Some interesting old Limerick newspaper pages

colm_mcm · 08-08-2019 7:59pm #1

Found these by accident today while searching for something completely unrelated

Opening of Limerick motor works Ford garage
Limerick city car park and service station
Elm motors
Smiths of Limerick
Dan Ryan
Crescent Motors
Pat Keogh BMW
O Mara Motors
Tom Kilroy
Corbally Service Station

zilog_jones · 09-08-2019 11:44am

Interesting trying to work out where these places are now, though a lot are well before my time.

Limerick Motor Works on Upper William St. seems to be an Enterprise office now.
I guess the Limerick City Car Park and service station is now Arthur's Quay Park?
O'Mara's on the Ennis Road is now O'Mara Used Cars, the Toyota branding half-assedly covered up and looking pretty shabby these days.

Interesting to see an '88 Toyota Coaster minibus for sale in that '89 ad - I didn't think they were sold normally in Europe, but that also seems too young for a Japanese import?

colm_mcm · 09-08-2019 12:37pm

There was an operator in Charleville that was running a newish coaster in the late 80s early 90s

Pat Keogh was a BMW dealer since approx 1959 apparently. He closed up in 2009. That premises was taken over by Conlan’s. I think he also sold Nissans?
I think his old premises is where the Topaz is now on the Ballysimon Road.

Dan Ryans became John Moloneys Honda at Punches cross. He went out of business around 2013.
That site is being redeveloped at the moment.

zilog_jones · 09-08-2019 1:54pm

Ah, I thought Dan Ryan's looked like Punch's Cross but failed to read the whole article. The ESB substation in the background of the picture is still there: https://goo.gl/maps/6yEjox4dJ1Xh9Hmw5
Interesting that the terminology "self-drive cars" was used for car hire back then - that means something quite different now!

I guess it was before the multinational rental companies moved into Ireland? There was a hand-painted ad for Budget on the corner of Cecil St. for as long as I remember, still somewhat readable in this 2009 Street View image: https://goo.gl/maps/MP3zqLYdZbWqBTBNA
I don't remember the office being there at all (Limerick phone numbers went to 6 digits in the early '90s, I think).

The dealers have moved around and changed hands a lot in Limerick over the past 20 years.

Mac 3 · 09-08-2019 2:11pm

Keogh's were on the Tipp Road alright. Before that, they were in Castle Street, with the service/parts dept almost across from the castle. Beside where the pub is now.

Before that, they were down beside where the Lock Bar is, they also sold Citroen back then.

Dan Ryan's was out at Punches cross. ESB station is still there.

airnwater · 09-08-2019 2:29pm

Interesting stuff !

Just wondering if anyone knew what dealer(s) was selling Lambretta scooters in Limerick , city or county in the 1950s ?

colm_mcm · 09-08-2019 7:27pm

You can still see the tiles on the floor still on the ground from Dan Ryan’s /John Moloneys on Street View. It’s being redeveloped at the moment.
The building backing on to heatmerchants (?) was massive.

mgbgt1978 · 09-08-2019 11:52pm

zilog_jones wrote: »

I guess the Limerick City Car Park and service station is now Arthur's Quay Park?
O'Mara's on the Ennis Road is now O'Mara Used Cars, the Toyota branding half-assedly covered up and looking pretty shabby these days.

Interesting to see an '88 Toyota Coaster minibus for sale in that '89 ad - I didn't think they were sold normally in Europe, but that also seems too young for a Japanese import?

The Limerick city Service Station was where the Arthur's Quay Shopping centre is now.... roughly between the Door facing the Park and the entrance to the Multi-story. The buildings you see behind it were nearly all Flats and probably the last of the Limerick City Tenements.
Also at that time Liddy St. (the bit between Henry St and Arthur's Quay) didn't exist.And the one way system (under Sarsfield Bridge) ran in the opposite direction.
The current Arthur's Quay Park was a Local Authority Car Park for quite a while. Prior to that it was part of the river ,until they filled it with rubble to reclaim it.
The Toyota Coaster in the O'Mara's Ad was a 22 Seater, which were fairly common at the time. I'd guess you're possibly thinking of the Hi-ace 7/8 Seater Jap Import with Curtains, etc (and nearly always 2-tone paint).

On a slightly more recent note can anybody remember when you could fill up your Tank on Shannon St ?
And I have a vague memory of petrol pumps in the Bedford Garage (pretty much most of the block 'upstream' from Jack Fitzgerald's) but they would have been inside the building rather than on the roadside. This later became a private Car Park when the Garage Business folded.

Maybe this Thread should be moved to the Limerick Forum

zilog_jones · 12-08-2019 9:57am

mgbgt1978 wrote: »

The Toyota Coaster in the O'Mara's Ad was a 22 Seater, which were fairly common at the time. I'd guess you're possibly thinking of the Hi-ace 7/8 Seater Jap Import with Curtains, etc (and nearly always 2-tone paint).

No, not Hiaces - I remember there used to be a few Coasters and Mitsubishi Fuso Rosas around, but assumed they were all imports - but the age of the example in that ad suggests maybe not? I went to school in Saudi for a few years and the buses were all big yellow yank Blue Bird things and Coasters like this (except LHD), so I remember them well.

Type 17 · 12-08-2019 3:19pm

I used to get Toyota brochures from Carroll & Kinsella in Blackrock, Dublin whenever we were down there for my dad's car being serviced, and I remember having a Toyota Coaster brochure, but I'd imagine that they were only available to order.

The Irish Defence Forces had a few, I seem to remember (89-D reg's, IIRRC)

L-M · 13-08-2019 11:48am

mgbgt1978 wrote: »

The Limerick city Service Station was where the Arthur's Quay Shopping centre is now.... roughly between the Door facing the Park and the entrance to the Multi-story. The buildings you see behind it were nearly all Flats and probably the last of the Limerick City Tenements.
Also at that time Liddy St. (the bit between Henry St and Arthur's Quay) didn't exist.And the one way system (under Sarsfield Bridge) ran in the opposite direction.
The current Arthur's Quay Park was a Local Authority Car Park for quite a while. Prior to that it was part of the river ,until they filled it with rubble to reclaim it.
The Toyota Coaster in the O'Mara's Ad was a 22 Seater, which were fairly common at the time. I'd guess you're possibly thinking of the Hi-ace 7/8 Seater Jap Import with Curtains, etc (and nearly always 2-tone paint).

On a slightly more recent note can anybody remember when you could fill up your Tank on Shannon St ?
And I have a vague memory of petrol pumps in the Bedford Garage (pretty much most of the block 'upstream' from Jack Fitzgerald's) but they would have been inside the building rather than on the roadside. This later became a private Car Park when the Garage Business folded.

Maybe this Thread should be moved to the Limerick Forum

I asked Noel about that Coaster and he said that the Irish Revenue and PSV didn’t think they were safe as a 22 seater so they had to get a door cut and fitted into the back of it as an escape route and make it into a 16 seater.

gctest50 · 14-08-2019 6:38pm

Limerick man wrote: »

I asked Noel about that Coaster and he said that the Irish Revenue and PSV didn’t think they were safe as a 22 seater so they had to get a door cut and fitted into the back of it as an escape route and make it into a 16 seater.

Rest of World : Nice bus

Ireland : Don't know about that now, needs less seats

zilog_jones · 15-08-2019 10:00am

That's interesting, I guess that bus was built to order but without consideration for Irish PSV requirements? We seem to have our own laws about this, which differ from the EU:

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1963/si/190/made/en/print

69. (1) A single deck vehicle (other than a vehicle having passenger accommodation for not more than 14 persons and having one means of entrance and exit behind the rear wheels) and the lower deck of a double deck vehicle shall be provided with not less than two exits (one of which may be restricted to use as an emergency exit) which shall be situated on different sides of the vehicle (the front or back of the vehicle being regarded as a side for this purpose).

I guess the reduction in seats from 22 to 16 was to meet access requirements to the exit and possibly general gangway dimension requirements.

I can see Japanese market Coasters (around 22-25 seats) generally have no emergency exits, whereas Hong Kong and Australian spec examples do have a rear emergency door. I get the impression safety standards for buses and commercial vehicles in Japan are surprisingly low compared to elsewhere - cab-over vans (Hiace, Nissan Caravan, etc.) still being commonplace is another example of this. The city buses over there seem quite cramped with an abundance of hand rails everywhere and little legroom - my 6'6" friend who lives there cannot use them at all (can't stand or sit).

L-M · 15-08-2019 12:18pm

Ya he said the door was very narrow because it had to fit between the rear wheel and the back of the bus.

zilog_jones · 05-09-2019 2:38pm

There's some hoarding up around where Dan Ryan's once was now, and they have put up a few old photos of the place including the one from the Leader linked above. Another photo shows at some stage it had turned into a Fiat dealer - using what looks like the same flat roof building with wooden facade that was last used by the petrol station and shops. I recall a Four Star Pizza was one of the last businesses there.

road_high · 07-09-2019 1:32am

A new 5 Series started at £27k back then which is eye wateringly expensive when you consider salaries then and the no doubt misery spec. A new SE would be just over €50k now. Not cheap either but on the scale of things a lot more affordable

Some interesting old Limerick newspaper pages

Comments