaton Square garage up to Hyde Park Corner (where Taylor and Crawley were), then along past Harrods to South Ken and HROwen, Coys, CAR Howard, Gregor Fisken and Nick Mee at one point. There always Mews garages open with cars in them - I remember one 3 car garage with a Dino and a red Jersey registered 250 California in it. Then I’d take the tube to Parsons Green for Heathmans and two or three other dealers in the same unmade road with a BMW dealership on the end. Then down to Kimber Road, but it was a long walk from Southfields Tube. I did this many many time at weekends and in the school holidays, always with a camera. Oh no ... I may have to post some photos for you all... there were always dealers opening and closing - anyone remember very short lived Dunhills? Under the arches in IIRV Black Prince Road. I’ll have to dig out some photos and post them as a trip down memory lane!
That would be great Robert, love to see them, Remember walking past Dan Margulies mews garage with the doors wide open , image that in Edited by Robert W on Saturday 13th March 11:55
today's high security world , couldn't help myself and had a nosy around , pre war road and racing Alfa's. Maserati's ,Speed model Bentley's
Worth thousands then certainly millions now, really nice guy gave me information on the cars without me even asking him, don't know if it was
Dan or not, My friend who lived locally to the mews knew him said he retired to Spain , He remembers him taking a 250 F Maserati out of the
mews into Cromwell Road and doing a loop round the block , said he could hear it echoing of the building half a mile away, couldn't imagine
doing that in today's traffic and with big brother breathing down our necks.
,
If we don't mind going slightly off topic, I'd also like to see people's photos from dealerships from that era.
I only visited Heathman's once and I have some (rubbish) photos...
I'm sure I've got a few more, I'll try and find them.
And to keep it on topic, earlier that same day I had also paid a visit to 108 George Street when they had the legendary pink Countach in the front window.
I only visited Heathman's once and I have some (rubbish) photos...
I'm sure I've got a few more, I'll try and find them.
And to keep it on topic, earlier that same day I had also paid a visit to 108 George Street when they had the legendary pink Countach in the front window.
Martin350 said:
And to keep it on topic, earlier that same day I had also paid a visit to 108 George Street when they had the legendary pink Countach in the front window.
I know they probably looked at him sideways when he specced that pink/grey with the blue interior, but I think he was vindicated - what a great looking colour scheme that was. Martin350 said:
I'm sure it raised a few eyebrows at the factory! 
And it certainly stood out!
No offence to the current owner, if they're on here, but I think it's quite a shame that the car is now white!
Must agree ,i loved that car in pink ,not so keen on the silver bits ,For some reason i seem to remember it wearing V12 And it certainly stood out!No offence to the current owner, if they're on here, but I think it's quite a shame that the car is now white!
Jaguar badges, but could be wrong on that.
,
It was "Wheelhouse in Nottingham that painted it white and believe it now lives in Australia ,
Remember passing there when on my way home from a trip to the north and saw it in their showroom.
Anyone remember the Duluxe flesh coloured 5000S with it's colour coded wheels reg no ELN238Y, that got painted black
with black wheels by Modena Lamborghini in High Wycombe , Read somewhere that's also in Australia.
Although both are a little Marmite it would be nice to see them both back in their original unique colours.
rat rod said:
Martin350 said:
I'm sure it raised a few eyebrows at the factory! And it certainly stood out!
No offence to the current owner, if they're on here, but I think it's quite a shame that the car is now white!
Must agree ,i loved that car in pink ,not so keen on the silver bits ,For some reason i seem to remember it wearing V12 And it certainly stood out!No offence to the current owner, if they're on here, but I think it's quite a shame that the car is now white!
Jaguar badges, but could be wrong on that.
,
It was "Wheelhouse in Nottingham that painted it white and believe it now lives in Australia ,
Remember passing there when on my way home from a trip to the north and saw it in their showroom.
Anyone remember the Duluxe flesh coloured 5000S with it's colour coded wheels reg no ELN238Y, that got painted black
with black wheels by Modena Lamborghini in High Wycombe , Read somewhere that's also in Australia.
Although both are a little Marmite it would be nice to see them both back in their original unique colours.
ELN238Y is indeed in Australia, it looks black, but is in fact navy blue and retains the original "tabacco" interior. The colour was called "avorio rosa" - literally "ivory pink", but sand, beige, flesh-coloured, apricot - not the most flattering colour to describe, but looked good back in the day at the LCUK events
The pink-now-white car was sold by Ton Hartley (not Junior) a few weeks ago to a new owner. I'm hoping they return it to pink as well! I read somewhere that the silver bits were added by Geoff White the owner using a can of Halfords spray paint!
I'll try to stay as on-topic as I can during this trip down memory lane....
HEATHMANS: Heathmans Road, off Parsons Green/Parsons Green Lane, London - right next to Parson's Green tube
This unmade muddy road had a series of warehouses along it. Heathmans was run by Barry Martina, and was one of the three main Italian Exotic car dealers in London in the 1980s. Lots of Countachs, all sort of Lambos, Panteras, Miuras, Maseratis - amazing adverts in the car magazines with multiple Miuras Countachs etc
A Heathmans advert:
In Heathmans Road (not my photo)
A couple of photos through the window:
Some of the metal in the showroom:
And a couple of cars off to new owners: [I never have tracked down the identity of this RHD beige Espada]
HEATHMANS: Heathmans Road, off Parsons Green/Parsons Green Lane, London - right next to Parson's Green tube
This unmade muddy road had a series of warehouses along it. Heathmans was run by Barry Martina, and was one of the three main Italian Exotic car dealers in London in the 1980s. Lots of Countachs, all sort of Lambos, Panteras, Miuras, Maseratis - amazing adverts in the car magazines with multiple Miuras Countachs etc
A Heathmans advert:
In Heathmans Road (not my photo)
A couple of photos through the window:
Some of the metal in the showroom:
And a couple of cars off to new owners: [I never have tracked down the identity of this RHD beige Espada]
PORTMAN Lamborghini
108 George Street, in central London - just off Portman Square. UK Lamborghini concessionaire from the 1970s for Countach LP400 etc all the way up to Diablos in the 1990s before going out of business.
Portman also had a service centre in Brentford.
The "showroom" in London looked like this outside - it was literally a shop front:
Inside was completely crammed - four cars together in a square with a fifth at the back was the maximum:
There was a back door out of the showroom into a private car park, where there tended to be a few more cars:
108 George Street, in central London - just off Portman Square. UK Lamborghini concessionaire from the 1970s for Countach LP400 etc all the way up to Diablos in the 1990s before going out of business.
Portman also had a service centre in Brentford.
The "showroom" in London looked like this outside - it was literally a shop front:
Inside was completely crammed - four cars together in a square with a fifth at the back was the maximum:
There was a back door out of the showroom into a private car park, where there tended to be a few more cars:
Robert W said:
Hi
ELN238Y is indeed in Australia, it looks black, but is in fact navy blue and retains the original "tabacco" interior. The colour was called "avorio rosa" - literally "ivory pink", but sand, beige, flesh-coloured, apricot - not the most flattering colour to describe, but looked good back in the day at the LCUK events
The pink-now-white car was sold by Ton Hartley (not Junior) a few weeks ago to a new owner. I'm hoping they return it to pink as well! I read somewhere that the silver bits were added by Geoff White the owner using a can of Halfords spray paint!
I saw the white Countach advertised by Tom Hartley but didn't realize it was the original pink car, does that mean it never went to AustraliaELN238Y is indeed in Australia, it looks black, but is in fact navy blue and retains the original "tabacco" interior. The colour was called "avorio rosa" - literally "ivory pink", but sand, beige, flesh-coloured, apricot - not the most flattering colour to describe, but looked good back in the day at the LCUK events
The pink-now-white car was sold by Ton Hartley (not Junior) a few weeks ago to a new owner. I'm hoping they return it to pink as well! I read somewhere that the silver bits were added by Geoff White the owner using a can of Halfords spray paint!
or got repatriated,
So the story reference ELN238Y i got years ago about the original owner going into a hard ware store with the Dulux colour chart is just that
,a story and the colour is a official Lamborghini colour, Live and learn, I was also told that he sold his house and lived in a caravan to enable
him to buy it in the first place , Heard this from the man at John Woodfields Emblem Sports Cars in Blamford where it was stored in winter
months .
Only with a Lamborghini do you get these sort of stories especially from this period., Probably told everybody the same .
Thought it was painted black being such a dark blue but i never saw the car in the
flesh( no pun intended ) after it was colour changed only from photo's, often wondered what colour would have gone with the
tabacco interior if the paintwork was changed.
Didn't think the black wheels did it any favours when it was colour changed, fashionable now on the modern cars but not on a Countach.
Spoke to the guy who owned it when he advertised it for £29K in the Sunday Times who told me that the car had survived his divorce and he
sometimes didn't have the money to put petrol in it, and when he left it at Mikes to be worked on he would tell him to stop when he had
reached the amount he had saved up. Remember him telling me he really wanted the buyer to keep it in the original
colour as was his passion for the car.
Thanks for posting the photo's, As cgt2 said good memories.
Edited by rat rod on Sunday 14th March 12:06
Anyone remember the Garage on the Green? I went there for a look around when I was in London for an interview with BA in the late 90s. They let me have a sit in a Birdcage Maserati racing car which was cool. They had a Mugen NSX with fancy teledial style wheels. I’ve never heard of one of the these since.
JuniorD said:
Anyone remember the Garage on the Green? I went there for a look around when I was in London for an interview with BA in the late 90s. They let me have a sit in a Birdcage Maserati racing car which was cool. They had a Mugen NSX with fancy teledial style wheels. I’ve never heard of one of the these since.
Yes they folded about 15 years ago, people had mixed experiences with them. I believe they had the ex Honda UK Mugen NSX which was imported by Honda Chiswick to evaluate whether to sell them in the UK, it was decided they didn't have the market for them here. I owned an original NSX which I had serviced at Power Road and at the time they were quite unloved, so not surprising the Mugen did not come out here. That car however was registered in the UK and I think GOTG were trying to sell it for awhile.
rat rod said:
Anyone remember the Duluxe flesh coloured 5000S with it's colour coded wheels reg no ELN238Y, that got painted black
I saw that car at Castle Combe on one of those 'Supercar Test Days', September 1989.It was the first Lamborghini I ever sat in, which absolutely made my day!
That was when the owner told me that he'd taken a Dulux brochure to Lamborghini and had the car painted to match his garage door!
The car was for sale at the time for £135k.
Edited by Martin350 on Sunday 14th March 14:41
Martin350 said:
rat rod said:
Anyone remember the Duluxe flesh coloured 5000S with it's colour coded wheels reg no ELN238Y, that got painted black
I saw that car at Castle Combe on one of those 'Supercar Test Days'.It was the first Lamborghini I ever sat in, which absolutely made my day!
That was when the owner told me that he'd taken a Dulux brochure to Lamborghini and had the car painted to match his garage door!
The car was for sale at the time for £135k.
Presumably more cost effective than repainting his garage door.
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