129 replies to this topic

[minidave1991-89]

Bank Top garage in West Boldon

[Youngowner93]

Just for you Tanya....

 

 

[Miniholic]

My old Mini 30 came from TC Harrison in Hull.

 

The dealers near me were:

 

Kennings (Later Wadham Kennings then Dixon) - Doncaster.  This one closed when Dixon Motor Holdings went bust in 1991 (I remember it well because my Dad's Montego was in for a new fuel tank and we had to go and retrieve it before the receivers locked the gates!  They also had a dealership in Goole amongst others.

Gledhills - Ossett.  This is where I bought my first new car, a 1992 Cooper, picked it up on August 1st (got pulled over twice that day as I looked to young to afford a new car)

Perrys - Rotherham.  This is where my current Cooper came from, back in 1995, it was their showroom demonstrator.  Later bought a cheap Metro from them to use as a daily driver.

H Sykes - Wombwell.  A great family run garage which I used for servicing until they lost the franchise and closed.  Rover wanted them to move to bigger premises and expand.

Eric Stead - Ecclesfield.  Another family run garage, still going and was Hyundai until recently.  I beleive they have recently taken on the new MG franchise.  They have a fantastic signwritten Mini Pickup in the showroom that you may have seen at shows.

Appleyards - Wakefield.

[humph]

M&K (Meredith & Kirkham) was my local dealer as a kid in Colwyn Bay.  My first Mini was actually 1979 Mini 1000, bought in 1993, from the daughter of the dealership's owner.

 

The quoted post below is quite interesting, and is taken from the link below.

 

http://www.oldclassi...pic.php?t=14655

 

When I was growing up in the 1960s most of the cars you would see would be from the BMC stable, after all it had over 40% of the market.
Within a thirty mile radius of Betws y Coed there were no less than 14 BMC dealerships and to prove my point I will name them

1. Jones Bros Llanrwst
2. Braid Brothers, Colwyn Bay
2. M&K. Old Colwyn
3. Automobile Palace, Rhyl,
4. Automobile Palace, Llanfair PG (The village with the longest name).
5 M&K, Bangor
6.Dinas Garages, Caernarfon.
7.Dinas Garages, Llangefni.
8.Paragon Motors, Penygroes.
9.Minffordd Garage, Bethel.
10.Hughes Garage, Trawsfynydd.
11. Deudraeth Motors, Penrhyndeudraeth.
12. RJ Williams and Son, Talsarnau
13. Jones Bros, Ruthin
14. Hutchinson and Wilde, Rhos on Sea.

Those are the ones I can remember and it is not a complete list, there must have been others. I have not included another range of dealerships which sold Triumph, Rover, Land Rover and Jaguar.

You just couldn't walk into any one of the above and order a new MG Magnette, say, you could only buy one from Braid Brothers in Colwyn Bay. . If you wanted a Riley 4/72 you had to go to M&K in two locations or Automobile Palace, similarly on two sites. Dinas Garages sold Wolseleys as well as Austin, Jones Bros sold Morris.
Confused ? I sympathise.
If you wanted a Triumph you had to buy from Hollingdrake in Colwyn Bay or Plas Garage in Llangefni on Anglesey. If you were set on a Rover there was one official Rover dealership in Rhyl called Brookes Bros but you could buy a Land Rover from there or from Jones Bros in Llanrwst.

When Lord Stokes became the first chairman of the new British Leyland Motor Corporation in 1968 he was appalled that of ex BMC part there was only one new model ready to launch - the Austin Maxi. Standard Triumph and Rover did have new products ready or in the pipeline.

We all know what eventually happened to British Leyland and Rover. By 2000 there was only one Rover dealership inside that 30 mile radius and that one, M&K later went on to sell Mitsubishi and Fiat from 2004.

 

[CCX]

My Mini came from SMC Rover in Slough, which was apparently among the biggest Rover dealers in the country at the time. After a lot of research and some incredible luck, I managed to track down and get photos of the original number plates, tax disc holder and dealer sticker, all of which I've had reproduced and are now on the car! It's finally been re-united with its original dealer-fit accessories that it would have left the dealership with, 14 years later. 

 

Mine was also pre-registered by the dealer before it entered private hands - does that necessarily mean it was a demonstrator, or could it just have been on display outside? Due to it's very high spec (it had nearly all available option boxes ticked, making it nearly £11k list price new  ) I think it's likely it was a demonstrator, but I'd like to know for certain. Great thread here, I find this stuff fascinating as you can probably tell.   

[minidaves]

the Reigate garage wadham stringer, cafynns, horley services, talyors haxted rover mays of dorking for a few local to me

[g-dog]

I brought a mini Cooper sportspack new from kernahans in witney oxon. It cost £9400 with the rover employee discount. Had to wait 3 months for it back in 1998. Kernahans went over to Ford when mg rover went under. Now it's been knocked down and turned into flats.

[Tanya]

Mr Bump (below with my cheeky nephews) is also an employee discount car and like yours, coming from Kernahans at Witney. We didn't buy him new, Mike Murphy, a colleague of my husband's did, collecting him on 26th April 2000. We bought him from Mike in July 2006. I can't remember what Mike paid for him new (the paperwork's at home, and we're in Hull).

[JamesnRHG]

Does anyone have any idea where my car may have been purchased from? Apparently RHG is the registration code for Preston but I'm having trouble tracking down where the original dealer would have been. The irony is, I'm from Chesterfield, but I moved to uni in Lancaster. I've owned my mini nearly 3 years but only checked the MOT receipts properly this year and discovered it spent it's life in and around Lancaster between '79 and '98 when it was taken off the road! It's like it was meant to be really :)

[some1158]

Also in the West Midlands there was Evans Halshaw at Shirley, corner of Marshall Lake Road. 

 

My Mini came from Farnham in Surrey - Swain and Jones' garage, which is still going as a Jaguar/Land Rover dealer I believe.

[minimat]

In Ipswich,woodbridge Suffolk we had fairhead and sawyer which became Henlys then edmonson which I think got taken over by john grose which still sel mg rover parts as well although you wouldn't really know it,we also had kerrriges of needham market which is a mg dealer now. My mini has a smith and wesby sticker in the back which I like to keep although I think they were an independent specialist.

[lewBlew]

My 1991 Mayfair was bought new from Seward Garage in Havant, Hampshire by a woman who lived in Bristol. I have details of all the previous owners from DVLA. I've also restored the original dealer sticker in the back window with a replica. Seward are still there as they are quite a big group now, with Renault, Dacia, Suzuki and Chevrolet franchises. Also keeping their hands in as an MG Rover X-part centre. Haven't visited them yet... not sure they would be interested!

 

Edit - The numberplate is a Bristol one I know, having the code 'FB'. Any idea why this is when it was bought in Hampshire? The first owner was from Bristol but surely they wouldn't go to the trouble of registering it elsewhere.

Edited by lewBlew, 03 December 2013 - 10:57 AM.

[62S]

Smith & Wesby were Leyland dealers in Saxmundham in the 1980's and Morris before that.

 

[g-dog]

Mr Bump (below with my cheeky nephews) is also an employee discount car and like yours, coming from Kernahans at Witney. We didn't buy him new, Mike Murphy, a colleague of my husband's did, collecting him on 26th April 2000. We bought him from Mike in July 2006. I can't remember what Mike paid for him new (the paperwork's at home, and we're in Hull).

[g-dog]

Mr Bump (below with my cheeky nephews) is also an employee discount car and like yours, coming from Kernahans at Witney. We didn't buy him new, Mike Murphy, a colleague of my husband's did, collecting him on 26th April 2000. We bought him from Mike in July 2006. I can't remember what Mike paid for him new (the paperwork's at home, and we're in Hull).