Cars ‘made’ in Ireland

offalyred · 24-05-2013 8:27pm

Alesbury wrote: »

Yes I unearthed one about a month ago...if you mean pics of the Alesbury car. Using I/cafe as laptop broken, but will upload in the next week. If you mean pics of the Shamrock, I don't have any.....I just know about it and saw pic on the internet last week

Just wondering if you ever posted that pic anywhere. I have trawled the net but cannot find a pic anywhere. I am from Edenderry btw.

w124man · 26-05-2013 1:57pm

offalyred wrote: »

I am from Edenderry btw.

Wont hold that against you!

hiltan · 27-05-2013 5:00am

Which company start manufacturing tires after Dunlop means second one?

Alesbury · 01-11-2013 6:53pm

Hiya offalyred

Finally I am in a position to send you a foto of the Alesbury car. I had only a grainy foto of it, but now I have had it enhanced and greatly-enlarged. I will scan it to my email tomorrow or Sunday, and will upload it for you then. Hope that suffices. I was actually displaying it IN Edenderry last Sunday at a meeting, and 30 copies of the foto I had printed, were ALL taken by people attending the meeting. I ALSO have a foto of Daniel Alesbury, who built the car, driving a DIFFERENT car that he owned several years earlier....the FIRST car in Offaly (the 6th car in Ireland). It was taken in late-1897 or early 1898

Best wishes

Nigel Alesbury Reid

offalyred · 01-11-2013 6:57pm

That's brilliant Alesbury, Looking forward to seeing any photos you have of Daniel Alesbury and/or his cars.

Offayred

AlekSmart · 01-11-2013 7:06pm

PanhardPL wrote: »

Does anyone remember this Garage,

Don't know of the garage,but I knew a gentleman from Botanic Road,Glasnevin who had two fine examples of M.Panhards moteur.

His name was Jack Cuddihy,and he had a green 4-door saloon plus a rather swish white/cream 24CT Tiger,which went like stink.

From memory Jack worked for the Dept of Defence on Parkgate Street and was well versed on Panhard Armoured Car bits n pieces.

bigmark39 · 01-11-2013 8:34pm

The panhard was a very good car for its time, well engineered and held the road better than most. Their flat twin engine was a cracker.

11wingnut · 02-11-2013 5:41pm

I remember them cars in glasnevin in the early 80's
That garage in lucan also assembled Messerschmidt cars

SEANLINE · 13-02-2014 3:02pm

Kevin_Herron wrote: »

Brittains in Portobello/Ringsend assembled Morris.
Buckleys in Ringsend; Hillman, Humber, Talbot & Riley
Summerfields of Lwr. Baggot Street assembled RHD Chrysler (American model), RHD and LHD Plymouth and some DeSoto.
McCairns on the North Wall and later Santry, assembled Vauxhall and Chevrolet.
Caveys on Camden Street assembled Jaguar.
O'Neills on Pleasants Street assembled Dodge.
Nugents on Parnell Street assembled Peugeot
Assemblers Garage on Townsend Street assembled RHD Hudson
Ashenhurst Williams Talbot Place- Leyland/Citroen
O'Shea's in Cork assembled Opel &Dodge
Grange Motors in Deansgrange assembled Mercedes although I am unsure when they stopped.
Booths Stephen Street assembled Wolseley & MG
Brittains in Portobello/Ringsend assembled Morris
Lincoln & Nolan on Baggot Street assembled Austin.

There are other later plants and ones I have left out.
Its hard to imagine Motor Assembley Plants in the centre of Dublin!

Between 1946 and 1950 Dodge cars were assembled by O'Mahonys Garage on Glasheen Road in Cork just 100 yards from my home.If i promised to behave myself they would let me inside the plant to watch the work.The only colour I ever saw was BLACK, but there I saw flashing traffic indicators for the first time, an improvement on the old semaphore type.I also heard about FLUID DRIVE which was part of the Automatic transmission.They used to do about ONE per week.

Kevin_Herron · 18-02-2014 9:34pm

SEANLINE wrote: »

Between 1946 and 1950 Dodge cars were assembled by O'Mahonys Garage on Glasheen Road in Cork just 100 yards from my home.If i promised to behave myself they would let me inside the plant to watch the work.The only colour I ever saw was BLACK, but there I saw flashing traffic indicators for the first time, an improvement on the old semaphore type.I also heard about FLUID DRIVE which was part of the Automatic transmission.They used to do about ONE per week.

Thanks very much for the info- I had never before heard of O'Mahonys Garage assembling Dodge, it must have been amazing to see.

unfit2006 · 18-02-2014 10:17pm

We have an old flathead 6 cylinder Spitfire engine lying in the corner of the garage that came out of an old Dodge or Chrysler of that era or maybe even a few years earlier. They were popular enough as hackney cars in Ireland apparently.

Kevin_Herron · 18-02-2014 10:22pm

unfit2006 wrote: »

We have an old flathead 6 cylinder Spitfire engine lying in the corner of the garage that came out of an old Dodge or Chrysler of that era or maybe even a few years earlier. They were popular enough as hackney cars in Ireland apparently.

That flathead engine was used largely unchanged in Chrysler products until 1960, long after GM and Ford had switched to overhead valve six cylinders.

unfit2006 · 18-02-2014 10:47pm

The one we have here was coupled to a fluid drive box in it's day as far as my dad can recall.
The engine itself is some lump of iron to look at. I can only imagine what engine and box removal must have been like using a block and tackle.

B2AUDI80 · 19-02-2014 10:26am

The Chico mentioned earlier in this thread was built in what eventually became the Fruit of the Loom factory in Buncrana , it seems there not a lot of survivors in Ireland, they could rot impressively too!!! An uncle had one laying in his yard til the late 90s when it was eventually scrapped, in hindsight it shouldve been saved

Anyone know of any others surviving out there??

Alfonzito · 19-02-2014 1:24pm

My dad worked at the Brittain Assembly Works for a time in the 30's

Silvera · 19-02-2014 4:25pm

B2AUDI80 wrote: »

The Chico mentioned earlier in this thread was built in what eventually became the Fruit of the Loom factory in Buncrana , it seems there not a lot of survivors in Ireland, they could rot impressively too!!! An uncle had one laying in his yard til the late 90s when it was eventually scrapped, in hindsight it shouldve been saved

Anyone know of any others surviving out there??

There is a surviving (fully restored) Chico in Limerick.
(The owner is a member here and will give more details
if he wishes to do so).

hi5 · 19-02-2014 6:13pm

Was there one featured in Irish vintage scene some time back?

aujopimur · 19-02-2014 8:29pm

SEANLINE wrote: »

Between 1946 and 1950 Dodge cars were assembled by O'Mahonys Garage on Glasheen Road in Cork just 100 yards from my home.If i promised to behave myself they would let me inside the plant to watch the work.The only colour I ever saw was BLACK, but there I saw flashing traffic indicators for the first time, an improvement on the old semaphore type.I also heard about FLUID DRIVE which was part of the Automatic transmission.They used to do about ONE per week.

That garage is still there, it's seen a lot of different motor trade uses over the years, at one time Ryans made tubular tables and chairs there.

whisky_galore · 03-03-2014 12:53pm

baalthor wrote: »

They actually started off making tractors in the 1920s. All for export to Britain as very few Irish farmers could afford a tractor.
When the Sierra was launched there was much excitement because some of them would be built in Cork.
However it turned out to be the last car made there as the closure happened soon after.

Spotted a Cork-made Fordson in Western Oz, a long way from home.
Don't know how much thievery was as rampant as the urban legends make it out to be, sort of like that Johnny Cash song about an assembly line worker who makes a car for himself from purlioned bits.:pac: Interestingly, during the War Of Independence and the burning of Cork, Fords sent out photographers to document any damage that may have happened to the plant.

As an aside, Raleigh had an assembly plant in Dublin and bikes turned out there had the 'Raleigh - Nottingham England' badge for a while until they forced them to fit a badge with a blank area where the uk plant name would have been.

Going Strong · 12-03-2014 3:40pm

I went to the Ford plant in cork for a Summer job - must have been 1982. Didn't get it but I can recall a sea of MK3 Escorts out back and 90% of them in red. A few years later and I was on a "Hide the unemployment numbers" course in FAS with a few ex-Ford lads. They were full of tales of how they avoided doing anything resembling a day's work. From what I remember, there was a pretty poisonous atmosphere between management and workers by the time the place was closed down.

Re: Hillman Avengers. My dad had one on order (navy blue estate) but it fell off the transporter on the way down to Cork and was written off so he had to wait a month or so for another one.

papapat14 · 15-02-2017 5:19pm

I trained in Fords at Marino, 1955/58 and would be interested in any info on assembly of all makes and models in Ireland.

corks finest · 16-02-2017 9:54am

S Line wrote: »

They used to assemble beetles in Dublin, was this in the MDL building on the long mile road that now houses Mercedes Ireland?

I think I heard there was a thing around Dublin at the time where people would take the crate that the CKD (complete knock down) body shell came in and used them as garden sheds???

Recently there was a restored Fiat in Classics Monthly magazine that was made in Dublin, where was this done?

Hino trucks were also made in Dublin? Ford had a Factory in cork in know that. Any other car brands assembled in Ireland??

I know about Delorean in N.I. (not trying to be political but technically that’s the UK after all that’s who’s government all the money was embezzled from!!!) and please don’t mention that fibre glass bathtub – the Shamrock

Lego still being made

mattroche · 16-02-2017 4:05pm

!n the 1960s, O Sheas assembled the OPEL in Cork, the Record & Kadett, for the Southern part of Ireland. Reg Armstrong Motors, also assembled them in Dublin for the remainder of the country. I seem to remember O Sheas also assembled the early SKODA. I think they also had the Zetor Tractors, and a small Truck, but I cant remember its name. I vaguely remember being in O Sheas Plant, and they had New Pre War Opels stored there, in an upstaits loft. I think they were called the Admiral? I often wondered what happened to them.!

murph226 · 26-11-2017 1:50pm

I am currently restoring a 1963 Land Rover Series 2A CKD, I would love to find out some more info about where it was put together.

w124man · 26-11-2017 7:25pm

murph226 wrote: »

I am currently restoring a 1963 Land Rover Series 2A CKD, I would love to find out some more info about where it was put together.

Solihull in the UK most likely

elperello · 26-11-2017 11:43pm

murph226 wrote: »

I am currently restoring a 1963 Land Rover Series 2A CKD, I would love to find out some more info about where it was put together.

Could be Australia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Rover_Series

hi5 · 27-11-2017 2:04am

Alesbury wrote: »

(p.s. my great-grandfather Daniel Alesbury built a car in Edenderry Co. Offaly in his factory in 1904. and showed it at the 1907 RDS Motor Show in Dublin)

I came across this article recently.....

http://edenderryhistory.blogspot.ie/2013/07/when-edenderry-was-irelands-detroit.html

113325Alesbury+Car+Scanned.tiff

Thinkingaboutit · 27-11-2017 10:17pm

Austin Cambridge as assembled as distributed by Lincoln & Nolan, ad on back of Capuchin Annual for 1956-57. Assemblers earlier of the Ford V8.

gfwd · 28-11-2017 5:47pm

Those of you on Facebook may find this interesting...

https://www.facebook.com/groups/186452771925056/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

rugbyman · 02-12-2017 11:48pm

gfwd
that photo was taken 700 yards from me. i remember both families, though i do not recall the second Hanratty shop. there was another Hanratty pub across the road.

class1comp · 23-12-2017 11:43pm

1970 article about Renault Wexford plant

1971 article

My interest in this plant is my wife had a faint memory of her aunt's husband being important in Renault. It turned out he was the Pat O'Beirne mentioned in the articles.

Regards
Gerard

Edit I believe this was the location of the plant
52°20'01.7"N 6°27'09.3"W
52.333798, -6.452591

dv.01 · 08-05-2024 10:24pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/81725810#Comment_81725810

Hello,
I'm trying to find out any information for my bachelor's thesis on the assembly of Skoda cars in Ireland. Do you have any information on when Skoda cars were assembled in Ireland? Alternatively any details on assembly, anything, I would be very grateful! There's hardly anything on this in the Czech Republic.

dv.01 · 08-05-2024 10:24pm

Hello,
I'm trying to find out any information for my bachelor's thesis on the assembly of Skoda cars in Ireland. Do you have any information on when Skoda cars were assembled in Ireland? Alternatively any details on assembly, anything, I would be very grateful! There's hardly anything on this in the Czech Republic.

dv.01 · 08-05-2024 10:24pm

Hello,
I'm trying to find out any information for my bachelor's thesis on the assembly of Skoda cars in Ireland. Do you have any information on when Skoda cars were assembled in Ireland? Alternatively any details on assembly, anything, I would be very grateful! There's hardly anything on this in the Czech Republic.

dv.01 · 08-05-2024 10:25pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/81725810#Comment_81725810

Hello,
I'm trying to find out any information for my bachelor's thesis on the assembly of Skoda cars in Ireland. Do you have any information on when Skoda cars were assembled in Ireland? Alternatively any details on assembly, anything, I would be very grateful! There's hardly anything on this in the Czech Republic.

dv.01 · 08-05-2024 10:30pm

Hello,
I'm trying to find out any information for my bachelor's thesis on the assembly of Skoda cars in Ireland. Do you have any information on when Skoda cars were assembled in Ireland? Alternatively any details on assembly, anything, I would be very grateful! There's hardly anything on this in the Czech Republic.

Flag

dv.01 · 08-05-2024 10:31pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/73900703#Comment_73900703

Hello,
I'm trying to find out any information for my bachelor's thesis on the assembly of Skoda cars in Ireland. Do you have any information on when Skoda cars were assembled in Ireland? Alternatively any details on assembly, anything, I would be very grateful! There's hardly anything on this in the Czech Republic.

Flag

Duke of Schomberg · 08-05-2024 10:42pm

"Motor Assembly in Ireland" (Bob Montgomery, Dreolin, 2018) provides a comprehensive coverage of this subject - God knows what it cost me, but not a lot . . . it's A5, paperback, and 240 pages.

Blue850 · 09-05-2024 8:16am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122114097#Comment_122114097

Skodas were assembled here in the 1950s with the original Octavia, the replacement model , the MB wasn't sold in Ireland and the brand was reintroduced in the 1970s with the 100. Try the National Library of Ireland. They hold back issues of Motoring Life and Auto Ireland,Irish car magazines that should feature Skodas from the time

dv.01 · 09-05-2024 10:42am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122114672#Comment_122114672

Do you have any period photos of the factory, something from the period press about assembly in this company? Alternatively, if you had information, were poor quality behind the discontinuation of Skoda cars in the mid-60s? Opel cars were also assembled here, Ford too I think.

Is the original assembly hall where Skoda cars were assembled at this address: Shanowen Rd , Whitehall, Dublin?

Thank you.

prawnsambo · 09-05-2024 10:52am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122114150#Comment_122114150

It's available on Amazon. Used. Publishers are out of stock, so if you want a copy Amazon it is.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Motor-Assembly-Ireland-Irish-Transport/dp/1902773357

Blue850 · 09-05-2024 4:47pm

Buckleys assembled Skodas at Shanowen Rd. Buckleys were better known as assemblers and distributors for the UK Rootes Group, assembling Hillmans etc.

Duke of Schomberg · 09-05-2024 7:30pm

"Recently there was a restored Fiat in Classics Monthly magazine that was made in Dublin, where was this done?
Any other car brands assembled in Ireland??"

Fiat were assembled by W J Henderson, firstly at 15-16 Upper Mayor Street, Dublin, c1948, then at Chapelizod between 1950ish-56, then by Fiat (Ireland) Ltd, Kylemore Road, Dublin from 1968-84.

So as well as Fiat, at various times (and some not for long and/or in small numbers) there were: Adler, Alfa-Romeo, Armstrong-Siddeley, QAustin, Berkeley, Borgward, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Citroen, Crossley, Daihatsu, Datsun/Nissan, DKW, Dodge, Ford, Goggomobile, Graham, Heinkel, Hudson, Hupmobile, Jaguar, Lloyd, Marcos, Mazda, Mercedes, Messerschmidt, MG, Morris, Nash, Nissan/Datsun, NSU, Opel, Packard, Panhard, Peugeot, Polski-Fiat, Renault, Riley, Rover, Shamrock, Skoda, Standard, Studebaker, Toyota, Triumph, Vauxhall, VW, Wartburg, Willys, Wolseley.

Victor · 09-05-2024 7:38pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122116777#Comment_122116777

Is the the same site as Chrysler? There is still a plaque in Santry Garda Station.

https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/5381135702

Duke of Schomberg · 09-05-2024 7:41pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122115142#Comment_122115142

Skoda were first assembled by O'Hea [sic] & Co Ltd in Cork for a period in the mid-1950s. Then, after a short break, Buckley's Motors Ltd, Ringsend, Dublin, started assembly in 1959, ending in 1965. In 1974, following contacts made at the 1973 Earl's Court Motor Show assembly was restarted (along with Desta fork-lift trucks) by the Stephen O'Flaherty (no idea!) owned Eastern Autos Ltd, Seventh Lock Bridge, Dublin, which lasted until 1980.

blackbox · 09-05-2024 7:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/84798550#Comment_84798550

There was a Semperit factory. I think it was somewhere around Ballyfermot.

Victor · 09-05-2024 8:02pm

Oh, what is being made these days? Is it just work vehicles, van / truck bodies and some trailers?

Fork lifts and similar work vehicles - Combilift https://combilift.com/

Ambulances and other custom vehicles - Wilker Auto Conversions Ltd http://wilkergroup.com/

Fitzgeralds Vehicle Body Builders http://www.fitzgeraldsvbb.ie/

Gleeson Truck Bodies https://www.facebook.com/GleesonTruckBodies/

Quinn Refrigerated Vehicles https://quinnrv.com/

Cahill Truck Bodies http://www.cahilltruckbodies.ie/index.html

Thompson of Carlow https://thompson.ie/

This page has a huge list https://www.localbusinesspages.ie/category.asp?category=commercial%20vehicles%20-%20body%20building

Victor · 09-05-2024 8:12pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122117285#Comment_122117285

This was the factory: https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/37760853#map=17/53.33399/-6.35983 It has since been subdivided and re-clad. Semperit 38kV Substation is still there.

The Red Ace · 09-05-2024 9:41pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/74135456#Comment_74135456

I worked at 70 upper Camden St in the seventies , the Jaguar showroom was next door

maidhc · 18-05-2024 3:58pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122115193#Comment_122115193

I bought it in midleton books a month ago, so you could call them too.

Cars ‘made’ in Ireland

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