Used car lots, probably 50s to early 90s

[Cartman]

Seeing Arthur's car lot on Minder has reminded me of these, every town used to have several at one time, a portakabin as the office, bunting outside, and an appealing selection of motors, usually the cheap stuff at the back. I used to like mooching round them from time to time and bought one of my mark 5 Cortinas from one.

70s ones would have cars ranging from the mid 60s to the early 70s, 80s ones would have 70s and early 80s stuff and so on.

They seemed to disappear about the early to mid 90s and are another sad loss

[D.C. Burtonshaw]

Remember these types of dealers well Cartman! There were a few in Luton but the lands been since built on with houses etc.

A few were a bit dodgy, I remember the then owners of one just next to the slip road of M1 Junction 11. It's still a secondhand car dealer now but I'm not sure what the latest owners are like. The owners during the 80's and up to 1991, got prosecuted in the end for selling dodgy/ringed/accident damaged cheap motors!

I remember some of the cars too like around the end of 1984, there were cars like Hillman Hunters and HC Viva/Magnums for sale and in 1988, I seem to remember a metallic blue over silver (the silver probably being a later addition......) MK1 Granada Ghia saloon, P reg for sale for £495! Also after about 1989 onwards, a darker metallic blue American Ford Mustang II also a P reg, (the compact type seen in Charlies Angels) for sale for £1795 with a hole in the front wing!! Also remember a rather blistery yellow XJC coupe Daimler Sovereign on a P plate for 3k.

Under new management, by the early 90's it was stuff like MK1 Cavalier saloons. I remember a couple of others, independent secondhand dealers further towards the town, funny how a few of the cars they had for sale stick in your memory! One dealer had a Modena Green M reg MK3 Cortina 2.0GT with the rectangular headlamps up for £495 as well. Was fitted with MK4 Ghia seats.

Another had what was a rare car then, and is a bit of a holy grail now with water cooled Volkswagen enthusiasts; - a blue with black vinyl roof, K reg VW K70! VW's first water cooled car, a boxy Cortina sized 4 door saloon originally intended to be badged as an NSU. That was in early 1985 and an evergreen MK1 Escort XL 2 door, looking very tidy was parked next to it.

[Cartman]

Interesting stuff, DC. The first one of these dealers I knew was near our house in Radcliffe, from the late 60s, and, apparantly, he got in trouble for welding two halves of a Triumph Herald together which came apart! 

It changed hands in the mid 70s and then expanded a bit and had some interesting stuff, particularly in its early days, one was the only Austin Metropolitan I’ve ever seen, a couple of Mark 1 Cortina estates, one taxed and ready to go, for £95.00! Oh for a time machine. 

Across the road was a filling station who also had a few cars for sale, I remember an FD Victor which was a bit rusty, a nice yellow mark 1 Capri and one of the Hunter based Sunbeam Rapier coupes. A bit later, early 80s I remember a nice line up of about four mark 2 Escorts. One other one in Radcliffe used to get the odd yank, a Mustang, the big early 70s version driven by Sean Connery in Diamonds are Forever, and a rarity, the only Plymouth Fury (Hill Street Blues police car) I have ever seen, it was in great nick, a smart metallic brown and around the £800 mark, that would be on my shopping list too.

My Cortina I got from one near Manchester, on Bury New Road, and it was a great car, this was about the time I moved to South Manchester, and there were two more of them near my new house, one I remember had a nice N regd Jag XJ 3.4, this would be around 1990 ish, and a superb Cortina 2.0 Crusader.