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Smithfield Garage

Thanks for the info, me not remembering that was bothering me. Much appreciated.
Bob, you seem well up on those days. Do you remember if Bristol Street Motors Ford spares were in Charles Henry Street, plus was Prestage the main Vauxhall spares place, also in that street please?
 
Bob, you seem well up on those days. Do you remember if Bristol Street Motors Ford spares were in Charles Henry Street, plus was Prestage the main Vauxhall spares place, also in that street please?
BSM were in Charles Henry St, on the corner next door to Atcherlys body shop. They later moved to Long Acre. Not sure about Prestage, I used to go to Rylands or Elt Bros for Vauxhall/Bedford spares.
 
BSM were in Charles Henry St, on the corner next door to Atcherlys body shop. They later moved to Long Acre. Not sure about Prestage, I used to go to Rylands or Elt Bros for Vauxhall/Bedford spares.
Prestage were the main Vauxhall dealer and supplied Rylands when I worked for Ryland in the early sixties. We also bought our Bedford PSV spares from Prestage when I worked for Stockland coaches back in the sixties. Prestage were located in New John St West. When I worked for Rylands we picked up the new cars from the Prestage compound off Robin Hood island again in the early sixties.
 
welcome to the forum shakey thanks for your memories and i hope your dad likes the photos...if there are anymore you can add to this thread that would be great

lyn
I was about 18 when i visited Smithfield Garage which was a VW - Audi main dealer and this was in 1986 and i was on a college visit with a lecturer called Barry Green who was the head of engineering at Bromsgrove Technical College and i was one of about twenty students visiting the premises which belonged to Martin Ladbroke who had attended the same course and college many years earlier. I can remember having seen my first Audi Quattro 4x4 Turbo in the metal and all of us were just frozen when we saw it in white with all the driving lamps and the wide alloys which were rare in those days. It was the rally weapon of its day and it was the first turbocharged car we had ever seen and the concept was as new and fresh as a car running on fresh air would be today! We were hoping to meet Martin but we were told that he had flown to Germany to take delivery of his new Porsche which was a 928s and that he was bemused by the fact that this was the most expensive car Porsche had and they were made to order and it had to be pre-paid and the waiting time was 3 months?? The following week we visited the Monarch Porsche Dealership which he had in Warwick and then the following week we visited the Smithfield VW dealer he had in Leamington-Spa. Down the road in Sparkhill was Mario Deliotti an Alfa Romeo main agent which occupied the premises of a former Cinema and i can remember meeting the man himself and their was a racing car in the showroom which i thought was an Alfa Romeo Formula 1 Racing Car on loan from the works team for publicity purposes but it later was revealed that Mario had his own racing team: Mario Deliotti Racing and that the car was an Ensign T175 with a Ford DFV which was one of two cars that had been prepared by him for the Formula 1 Grand Prix of 1978 at Silverstone driven by Geoff Lees! If you google Mario you will see him pictured with a young Nigel Mansel a few years before he drove for Arrows! Mansel and the Arrows Team and Mario would dine at Da Corrado's Restaurant on the Stratford Road at Monkspath and the owner of the restaurant; Bruno Collodi was a car enthiusiast with signed pictures and portraits of racing teams and drivers hung on the walls and on the same road opposite was a BMW dealer owned by David Prophet a former racing driver. Jack Moss who was the owner of Four Ashes Garage at the bottom of Gate Lane (now Johnsons) was a regular customer of the restaurant and he supplied Bruno with an Aston Martin DB3 to compliment his other cars one of which was a red Ferrari and when Jack moved his garage from Solihull to Pathlow in Wilmcote in the 1970's it was going to be an Alfa Romeo dealership initially although this never materialised and it became an independent Aston Martin agent and Jack had ran a racing car in the Aston Club Meets which was an early DB2 which at the time was being driven by Steven Bamford and won many races.


 
I was about 18 when i visited Smithfield Garage which was a VW - Audi main dealer and this was in 1986 and i was on a college visit with a lecturer called Barry Green who was the head of engineering at Bromsgrove Technical College and i was one of about twenty students visiting the premises which belonged to Martin Ladbroke who had attended the same course and college many years earlier. I can remember having seen my first Audi Quattro 4x4 Turbo in the metal and all of us were just frozen when we saw it in white with all the driving lamps and the wide alloys which were rare in those days. It was the rally weapon of its day and it was the first turbocharged car we had ever seen and the concept was as new and fresh as a car running on fresh air would be today! We were hoping to meet Martin but we were told that he had flown to Germany to take delivery of his new Porsche which was a 928s and that he was bemused by the fact that this was the most expensive car Porsche had and they were made to order and it had to be pre-paid and the waiting time was 3 months?? The following week we visited the Monarch Porsche Dealership which he had in Warwick and then the following week we visited the Smithfield VW dealer he had in Leamington-Spa. Down the road in Sparkhill was Mario Deliotti an Alfa Romeo main agent which occupied the premises of a former Cinema and i can remember meeting the man himself and their was a racing car in the showroom which i thought was an Alfa Romeo Formula 1 Racing Car on loan from the works team for publicity purposes but it later was revealed that Mario had his own racing team: Mario Deliotti Racing and that the car was an Ensign T175 with a Ford DFV which was one of two cars that had been prepared by him for the Formula 1 Grand Prix of 1978 at Silverstone driven by Geoff Lees! If you google Mario you will see him pictured with a young Nigel Mansel a few years before he drove for Arrows! Mansel and the Arrows Team and Mario would dine at Da Corrado's Restaurant on the Stratford Road at Monkspath and the owner of the restaurant; Bruno Collodi was a car enthiusiast with signed pictures and portraits of racing teams and drivers hung on the walls and on the same road opposite was a BMW dealer owned by David Prophet a former racing driver. Jack Moss who was the owner of Four Ashes Garage at the bottom of Gate Lane (now Johnsons) was a regular customer of the restaurant and he supplied Bruno with an Aston Martin DB3 to compliment his other cars one of which was a red Ferrari and when Jack moved his garage from Solihull to Pathlow in Wilmcote in the 1970's it was going to be an Alfa Romeo dealership initially although this never materialised and it became an independent Aston Martin agent and Jack had ran a racing car in the Aston Club Meets which was an early DB2 which at the time was being driven by Steven Bamford and won many races.
Wonderful story, Marco!
 
One of the lads bought a beetle for £100 and he was a member of a band of five who were hoping to one day make it big like the stones whilst being poverished students in the interim and their was this place which became a venue called the Engine House at Alvechurch or near their which offered them a chance to play for five hours on a Thursday night and gave them some money a total of five pounds to be shared amongst them equal to one quid per band member?? Richard was over the moon with it and tickled pink! When i tried to reason with him and explain that the deal was crap! he replied "its very good if they pay you something as most don't! Confused i was? Richard made the most of his engineering qualification and went on to play for UB40....
 
BSM were in Charles Henry St, on the corner next door to Atcherlys body shop. They later moved to Long Acre. Not sure about Prestage, I used to go to Rylands or Elt Bros for Vauxhall/Bedford spares.
Any chance you remember the name of the 'senior' storeman at Smithfield? I worked with him. He was an avid Blues fan. His first name was George but I just cannot remember his surname. This was 72-73.
 
IN THE 70s I USED TO DELIVER CARS FOR MARTIN BROADBENT AT SMITHFIELD.

AFTER DELIVERING A VW TO LENTHERIC PERFUME HAD TO MAKE MY WAY INTO LONDON AND PICK UP AN AUDI QUATRO.NEW IN THE COUNTRY THAT HAD BEEN ON LEASE HIRE FOR A WEEK.
WAS TOLD IT WENT LIKE SOMETHING OFF A SHOVEL.
AND IT DID BACK UP THE M1.
 
Wonderful story, Marco!
When i was still at school i was with a friend and his Dad and we went into the city centre to a car exhibition and i saw Magnums Ferrari for the first time and i was about 13 at the time and the car had been fitted with a SUPER SNOOPER which was a device which was wired up and attached where the interior rear view mirror would be and it was a radar device which would beep if you were approaching a police car or "The Law" and it was probably the first early warning system available to an outlaw such as the "General Lee" and it was legal when installed in the UK provided that it was turned OFF and it cost a lot of money like £900 back in 1976 and who would pay that sort of money to keep it switched OFF? On the way home my friends Dad drove through Digbeth and it was on the same road as Smithfileld Garage and he spotted a motorised go-kart in the showroom window and so we parked up and went into the shop to take a look! It was Vale Onslow Motorcycles and the kart was a 500cc competition engine and it was a Honda and it needed some work doing to it but my friends Dad drove a Triumph 2500 PI and he did his own servicing and his eldest Son was called Hugh and he ran a Honda 400 Four which he had replaced the piston rings following a major overhaul and a week earlier he offered to take me home and it was my first time on a bike and as a pillion and when he pulled away i fell off the back of it and was sat on the road for the best part of five minutes until half way across the town Hugh realised i wasn't there anymore?? When back at school the next day we had a metal work lesson and our teacher was a great bloke and he was a "short arse" with "ducks disease" about 5ft and thats with his motorcycle boots on! He ran a Moto Guzzi V 550 twin and wore goggles and all the kit and his road manners were impeccable and if anyone wanted to talk bikes the lesson would stop and we would be on this topic until the bell rang! When i mentioned to him about the go-kart he got interested and especially so when i mentioned it was Vale Onslow who was a good mate of his? The conversation went on from the kart to a real event which concerned one of his former pupils who had been in his class only the year before and what this lad did was ride around on a Yamaha FS1E for a year or so and then he went to see Vale Onslow and got himself a pristine Suzuki Trail bike 185 TS single cylinder two stroke with a competition exhaust and it was just after having paid for it the lad got on the bike and was at the entrance of the shop waiting for the traffic to slow and at which point he went for the gap and as a matter of habit as with his previous 50cc Yamaha went to pull the twist grip full circle when the front wheel lifted and the bike shot forward across both lanes and he was hit twice by both lanes of traffic and landed in the road and was pronounced dead at the scene!! The bike had had previously one careful owner? In the coroners verdict a report revealed that his helmet was found in two halves like that of a chocolate easter egg which had been made of polycarbonate and be it of low grade and build quality resulting in its failure to adequately protect and consisitent with the injuries sustained and the coroner delivered a verdict of death by accident and it came to be known that the lad had No Insurance on the bike and so he lost out financially as well!
Mr Smith our metalwork teacher went on to say that when choosing a helmet go the extra mile and buy one made of fibreglass and look for the British Kite mark and number to satisfy that it has passed the strength test! Also to Insure your bike fully comp otherwise you won't get anything once your dead??
 
Any chance you remember the name of the 'senior' storeman at Smithfield? I worked with him. He was an avid Blues fan. His first name was George but I just cannot remember his surname. This was 72-73.
Someone i know thinks the surname was Haynes or spelt Haines? There was a fella called Neil Priday!
 
Someone i know thinks the surname was Haynes or spelt Haines? There was a fella called Neil Priday!
Thanks for the info. You've also reminded me about a storeman named Neil who I worked with. This must be Neil Priday who used to drive the Type 2 pick up a lot. Thanks again.
 
Thanks for the info. You've also reminded me about a storeman named Neil who I worked with. This must be Neil Priday who used to drive the Type 2 pick up a lot. Thanks again.
Glad to be of help
Have you taken a look at all of my posts?
 
Thanks for the info. You've also reminded me about a storeman named Neil who I worked with. This must be Neil Priday who used to drive the Type 2 pick up a lot. Thanks again.
Now back then there was a lad called Robert Trott and he served his apprenticeship and got married and left the area to go and live in the Cotswolds a Beautiful Village called Bourton on the Water where he worked in a family business fixing cars.
The Owner of the garage died and Robert went on to run it for the Owners Widow for many years until she died and then he was in shock when he received a letter in the post one day from a Solicitor letting him know that the Widow had left the Garage to him in her Will! He didn't want the Garage and Sold it Off for building.. and just as well he did? When the diggers arrived soon after the Police closed Off the road in both directions and the Bomb disposal squad were called in because under the PIT where Robert had spent most of his life "Welding" up cars! Was found to be an un exploded Bomb from WW2??
 
I was about 18 when i visited Smithfield Garage which was a VW - Audi main dealer and this was in 1986 and i was on a college visit with a lecturer called Barry Green who was the head of engineering at Bromsgrove Technical College and i was one of about twenty students visiting the premises which belonged to Martin Ladbroke who had attended the same course and college many years earlier. I can remember having seen my first Audi Quattro 4x4 Turbo in the metal and all of us were just frozen when we saw it in white with all the driving lamps and the wide alloys which were rare in those days. It was the rally weapon of its day and it was the first turbocharged car we had ever seen and the concept was as new and fresh as a car running on fresh air would be today! We were hoping to meet Martin but we were told that he had flown to Germany to take delivery of his new Porsche which was a 928s and that he was bemused by the fact that this was the most expensive car Porsche had and they were made to order and it had to be pre-paid and the waiting time was 3 months?? The following week we visited the Monarch Porsche Dealership which he had in Warwick and then the following week we visited the Smithfield VW dealer he had in Leamington-Spa. Down the road in Sparkhill was Mario Deliotti an Alfa Romeo main agent which occupied the premises of a former Cinema and i can remember meeting the man himself and their was a racing car in the showroom which i thought was an Alfa Romeo Formula 1 Racing Car on loan from the works team for publicity purposes but it later was revealed that Mario had his own racing team: Mario Deliotti Racing and that the car was an Ensign T175 with a Ford DFV which was one of two cars that had been prepared by him for the Formula 1 Grand Prix of 1978 at Silverstone driven by Geoff Lees! If you google Mario you will see him pictured with a young Nigel Mansel a few years before he drove for Arrows! Mansel and the Arrows Team and Mario would dine at Da Corrado's Restaurant on the Stratford Road at Monkspath and the owner of the restaurant; Bruno Collodi was a car enthiusiast with signed pictures and portraits of racing teams and drivers hung on the walls and on the same road opposite was a BMW dealer owned by David Prophet a former racing driver. Jack Moss who was the owner of Four Ashes Garage at the bottom of Gate Lane (now Johnsons) was a regular customer of the restaurant and he supplied Bruno with an Aston Martin DB3 to compliment his other cars one of which was a red Ferrari and when Jack moved his garage from Solihull to Pathlow in Wilmcote in the 1970's it was going to be an Alfa Romeo dealership initially although this never materialised and it became an independent Aston Martin agent and Jack had ran a racing car in the Aston Club Meets which was an early DB2 which at the time was being driven by Steven Bamford and won many races.
I remember Mario Deliotti when he had the Alfa Romeo Car Dealership in Sparkhill and what a nice chap he was, a former motor cycle grand prix racer and he had been Bruno Giacomelli's race engineer when at Alfa works Team!
He ran the business to finance his racing team with the cars being made at workshops in Walsall and I remember having seen the cars being built there and also finishing touches to the livery and decals for sponsorship at his dealership on the Stratford Road. He was a true motor racing enthusiast turned F1 Team Owner just the same as Frank Williams started back then something you can't do today! Frank became a personal friend of his and he took an interest in the Team and on one occasion when he saw one of the cars which had been prepared made comment that "it was a neat little package" and that "it might go well with a good engine" and this is where the engine came from? A Customer Cosworth DFV from Williams on loan and test replacing the Matra V12 engine because it was shorter! It went better and when in the hands of a competent driver its improvement in handling was immediately obvious and the car went quicker and then twin four pot brake calipers had to be installed on the front wheels to stop the car!! The car became a serious contender and many young aspiring drivers got to debue the car in anger including an experienced Geoff Lees who was chosen over the then young Nigel Mansell to compete at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
When Mario closed the Dealership the Team continued as a Racing Team hence the name Mario Deliotti Racing and they moved to Ireland and then Mario passed away and the Team moved onto Switzerland competing as Mario Deliotti Racing (Switzerland). The Team is in America and the brand lives on and was in the hands of privateers Bob Moshinski and Dave Ferrari competing in the US Masters Series with the same cars and the same name somewhere in New England and they have workshops maintaining Ensigns and other racing cars of the same period.
 
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