Car Dealers, Garages, Petrol Stations

That garage brought back a memory. My tutor, Charlie, had bought a Vauxhall Victor (year unknown, approx 1960). He had had it for only a few months when he had to MOT it. It failed because the driver's floor had rotted away and as it was a double skin someone had filled it with cement and undersealed it. The car was not all that old, approx 4yrs, this being 1965. On the way home we were going past this garage and Charlie suddenly swung into the forecourt. 10 mins later he had done the deal and drove off in an A55 that was as sound as a bell with a full MOT. His car was only on the forecourt for a few days and then vanished, sold. My mate was glad to see it go as he thought the garage owner might come knocking on his door to get his money back. MOTs in those days were just written as and when.

As it’s been mentioned on here, 1950's capture of Brandish's. Post copied from topic Whitefriars Street (inc. Whitefriars Lane) on 8th Mar 2022 10:00 am

With some early scooter models.

Does anyone have any pics/info on Simpsons Garage who were in Greyfriars Lane circa early 60's?

1962 - after moving from Shakleton Road… 1963… 1967 - prior to moving to 524 London Road…

Great stuff, thanks, Cliff. This is for some follow-on investigations into this one. You’ll like this... As per the other threads, I've been helping, along with others, Ben from the Uni to try to update and identify some of the recently acquired Arthur Cooper images. One of my other main interests, aside from Old Cov, is a love of cars - I'm a massive petrolhead. As such, whilst looking through the Cooper gallery, this image caught my eye. The photo was unlabelled but I knew the car was a TVR Grantura from the early 60's - I was lucky enough to own a couple of TVR's back in the late 80's. As the photo included the car’s registration, I had a quick check on the online VOSA site and was delighted to see the car was still registered. With my detective hat well and truly on, I then looked on Facebook as there is a TVR Grantura owner group, which I quickly joined. To my amazement, only in July, there appeared a series of images of the exact same car, 2392KV, which had only recently completed a full restoration! Needless to say, I have emailed the owner and sent him a link to the Coventry Digital image - which I also posted a link to on the group. A few comments later and it appears the car was indeed purchased new in September 1963, registered in Coventry and had been off the road for the last 30 years. I've also been made aware from another owner on the group that the man standing in the image is Peter Simpson, the garage owner - you can even see his PS initials on his work coat! Peter was apparently a TVR racer in the 60's - we think he is probably doing the PDI on the car prior to it being delivered to its buyer. As such the picture is almost certainly in his Greyfriars Lane workshop - hence my queries about the place. Apparently the garage was compulsorily purchased by the Council (probably why Cliff has that Auctioneer’s sale announcement) for the redevelopment of the Hertford Street area in 1966. Anyone know of any exterior photos of the garage at all from Greyfriars Lane? Needless to say I'll update the Cooper spreadsheet but what a great story. ......and here's the same car today!

This is what I am here for, Neil. Amazing stuff.

This card was posted in 1929, but I suspect the view is earlier! Anyone able to help with a rough date, please? PS. I can’t find who Mr Burrows was, either! The address, if it’s no.1a, is Ace Garage (Wilmot Evans/Les Owen)! Post copied from topic Broadgate on 4th Oct 2022 10:17 pm

I have always thought the garage part of the Ace Garage was Lawrence Saunders Road. The Wyley Road bit, if you Google map it looks like the office part and perhaps a store room but there appears to be some sort of living accommodation above. Can't find any mention of Mr Burrows in the newspapers

In the early 80's Ace Garage was purchased by the late Leo McDermott. The Wyley Rd side looked a bit different then, there was a small showroom type window where the modern window is, and I don't think the roller shutter door was there. Leo told me that the little showroom window was a throwback to the Wilmot Evans years when it was a motorcycle dealership. I can confirm that there was a flat above the garage.

The postcard recipient may be Charles Edward Burrows who married Florence Nelson in 1906 in Coventry or possibly their son Charles Herbert Burrows, born later that year.

It has just struck me that the modern view of Ace Garage is the post-war rebuilding of what presumably was bomb damage. In 1929 1a Wyley Rd may have looked a lot different.

Did this really happen?

See my post #228, Cliff - yep!

Do we have a date for this photo?