Car Dealers, Garages, Petrol Stations

Yes, I also remember those TV sets but look what you got for your money. Knobs for vertical hold, horizontal hold, brightness and contrast. Ya don't get that now We got our first TV from Radio Rentals for just a few bob a week.

Hi Anne It was always to the south of the shops/Coliseum building. The garage was bought by the education department in 1977 and used by them as sports hall for many years.

Hello Coventry. I bought my 1962 model Triumph Bonneville from Brandish in 1963 for £275. The salesman was a chap called Ackerman if I remember correctly and very helpful. Oh, those days!

That rings a bell, Rayfield Autos. Not sure if it was Rayfield's, but the garage on the corner of Vecqueray St. always amused me. A sign in the window, all in upper case, said WE SPECIALISE IN BRITISH AND FOREIGN CARS. I often wondered: "Well, are there any other types?"

Does anybody remember a car body repair garage called Milton St Motors in Milton St? Or Coventry Autocrash of Red Lane?

I can remember many years ago we were renovating Birchley Farm near Coombe Abbey for Johnny Reason ex Coventry Bees rider. One day out of the blue a chap pulled up in a Range Rover, they hadn't been out long in those days. He said to my boss that someone had recommended him for loft conversions. He took us to the house to have a look at the job he wanted doing, tearing across Johnny's fields in the Range Rover. When we arrived I noticed a recovery vehicle and an old Ford Popular both in Coventry Autocrash livery, the guy turned out to be John Daleman or Dolman one of the brothers who owned Coventry Autocrash.

Yes John Daleman owned Coventry Autocrash, his brother Dick worked there, that's if they hadn't had a fight and fallen out. The old ford would have been an Anglia. Did you do the job for him if so were you lucky enough to have had the money from him for the job? Not many got paid.

Hi all. I served my time as an apprentice toolmaker at Cornercroft during the early sixties. I would love to hear from anybody that worked there during that time to share old memories.

Welcome to the forum, umike2310 Cornercroft has been mentioned on a couple of occasions on the forum, so let's hope you get some responses to your request - and that you enjoy being part of our friendly forum

I am the owner of a 1969 Jaguar e type with the registration number starting with RHP. I have found out that the car left the factory on 15th July 1969 and the first owner was A C Barlett. The car was registered by Coventry B area before the DVLA was in existence. The DVLA have confirmed that on 30 October 1969 the car was registered to Michael Buckley. Unfortunately their records do not go back any further than 30 October 1969 and I was hoping to find out what happened between 15 July and 30 October 1969. According to Jaguar Heritage, the original distributor was "S H Newsome" and the original dealer was "Parkgate Garage". Culture Coventry have been very helpful and are supplying me with a copy of the registration ledger but this does not provide information on A C Barlett or S H Newsome or Parkgate Garage. Can any one on the forum help? Thanks, Nick

Hi Nick Welcome to the forum. You'll find most Forumers here are Coventry through and through and we still get teary eyed at the proud engineering skills that produced fantastic machinery such as the E Type - so well done for owning a piece of Coventry history. There is a small thread here about Sammy Newsome's who were on Corporation Street. I'm sure there's some better age related images around but cannot put my finger on them currently. That's the dealership on the letter header. The building shown in the thread was there original dealer - they later developed it with a very fancy double storey building with cars on both levels! I'm sure there's some better photos somewhere..... And a small one on Parkgate - I'm sure some further detail from some of our experts on here will materialise soon. All the best with it - piccy please!

Neil, Many thanks for the quick and informative response. Do you or anyone know the relationship between Parkgate and Newsomes? If not I will have to ask Jaguar the difference between a dealer and a distributor. I'm also trying to find out any information on the first owner, A C Barlett. I don't even know if he was from Coventry. Hopefully someone from the forum might recognise the name or remember a neighbour bringing home a red E type in July 1969! As requested, here's a pic of Coventry's finest.

This tries to explain it! Dealer v Distributor

That's exactly where it was. A tall chap in his 40s or 50s called Alan attended the forecourt and shop. He knew us by sight, and one day, we found some old 1 gallon cans in the garage. I was about 11 or 12 years old then, but I went down to C&E armed with the can, to purchase a gallon of petrol. "If he asks, it's for the lawnmower" my friends had suggested. They needn't have bothered: without batting an eyelid, he readily sold me a gallon of petrol. Little did he know we were experimenting making petrol bombs!