Car Dealers, Garages, Petrol Stations

I'm sure this has been seen before but we've spoken about Newsome's Corporation Street showroom before - that must have been really posh for a car dealership at the time with two floors. How did he get the cars up there?!

I'm guessing that lower photo is around 1962/63 by the Ford Capri. Is that a Ford Classic next to it too?

From left to right I would say: Ford Consul Capri (later known as the Mark 1 Capri); Ford Consul Classic (later known just as the Classic); Ford Consul Cortina (later known as the Cortina Mark 1 and available from 1962); Ford Prefect 107E (the 4 door 100E fitted with the overhead valve engine from the 105E Anglia and available until 1962); Ford Zodiac Mark 3.

Thanks NL for that information - I'd forgotten that there was a Ford Consul Capri

You are pretty much spot on, Beesman. The Ford Consul Classic was produced from 1961-63. Beyond it in the showroom is a Ford Cortina Mk1, produced from 1962-66. The black car beyond the Cortina cannot be a Prefect as they ceased production in 1961. However, the old Ford Anglia/Prefect shape was kept on until 1962, marketed as the bottom-of-the-range Ford Popular 100E. So by a process of elimination it must have been taken in 1962. My father bought his first car from that Rugby Autocar showroom in 1960, having just passed his test aged 47. It was a black Ford Prefect 105E. My mother would have preferred the new Anglia but it was too 'modern' for him, so he used the excuse that the Prefect had four doors.

Ford used the Consul prefix on the Capri, Classic, and Cortina to give some continuity to the previous generation of Ford Consuls which had always been the 4 cylinder versions of their much more luxurious cousins the Zephyr and Zodiac. The cars that are missing from this lineup are the Consul Corsair (later revamped just as the Corsair) and the 105E Anglia with the distinctive raked back window.

Yes, you are right, Not Local. Ford's ranges always seemed to be logical, as did the trim levels - L, GL, GT or whatever. Completely unlike the random models churned out by BL in those days. My father was very pleased with his Ford Prefect and kept it for four years. I desperately wanted him to upgrade to the Corsair, a lovely car in its day and one many people seemed to aspire to, and I would have loved to be dropped off at the school gates in one of those. No such luck, I'm afraid. He traded the Prefect in for a Vauxhall Victor.

Happy days, I owned a 1965 Cortina, a 1966 Corsair, and a 1964 Vauxhall Victor Estate at various times in the mid to late 70's. Unfortunately they were all at the old banger stage of their lives but I liked them all for what they were and I could go down to the scrapyard for bits and pieces when they needed them.

I bought this 1964 Ford Classic 1500 in 1969. The following year I got married and bought a house and we could not afford two cars. Reluctantly, we had to see the Ford Classic, as my wife's 1966 Austin 1100 only had 19,000 miles on the clock.

Hi Artful, The Blue Star Garage was owned by my grandmother's friend's Arthur and Cynthia Bailey when I was about 10 or 12. I actually pumped gas on the forecourt, would not be allowed today but I made a few shillings, that would be around 1950-1952. The pumps must have been changed, probably updated from the ones in the picture. My grandmother was Edith Middleton, great memories from when I was a Coventry kid. Diane

Does anyone have any photographs of Whitehall Motors? Whitehall Motors operated on the corner of Longford Road and Blackhorse Road. There may have also been another branch near the canal basin in the centre of Coventry, close to where there is now a block of flats, but I can't be certain about this. I'm not sure when Whitehall Motors ceased trading, but it may have been the late 1960's or early 1970's. The premises were taken over by Martin Rumble and is currently Listers Garages outlet. Being Longford / Exhall, I acknowledge that this may be slightly outside of the scope of this site.

Hello Foellus & welcome to our forum. I will highlight your post as a question & hope for a quicker response. Best wishes.

Anyone remember a petrol station on Tile Hill Lane next to Ash Priors Close close to St James Church on the opposite side of the road. I seem to have a memory of one being there but locals that I have mentioned it to have no memory or have heard of one being there.

I think a similar question was asked in post #16 of this thread - I'm not sure there was a definitive answer, though