Hi, "long time lurker makes very occasional post" alert!
I remember Callanders the Mercedes dealer on Great Western Rd/Southpark Ave corner (I think it's a shoe shop now!) because I used to walk past it every day going to school.
Has anyone mentioned the wee nest of car dealers up at the far end of Great Western Rd, up where the bike shops, Maplins & the furniture places are?
I can't remember their names but I remember there being a huge VW/Audi/NSU dealer back in the days when they were all different brands, and they even had new NSU RO80s in stock. Then there was the Citroen place, with everything from the 2CVs to the then new spaceships that were the CXs.
As a car mad kid I used to spend hours wandering round these big showrooms, sitting in the cars going 'brummm bruuummmm'!
Does anyone remember the two other places in Woodlands Road besides SMS. There was a Volvo place on the corner of (I think) Woodlands drive and back opposite Scottish Motor Services up a wee lane beside the petrol station there was an utter bombsite of a secondhand car lot. The sort of place that back in the late 70s/early 80s was selling rusty old crocks like Austin Cambridges and Mk 1 Ford Cortinas for a couple of hundred quid. I think I once saw (most of) an E-type Jag in there for £500!
I used to love going round all the car showrooms I could find when I was a lad, I remember most of the ones in the West end.
My Dad bought a few cars from 'old man McHarg' when he was still in Berkeley Street, the last one being a Triumph Toledo.
Happy days.