Cars ‘made’ in Ireland

VolvoMan · 20-08-2011 11:00pm

Here is an article on aronline.co.uk about Austin and Standard-Triumph assembly in Ireland: http://www.aronline.co.uk/index.htm?irelandf.htm

RS1700T · 20-08-2011 11:00pm

Bigus wrote: »

Believe it or not there were cars Made in Rathfarnham in Dublin.

I will come back with details nothing on the web but i'll get the info Again) first hand. Borgward comes to mind though

No Bull;)

Borgwards were assembled on Butterfield Avenue behind The Bluehaven pub ,
P R Reilly , Howth Road , assembled LLYODS .

TVR'S were assembled in a small premises on Marlborough Lane off Marlborough Road in Donnybrook .

RS1700T · 20-08-2011 11:06pm

Mercedes Benz , agents in the early 50s were in Deansgrange , dont know for sure but I think they were brought in built as were Bristols, Jensens Lotus , AC, Rolls , Bentley , Aston Martin ,

20-08-2011 11:09pm

ResearchWill wrote: »

According to local wags in cork ............

couple of other little urban rumours/maybe truths
- the staff used to wear badges with "I'm a Ford worker" on them
- theft of engines etc was huge, parts were floated out

As the work was semi / low skilled lots of the workers were fairly thick, one lad I know who worked there reckoned that the ONLY reason the plant ever closed was because management decided to build the Sierra there and not the Fiesta, and of course the Fiesta is still in production today so Ford Cork would be too :rolleyes:

My Dad worked somewhere that assembled Opel in Cork I think, he left as they frequently laid off loads of staff if the weather was poor as the ships carrying whatever muck they needed couldn't sail.

aujopimur · 20-08-2011 11:43pm

The Opel ass. was [EMAIL="O@Sheas"]O'Sheas[/EMAIL] on Georges Quay,the quality of work was very poor which greatly affected sales and from which Opel took a long time to recover.

20-08-2011 11:51pm

Sounds familiar, O'Sheas, that was it, thanks

ResearchWill · 20-08-2011 11:57pm

RoverJames wrote: »

ResearchWill wrote: »

According to local wags in cork ............

couple of other little urban rumours/maybe truths
- the staff used to wear badges with "I'm a Ford worker" on them
- theft of engines etc was huge, parts were floated out

As the work was semi / low skilled lots of the workers were fairly thick, one lad I know who worked there reckoned that the ONLY reason the plant ever closed was because management decided to build the Sierra there and not the Fiesta, and of course the Fiesta is still in production today so Ford Cork would be too :rolleyes:

My Dad worked somewhere that assembled Opel in Cork I think, he left as they frequently laid off loads of staff if the weather was poor as the ships carrying whatever muck they needed couldn't sail.

A friend of my fathers worked in Fords cork, he was in Germany visiting a ford plant, when asked a question about production levels he answered with a number for the daily production, when the Germany guy said that is very good per hour but still about 1/4 of Germany output, he did not have the heart to say it was daily output not hourly.

sf80 · 21-08-2011 12:08am

exador wrote: »

FIAT - Kylemore Road.. I think they assenbled Fiats in 70's early 80's ..I think the Datsun - (Nissan) assembled DATSUN van in Dublin Naas Road

Fiat was opposite the furniture stores on the kylemore road. Bill Cullen bought part of the complex in the 80s for Renault distributers. Its a storage facility now

exador · 21-08-2011 12:31am

sf80 wrote: »

Fiat was opposite the furniture stores on the kylemore road. Bill Cullen bought part of the complex in the 80s for Renault distributers. Its a storage facility now

I know... my sister worked there. I have memories of regular trade union disputes and strikes from a very miltant workforce..It was rampant then throughout the industry

exador · 21-08-2011 12:34am

ResearchWill wrote: »

A friend of my fathers worked in Fords cork, he was in Germany visiting a ford plant, when asked a question about production levels he answered with a number for the daily production, when the Germany guy said that is very good per hour but still about 1/4 of Germany output, he did not have the heart to say it was daily output not hourly.

Reminds of Neil Tobin Joke about the lads taking bits of cars out from the plant and hiding them under their jackets. He said if you gave them a push they would nearly start !

richardsheil · 21-08-2011 8:08am

VolvoMan wrote: »

Here is an article on aronline.co.uk about Austin and Standard-Triumph assembly in Ireland: http://www.aronline.co.uk/index.htm?irelandf.htm

Thanks for the link. The main photo shows Standard Triumph facility which is now the Leo Labs warehouse.

VolvoMan · 21-08-2011 4:40pm

I was just thinking there, did many Sierra's get built in the time between the car was launched and when the plant in Cork shut down?

G Luxel · 21-08-2011 11:09pm

The factory closed in 1984. The last car built was a Sierra. I do remember seing a lot of new Sierras estates on the dockside, probably for export, around the summer of 1983. I even remember a boat trip on the Lee around 1982 and I could see through the factory windows, Cortina Mk V's being assembled on a Saturday. They appeared to be moving along on a overheard conveyor belt.

As previously mentioned by other people, the site is now a business park. Parts of the factory buildings have been demolished. I used to visit the MiniStorage company that is in the old factory and having a look around, you can still find pulleys overhead on the ceiling.

G Luxel · 22-08-2011 12:58am

bijapos wrote: »

There is no record of this car on Autocheck.ie...........

VolvoMan · 22-08-2011 2:21am

G Luxel wrote: »

There is no record of this car on Autocheck.ie...........

That's because it more than likely hasn't been on the road in Ireland since well before 1993.

cian1500ww · 22-08-2011 9:19pm

Was there a difference between the Ford cars produced in Cork and those built overseas?? The reason I'm asking is we've a 1949 Ford Prefect and I remember hearing that the Prefects built in Ireland had some differences, I can't remember what they were, anyone know??

Bigus · 22-08-2011 9:31pm

RS1700T wrote: »

Borgwards were assembled on Butterfield Avenue behind The Bluehaven pub ,
P R Reilly , Howth Road , assembled LLYODS .

TVR'S were assembled in a small premises on Marlborough Lane off Marlborough Road in Donnybrook .

I was told that the borgwards were assembled in Rathfarnham Village In Landy's garage which stood on the site where the statue of Sarah Curran now stands, this would also have had an address of butterfield Avenue.

RS1700T · 22-08-2011 10:25pm

I will check my source on the Borgwards

Blue850 · 22-08-2011 10:26pm

From old ads I have

1957 BMW Isetta bubble car. Assembled and distributed by Hennessy's Ltd, Beasly St. Cork

1957 Heinkel bubble car. Lincoln & Nolan 57/58 Lower Baggot St.
Sole Assemblers for the Irish market and for export to the UK, USA, Brazil, Canada, S. Africa and other countries outside Europe!

1958 Triumph Pennant saloon, an Irish market version of the Standard Pennant assembled Cashel Road Kimmage, Sales Dept, Percy Place Dublin
Are there any survivors??

1961 Borgward Isabella Coupe, assembled by Hansa Motors, East Road, Dublin
distributed by Condor Sales Ltd.

1961 Renault Dauphine, Concessionaires, Renauto Ltd, 176 Pembroke Road Dublin
1965 Ranault 8 1100 Assembled at Wexford and distributed by SMITH

1962 Simca Ariane, Assemblers and Distributors, Mc Cairns Motors Ltd

1963 Fiat 1500. Assembled and distributed by Fiat Irl Ltd, 1 Upper Grand Canal Street , Dublin 4

1963 A.E.C trucks C.R.V ltd Dundalk Co Louth (builders of the famous A.E.C vehicles in Ireland)

RS1700T · 22-08-2011 10:34pm

Heinkel production was moved to DUNDALK .

FIAT moved to Chaprlizod industrial estate then to Kylemore Rd

Renault , pembroke rd was a showroom , assembly in the old tram building in Blackrock , it became Europa cars , MDL had the concession and passed it on to the Smith Group .

Blue850 · 22-08-2011 11:00pm

VolvoMan wrote: »

I was just thinking there, did many Sierra's get built in the time between the car was launched and when the plant in Cork shut down?

Quote from the book Are you still below?, which in turn is a quote from the Cork Examiner 3rd Jan 1984

"At this time the Genk plant was producing 1,400 Ford Sierras a day, Dagenham, 1000, Cork a mere 80."

gfwd · 22-08-2011 11:49pm

Buckleys assembled Rootes cars at Shanowen Road in Santry, later becoming Chrysler and finally Talbot. The factory buildings still stand pretty much as they were back in the 70s/80s and it's now Santry Garda Station.

Booth Poole also assembled MGs at Islandbridge and Hinos were assembled near Cloghran up until around 20 years ago by Harris's.

Google Street View is great for finding these places as they stand now. Even better if you can find an old shot of the factories as they were back in the day to do a then and now comparison!

RS1700T · 23-08-2011 6:32am

gfwd wrote: »

Buckleys assembled Rootes cars at Shanowen Road in Santry, later becoming Chrysler and finally Talbot. The factory buildings still stand pretty much as they were back in the 70s/80s and it's now Santry Garda Station.

Booth Poole also assembled MGs at Islandbridge and Hinos were assembled near Cloghran up until around 20 years ago by Harris's.

Google Street View is great for finding these places as they stand now. Even better if you can find an old shot of the factories as they were back in the day to do a then and now comparison!

Harris also assembled Aro jeeps

VolvoMan · 31-08-2011 4:26pm

Here's a picture of what appears to be an advert for Cavey's:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gentlemanofletters/3384832642/

It could be the actual building where they assembled Jaguar's, but I think it was a little further up Camden Street than that.

who the fug · 31-08-2011 4:40pm

Rememeber them Sierras , complete and utter dogs, the brother was over for a week and went though 3 of them on hire.

All the cattle pens in our farm were made from the crates the kits came in

gfwd · 02-09-2011 5:05pm

Here's a picture of what appears to be an advert for Cavey's:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gentlem...rs/3384832642/

It could be the actual building where they assembled Jaguar's, but I think it was a little further up Camden Street than that.

It's literally only a couple of doors up. You can see the Cavey Jaguar signage on the front of the building in that pic.

RS1700T · 08-09-2011 10:09am

gfwd wrote: »

It's literally only a couple of doors up. You can see the Cavey Jaguar signage on the front of the building in that pic.

Drove down Camden Street the other day ,The Concern office building is on the site of Cavey's showroom.

Pdfile · 10-09-2011 4:20pm

my granny and grand da worked in the old plants on the grand canal and thats hwo they met... they have hundreds of photos from over the years in their but ill try get some of the non faded ones and scan them online for you're viewing pleasure.

they mostly worked in the MG plant but the odd time they done special cars like the jags and austin martins ( my grand daddy to britan for two years to be a fitter their... lucky b*&%$* )

its a pitty that all the infrastructure went but then again... I suppose it was only assembly..

RS1700T · 12-09-2011 9:31pm

Bigus wrote: »

I was told that the borgwards were assembled in Rathfarnham Village In Landy's garage which stood on the site where the statue of Sarah Curran now stands, this would also have had an address of butterfield Avenue.

Borgwards were assembled in the Coombe are by Eric Sarre , assembly moved to Prussia Street , got this info from a man who knew Mr Sarre

ianofitz · 21-09-2011 9:51pm

someone posted already about Cashel Road.

yes triumph and standard were assembled here. im an active member in the TCOC, and at the start of the summer, we had hour 25th anniversary starting there and ending in the mansion house.

above the building it said "standard" until recently when it was removed.

Cars ‘made’ in Ireland

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