Old, Long Forgotten Car Dealers

mb1725

http://cgi.ebay.ie/Chrysler-Hunter-DL-and-Super-1977-sales-brochure-/190430766528

G Luxel

Rockbrae wrote: »

Hi, what a great thread


McCairns were always Vauxhall, but I think they also had the Chevrolet and Pontiac franchises.

Andrew

What chevrolets and Pontiacs were sold here? Ive never seen any...... plus thats an awful lot of AM dealers alone when the country had only a fraction of the cars that we have today....

G Luxel

mb1725 wrote: »

http://cgi.ebay.ie/Chrysler-Hunter-DL-and-Super-1977-sales-brochure-/190430766528

Looks morelike a Humber Sceptre with a name change.........

RobAMerc

My dad's farmer buddy had a Chrysler Hunter or Hillman Hunter don't remember which up until very recently, I never saw it without a bale of hay sticking out of the boot.
He then bought a "new" car - an 88 Camry. Says the Hunter was better.

Number Nine

pburns wrote: »

My father had a Chrysler Hunter 1.7HS - vinyl roof, sports wheels, fake wood. Anyone know anything about these? I've always want to know but info on Google no help.

I remember an uncle saying it was 1977 but not sure. I always thought it was a run-out edition but they kept producing them in Ireland for another few years you say? I'd love to know was it an Irish car or the last of the Coventry produced ones?

Sorry for hi-jacking the thread:o!

One major problem with the Hillman Hunter was leaking petrol tanks caused by rust . I have see many hunters with a 5 gal drum of petrol in the corner of the booth , piped to by pass the rusted fuel tank.

Other garages MIA

Monaghan Motor Works (BL)
John Rice Motors Castleblayney (Vauxhall)
Jude Rogers Motors Dundalk (Fiat)
Town @ Country Motors Castleblayney (Renault)
Traynor Motors Ballybay (Fiat)
Mclarney Motors Dundalk (Citroen)

VolvoMan

Here's a few Dublin Volvo dealers to add to the thread, some of whom were still dealers up until a few years ago:

JPS Motors (now Spirit Motor Group)
BK Motors
McAllister's of Malahide

-Chris-

McAllister's just moved to Airside though.

VolvoMan

-Chris- wrote: »

McAllister's just moved to Airside though.

Yeah, they are quite long established though and were a Volvo dealer back in the day.

Otherwise, point taken.

coylemj

G Luxel wrote: »

Looks morelike a Humber Sceptre with a name change.........

Towards the end of it's production, the Hillman Hunter was tarted up with double-lights so that it looked like it's more like it's luxurious bigger brother the Humber Sceptre so you're spot on there.

BL did the exact same trick with the Triumph Toledo, the regular models had rectangular headlights but towards the end of their production they got double-headlights and were rebranded as the Triumph Dolomite.

Kevin_Herron

G Luxel wrote: »

What chevrolets and Pontiacs were sold here? Ive never seen any...... plus thats an awful lot of AM dealers alone when the country had only a fraction of the cars that we have today....

Chevrolets were assembled here by McCairns from '34 onwards. However after the war in very small numbers up until around '65.

Pontiacs were sold new by Reg Armstrong, in extremely small numbers.
As were lots of other American cars.

Rockbrae

I know this is maybe unrelated, but I've listed below some interesting information regarding Irish Car Sales figures from 1974, which shows the big changes in taste over the years.


Rank Model Mkt Share (%)

1. Ford Escort 12.4
2. Ford Cortina 8.1
3. Hillman Hunter 6.8
4. BLMC Mini 5.5
5. Fiat 127 5.0
6. Fiat 124 4.8
7. Fiat 128 4.8
8. VW Beetle 4.5
9. Renault 4 4.0
10. Hillman Avenger 3.4
11. Morris Marina 2.7
12. Opel Kadett 2.6
13. Vauxhall Viva 2.5
14. Ford Capri 2.4
15. Renault 12 2.2
16. BLMC 1100/1300 2.2
17. Toyota Corolla 2.0
18. Fiat 126 1.6
19. Datsun Cherry 1.3
20. Renault 16 1.3

(Total sales were around 60,529)


Top 10 Car makes were:

Rank Marque Mkt Share (%) Sales

1. Ford 24.12 14,618
2. Fiat 18.14 10,979
3. BLMC 11.53 6,979
4. Chrysler 11.51 6,968
5. Renault 10.22 6,185
6. VW-Audi 6.89 4,169
7. Opel 3.7 2,240
8. Vauxhall 2.99 1,808
9. BLMC 2 2.51 1,521
10. Datsun 2.34 1,414

(Note: BLMC 2 makes were Jaguar, Rover, Triumph - the majority of those sales were Triumphs, which always sold well over here.)

Regards,

Andrew

prospect

Anyone remember the Garage that used to be on the Quay in Waterford, I think it was C&G Motors, part of Gowans, selling Citroen & Peugeot.

I have vague memories of going there with my Dad.

bijapos

What happened to the Zetor dealer (or was it MF) on the Naas Road between the Long Mile and Kylemore junctions. As a kid in the 70's I was always well impressed with the tractors parked on the roof. now a used car dealer I think.

Stained Class

bijapos wrote: »

What happened to the Zetor dealer (or was it MF) on the Naas Road between the Long Mile and Kylemore junctions. As a kid in the 70's I was always well impressed with the tractors parked on the roof. now a used car dealer I think.

What a blast from the past.

Hadn't thought of that in years!

Think it was a Zetor dealership alright, seem to remember (then new!) Zetor Crystals on the roof.

O'Sheas, I think, was the name of the place. I could be wrong on that though.

Down our way, in Kilkenny, I remember the Mahon & McPhilips dealership doing the same thing with Leyland tractors.

Gone too sadly..

exador

It was indeed O Sheas. I am originally from the area and remember the tractors on the roof OK.. WOW a blast from the past... I also remember the FIAT plant on Kylemore road. I went on picinics in fields that is now the EP Mooney centre on a day out !! Ah memory lane...

O Sheas is now the Frank Fahey Centre with a few dealers operating out of it..

G Luxel

Still there, nice old picture from the 1960s......

and now.....

exador

-Chris- wrote: »

I was in there last week and was pleasantly surprised to see how they were emphasising that heritage - at the reception desk there's a glass table with original documents dating back to 1938 - meeting minutes etc. - really interesting minutiae from a different time.
It's a very classy garage now too - the removal of the BMW branding hasn't diminished their self-esteem in the slightest. It's minimalist and cool, but welcoming - qualities the German guys who write the International Dealership Standards handbooks spend their lifetimes trying to achieve.

I'm also struck/saddened to be discussing Crawford's in this thread - as much as I knew they had gone bang a few years ago, further reflection has reminded me of the fact that I did my work experience in their Dun Laoghaire (Honda) premises and my impression of David(?) Crawford was that he was a very nice guy - a gentleman.
My dad bought several Opels, back-to-back, over the years from a salesman in Crawford's Sandyford (a guy called Ryan I think). Given the choice he wouldn't have bought anywhere else. Mr. Ryan was his salesman, and my dad was his customer. That was that.
You could only wish for customer loyalty like that in today's dealerships.

That was Pat Ryan who sadly passed away about 2 years ago at a vey young age ...an absolute Gentleman and I had the pleasure of working with him in the latter years.

VolvoMan

exador wrote: »

That was Pat Ryan who sadly passed away about 2 years ago at a vey young age ...an absolute Gentleman and I had the pleasure of working with him in the latter years.

Ironically, I've actually heard the name mentioned before. I think he ended his days in Spirit Motor Group.

exador

VolvoMan wrote: »

Ironically, I've actually heard the name mentioned before. I think he ended his days in Spirit Motor Group.

Spot on. Thats where he was working when he passed away. he was Gentleman and real old school. His brother is general manager Ballsbridge and quite a few relatives involved in the motor trade.

gfwd

BL did the exact same trick with the Triumph Toledo, the regular models had rectangular headlights but towards the end of their production they got double-headlights and were rebranded as the Triumph Dolomite.

Not quite true but that's just the anorak in me! Triumph's small saloon range had a long and confusing life. The Toledo was indeed replaced by the Dolomite 1300 but never had twin headlights. They were reserved for the 1500 fwd, 1500TC, 1500HL, 1850, 1850HL and Sprint.

kuro2k

macplaxton wrote: »

Looking at the font for the address, would look more mid-80s that sticker.

Its early to mid 90's

zilog_jones

Cork (021) had gone up to 6-digit phone numbers some time around the early '90s - that sticker only has 5. That Nissan logo was introduced around 1984 (during the phase out of the Datsun brand), so I'd say it's from some time between then and whenever they changed to 6-digit numbers. The graphics looks very 80s-ish.

O'Mara Motors in Limerick are still around, they moved to the other side of town a few years ago, but they must have forgot about this site:
http://www.iol.ie/~omara/omm/omm_0.html
http://www.iol.ie/~omara/omm/toyota.html
Last updated 1996! But judging by the unregistered pre-facelift E90 Corollas and Carina II, this picture must be from 1987-1990:


The building still remains: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Cork,+County+Cork,+Ireland&ll=52.669654,-8.656561&spn=0,0.002411&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=52.669709,-8.656765&panoid=-_kdq_sw6clkfJdqOT3tWA&cbp=12,342.67,,0,16.22
The big sign to the left used to say Toyota (same style as picutre above), and the "O'Mara Motors" sign is still down the side. The service centre around the back is now an independent mechanic, and the parts shop is also something else.

Dennehy's Cross Garage is still kinda there too:
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Cork,+County+Cork,+Ireland&ll=51.888933,-8.507321&spn=0,0.002411&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=51.88894,-8.50719&panoid=5i7526lcQMA9OvIdIJ5Zxw&cbp=12,189.9,,0,18.12
When did it close down?

@Max_Damage: CAB Motor Group are based in Cork: http://www.cabmotors.com/
They used to use the same logo as on yours. According to their history page they bought the Dungarvan dealership some time before 1973.

@PanhardPL: There's still a Saab dealer on the Ennis Road in Limerick, now it's called Clareview Motors (also Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge and Seat). Not sure if it's the same site but I remember there always being a dealer there.

Can't remember the dealer name, but there was a TA40 Carina I used to see regularly in Kilkee, Co. Clare and the dealer sticker had a two-digit phone number

G Luxel

I was driving somewhere today...and I passed an abandoned showroom which had a P R O T O N sign..........when did u last see one of them???

carchaeologist

G Luxel wrote: »

I was driving somewhere today...and I passed an abandoned showroom which had a P R O T O N sign..........when did u last see one of them???

Drive to Dunmanway from Macroom, just over the one lane bridge over what I think is called the 'Toon river' there's a run down garage with a Proton logo still up.

NedKinsella

realies wrote: »

Fairlane greenhills road Dublin (ford)

I bought my first new car there in 1979, a Fiesta and got a crazy trade in on a very tired mk 1 escort that barely made it into their car park.

exador

NedKinsella wrote: »

I bought my first new car there in 1979, a Fiesta and got a crazy trade in on a very tired mk 1 escort that barely made it into their car park.

Who did you buy it from in Fairlane..

VolvoMan

zilog_jones wrote: »

Dennehy's Cross Garage is still kinda there too:
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Cork,+County+Cork,+Ireland&ll=51.888933,-8.507321&spn=0,0.002411&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=51.88894,-8.50719&panoid=5i7526lcQMA9OvIdIJ5Zxw&cbp=12,189.9,,0,18.12
When did it close down?

I'm not from Cork, but I remember reading that they were absorbed into that big disaster of a business known as Drive Motor Group.

As well as Maxwell Motors, another dealer that has old photos on their website is Fitpatrick's of Kildare: http://www.fitzpatricksgarages.ie/

NedKinsella

exador wrote: »

Who did you buy it from in Fairlane..

It took me a while to come up with a name but I think it was Tom Boyle. He had worked in US or Canada judging by his accent. I remember Bill cullen and I think he worked in Waldens in Parnell St before Fairlane.

exador

NedKinsella wrote: »

It took me a while to come up with a name but I think it was Tom Boyle. He had worked in US or Canada judging by his accent. I remember Bill cullen and I think he worked in Waldens in Parnell St before Fairlane.

Yeh that was Tom Boyle OK...He always had a pipe stuck in his mouth !" Thats when you could smoke..

I think Bill Cullen was involved in another garage in between Walden and Fairlane ? REDSTAR motors I think ?

VolvoMan

exador wrote: »

I think Bill Cullen was involved in another garage in between Walden and Fairlane ? REDSTAR motors I think ?

Yes, that's correct. It's mentioned in his book.

I think they held what was called a 'sub franchise' for FIAT that was in conjunction with Sweeney & Forte or something along those lines.