Lost Car Dealerships

[RapidAssistant]

The Peat Road Motors adverts were as ubiquitous on prime time STV as Glens/Hutchison/Robertsons/Stepek!! There are some good scans of old adverts on Flickr here:


Peat Road Motors by cms206, on Flickr

Just look at the interest rate on the Metro deal - it is definitely the late 1980s we are in here! So many sad suckers got duped into the 0% deals or zero deposit offers on Ladas then got shafted with 25%APR+ if they didn't repay within the grace period. Small wonder there was a credit crunch in the early 1990s - albeit small compared to the one we are suffering at the moment.

[Mori]

Any memories of old dealers are mainly the huge Clanford site taking up both sides of the road in Lonend in Paisley.

My dad bought a ford transit from there in the early 80s... best vans ever , traveld faster when there was a weight load on them.

My wee bro and Ford Trany... in later years i got the van customized, resprayed in a 2 toned scheme of Silver and Maroon with chrome wolfrace wheels and chrome front crash bars + airhorns,can't find any pics of it but had the van for nearly 10 years,sold it to a guy called dougie and seen it a few times after that on the road in my travels in the early 90s... i miss that piece of metal, had a lot of fun in it.

[BrigitDoon]

Last time I went in one of those, our driver did an emergency stop to avoid something that wasn't there. A whole bag of magic mushrooms then jumped up and slammed into the windscreen while we clung on for grim death. Happy days...

[Josef]

You were almost skinny in those days, Mori.

[Dexter St. Clair]

Somebody gonna steal that cloth?

[Mori]

You were almost skinny in those days, Mori.

Thats my young brother Joe, am still a ferr bit chunkier than him.

[derharper]

Parker Brothers out at Stepps were I think Fiat agents. The showroom is now in use as a supermarket.

I lived just behind this dealership from around 74 till 83, it was a Toyota garage and Morgan specialist,

[Mori]

I remember this one on Govan Road under the now demolished Napier House.

[Godsgift]

Jaysus...a few names from the past here...The Peat Rd Motors jingle....I had forgotten they dealt in Lada before their demise. Haldane's of Cathcart, the Rover dealer was mentioned and yes they ran buses...I used to play on them and they had the motor factors on Delvin Road called Mobitex. Sadly if I remember correctly, David Haldane and some of the family died on a road accident in either Switzerland or Italy. Someone mentioned Lowes on Tantallon Road. Oddly enough at the time, they were an Opel dealership....SMT were the Vauxhall dealers though both sold identical cars under different badges. I would have preferred an Opel Manta to a Cavalier Coupe GLS I must admit. :) Jesners sold and serviced Datsuns and being Jewish, were closed on a Friday but open on a Sunday morning for parts which was unusual back then. Just up from the Gulf garage on Clarkston Road was CMC (Clarkston Motor Company) with no less than ex Celtic star as Jim Brogan as a director. They became a Colt dealership later rebranded Mitsibushi. And the last one that comes to mind was Strathclyde Road and Rally in Clarkston.

It's amazing the amount of useless info I retain.

[Doug]

quote="viceroy"]

I can remember SMT on Finnieston street, where my Dad bought a Mk1 Astra

[*]There was also an SMT place on New City Road at Cowcaddens, next to what used to be the old Normal School. My eldest sister worked there in the late 1960's / early 1970's. The Chinatown Restaurant is there now, in fact I think it is still the same building.

I learned to drive at this garage in 1959 wow.. long time ago

[Doug]

Scotty 100 posted some time ago "hampden Cars" I used to work there as a salesman in about 74 or 75 it was at the entrance to hampden park car park. It was a great wee garage and was owned by joe maccambridge and the manager was john green. they were a mazda main dealer and as scotty pointed out they also sold some weird cars like polski fiats and wartburgs. I loved working there and had many a laugh

[Dexter St. Clair]

they were a mazda main dealer and as scotty pointed out they also sold some weird cars like polski fiats and wartburgs. I loved working there and had many a laugh ::):

[Doug]

Thanks for sending me a picture of your car Dexter. Is this the one you use for work or is it the the Sunday runs in the country car ?

[Lord Dunbartonshire]

Thank-you Fireman for confirming there was indeed a Callander's showroom in the middle of Gt Western Road. I seem to remember noticing Mercedes logos there in the 1960's, but no-one believes me.

Talking of expensive cars, I'm sure there was a Rolls Royce garage somewhere near Maxwell Park - probably again in the late 1960's.

There used to be second-hand dealerships all over the place in the 70's. I remember in 1973 deciding not to buy a totally perfect condition £100 1962 Ford Classic Capri - registration VAG 111. I've always regretted that. The showroom was beside, or in, the Fishmarket.

[The Egg Man]

I can remember SMT on Finnieston street, where my Dad bought a Mk1 Astra;

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