'Back in the day' VW/Audi dealership and other bits content

[dan95x]

Unfortunately, back in April, my Granddad, the man who got me (and my brother Rich, as I suspect he will end up seeing this too) into cars, and engines, and building, and welding, and all the other stuff that causes me so much trouble, passed away at the age of 84 (fairly ripe old age, given some of the stuff he got up to ) .

Over the years, he has been involved in all sorts of stuff that people on here might be interested in, not least of which is that from about the early/mid 60s, through to 1984, he, along with my Nan owned and ran a VW/Audi dealership, in Walsall in the West Midlands called 'Jem of Walsall'

Nan passed away about 6 years ago, so now me and Rich have the interesting, hilarious, surprising, heartbreaking, confusing, annoying and all the other emotions you can think of task of clearing his house, garages and yard of a lifetime of car/boat/general tomfoolery.

I am likely to have loads of stuff to post up here over the next few months as I uncover it (and actually find time to do so), and as long as people are finding it interesting, and want me to carry on, I will do so, as it doesnt seem right for none of this stuff to ever see the light of day again other than just within our family.

Granddad took a load of cine film, so I will start with a few of those, as I think they might be of interest:

First up is a general view around the garage, in 1969, in the snow:




Next up, also in 1969, a little trip around one of the workshops, and the parts department:



And lastly for this first instalment, slightly earlier I think, probably 66 or so, him tying some souvenirs bought on a cruise onto the roof of his Dads Rover, and then another shot of the front of the garage.

Makes me laugh, as his Dad checks the tying on in the exact same way as he has always checked any tying on we have done - I know where he got it from now




Assuming anyone is interested at all, I will try and update this reasonably regularly (there are bloody loads of just cine films alone, let alone pictures, stuff we are finding in with his things etc etc) but obviously we are pretty busy actualy sorting all this lot at the minute, as well as normal family life etc.

Let me know what you think, whether people want me to keep posting things, and shout if any questions - I could chat about him till the cows come home - he was my hero, and I don't half miss him....

Jem Molyneux  May 1937- April 2022

[philsford]

Interesting as I am in Walsall. Never heard of the dealer though but I am perhaps a little to young. The only local one I remember was the one on the Wolverhampton Rd which I think was Willenhall coachcraft.

[dan95x]

Yeah that's right, Willenhall Coachcraft was the other Walsall dealer.

Jem of Walsall were in the Pleck, on Pleck road - technically it's all still there now, as they built it, but has been split up into several different units, some accessed off what used to be the parts/service entrances on st.johns road and Scarborough road, so unless you knew what you were looking for, you wouldn't see it as 'one' dealership/garage anymore.

They closed in 84, so I'm not going to cast aspersions on your age, but you may well indeed be too young 😁

[philsford]

I was very much alive in 1984 but was only a kid and Pleck was not somewhere my parents ventured to much. I will have to be more observant next time I am down that side of town to see if I can spot it. I was only down that way this morning as I had to go over by Bescot to order something.

[dan95x]

Jun 28, 2022 23:05:48 GMT philsford said:

I was very much alive in 1984 but was only a kid and Pleck was not somewhere my parents ventured to much. I will have to be more observant next time I am down that side of town to see if I can spot it. I was only down that way this morning as I had to go over by Bescot to order something.

The frontage is about 3 or 4 shops now - I am pretty sure last time I went down, one was a piri-piri chicken place. I think one of the ones down the side off St.Johns road is a 'fast clutch' type outfit

[dan95x]

Next up is the launch of the VW K70 - 1969:



Well not THE launch, obviously, but the launch as far as the garage was concerned The big blue '30s Humber at the start was Granddads that he rebuilt with his Dad (and that we still have) - More to come on that in later posts I suspect.

The Red Beetle was the accessories display car in the showroom - I didn't realise bonnet bras had been a thing for such a long time!

He wasn't the biggest fan of the watercooled FWD stuff as it started to come in, but did come round (to some degree) over time. I do sometimes wonder if it was his dogged 'loyalty' to the aircooled stuff that perhaps hindered the growth of the garage and led to them shutting up shop in the end.


Jumping around a bit in terms of time 'Knocking down old workshops' must be around '76/'77 as the Silver Beetle Cabriolet in the footage is my Mums (which we still have) and was a 76 model:



I am slightly dubious of the way they appear to have knocked the old workshops down while they were actually full of vehicles

The end shot of the row of campers shows that they were Esso for the Petrol at this point too. Over time they were Regent, Esso and Texaco (I think in that order)


Not all the garage related footage is actually in-situ Brands Hatch Caravan show (Possibly 1980):



He reckoned the massive awning thing that you can see was a VW/Audi UK thing that you could ask them to bring along to trade shows etc if you were putting on a certain size display. Shame that wasn't his, because if that was in his yard somewhere, it would be just the job to have on the drive to work on the car under away from the weather


Lastly for the minute, a bit of assorted retro car eye candy - Lombard Rally, Trentham Gardens, Nov 81:




Thats it for the minute - will be back soon!...........

[Mercdan68]

Superb, thank you for sharing and of course condolences on the loss of what sounds a real gentleman of the old school

[brachunky]

This will be a fascinating insight so please keep the thread going! Thanks for sharing this amongst your sad loss

[mrbig]

This is brilliant, thank you for sharing!!

[dan95x]

Well for as long as people still want to see them, I will carry on!

I will struggle to put any up for a few days, so wanted to drop some on here now while I have a chance:

Construction 1980:



Pretty sure this was a spray booth and extension to the workshops. Granddad being the man he was, we still have a small pile of those white bricks at the top of our garden 42 years later - There was no way any would be going to waste once the builders were done

Not that it probably means much to anyone other than us, but you get a glimpse of him through the window towards the end, waving the RSJ down into position in a terrible suit. I can guarantee even without sound, that when it was in place, he will have shouted 'woah' to confirm.


Feb 78 - Concrete pouring, removing Kiosk and new Canopy:



Bit of a mix of building stuff here. Your man 'Bill' laying the concrete in his slacks and cardigan with a pipe in his mouth turns up in a few of these whenever concrete is being poured

The white bay window pickup being used to take the old petrol kiosk away (and being MASSIVELY overloaded from the look of it ) was a part exchange that came in, got sprayed Dove Blue shortly after this and became the garage pool pick-up. Granddad fell in love with it, kept it as his own, and again (surprise surprise) we still have it.

The Esso tanker, according to the notes written on the cine was the first Esso delivery that they had.

You start to see the forecourt looking a lot less like an old fashioned garage here and looking more like a modern dealership/petrol station I guess too.


Dropping ten years back in time, I think this '1968 Forecourt Trimming' is probably the earliest footage of the forecourt etc I think.

Its terrible quality at the start, but its worth it for some nice close ups when the quality clears up a bit



When we were watching all these in his last few weeks, he reckoned it was some promotion by Regent that they were setting up for at the start, hence the cardboard cut-out Regent woman that pops up all over the place

The little MG sportscar parked on the end of the forecourt was a petrol and service regular apparently - A little old lady who used to bomb round in her sporty little two seater well into what Granddad reckoned was her 80s


As I cant put any up for a few days, there is a bit of a longer one below (20 mins or so) 'Silverstone 1980'

They were both on the same cine reel, and only marked up as Racing at Silverstone 1980, but I am guessing from the change of weather, its 2 different race meets - Historic racing in the pouring rain, and some saloon etc racing, with a guest appearance by Thrust 2, I assume doing a PR tour.

There is some pretty tasty stuff in the car parks etc too



As I say, I will struggle to update much for a few days, but there is definitely more coming!

[dan95x]

June 1981 - Danbury Disabled Conversion:

This is a bit of filming of ITV filming a conversion of a Danbury camper at the garage, converted for disabled owners. I don't know if he was interviewed etc, or if they just used the garage to supply/film it, as I've never seen the ITV end of it! Its crazy to think that something that I guess is pretty (relatively) easy to get hold of now (i.e an adapted camper/vehicle) was newsworthy not all that long ago.




Footings for Parts Dept:



Will be 70s at some point. Its not the most exciting cine film ever, to be honest, but Bill makes a return in his trademark PPE cardi, and its interesting to see that a main dealer would use their own staff in quiet times to be laying the foundations in their overalls I cant imagine that happening now in the days of the big dealer groups! I guess you would never get such major work going on nowadays while the garage is still open to customers either.


West Park Classic Car Show Late 70s:



Anyone in the West Mids will definitely know West Park as a venue for classic car shows - Good to see they have been going on for a while!

After the parade which takes up most of the film, is more footage of Granddads Humber that featured in an earlier film in the garage. He bought as his own car early on in his driving career and rebuilt it with his Dad. He took it round various shows for a fair few years in the 60s, 70s and 80s, it served as my Mum & Dads wedding car, and then has been parked up since the early 80s (always under cover) but still!

Its not in the worst shape, but its not in the best either, unfortunately. Currently under a car port, and covered in/surrounded by all sorts, it will be a little while until we can pull it out, but having cleared stuff from round it the other day and had a peer inside, it still smells exactly the same as it did when I used to play in it as a kid.

My Dad, as his son-in-law was obviously trusted enough to transport it for him, as its him driving it off on the back of the garage liveried LT recovery truck at the end. He had the LT built specifically by a local coachbuilders from an LT Chassis/cab, and reckoned VW told him it was the first flatbed LT recovery wagon of that type, but I don't know how confirmed that actually is!


Joe and Empty Houses Pleck Road:



I have no idea who Joe is, but I am guessing its the guy walking down the road at the start of the film!

The garage site actually started as Granddads Dads builders yard, which previously was a small manor house and grounds/outbuildings. Initially they got a few petrol pumps for the builders wagons, and I believe whoever supplied the petrol at the time said that they had to supply the public too, which is where the garage started from and grew from.

This shows quite well how over time they expanded to the surrounding houses, which ended up getting consumed by the garage too, creating a pretty big 'empire'. You will be unsurprised, if you are building a picture of the man, to find out that we only actually got rid of the last of these houses (even though all the rest of the site was sold in 1984) to the current owner of the site about 4 years back, as even though it was derelict and being used for people to fly tip in, he just couldnt get rid of the last bit of it he still had hold of! Its the end one that you see from 1.18 in, and frankly looked derelict then, so am actually fairly surprised it was still standing recently!

[dan95x]

That ended up being a longer break from posting than I thought!

Assuming anyone is still interested, here are a couple more:

Firstly a bit of a mixed bag of his Humber and his dads Rover at an unnamed car show in '68, with accompanying autocross, then some more footage of the garage:



This would have been not that long after he and his Dad restored the Humber I think - few interesting bits and pieces around it too, like the in period RAC display at the show too. The autocross looks pretty good fun - I don't know if he/anyone he knew was actually competing in one of the beetles, as he died before we found this particular reel. I think he did have a go at a bit of motorsport, but just wasnt especially good, so it could be him, and I guess Beetles were almost disposable for him at the time! There are a few interesting bits competing in it from a look.

There is a quick bit of him trimming the lawn at the garage with (I think) an ATCO mower (that we still have!) then some nice 60s footage of his service yard with all the expected Type 2 vans etc liveried up, but also a brief glimpse of his liveried Land Rover, and a very brief look at the back end of the ex MOD recovery Chevy truck (behind the red Austin and Grey Type 3 - Blink and you'll miss it).

It goes out the front again, with some nice footage of the forecourt when it was Regent, and the very small showroom window display at the time!

Secondly, I took a guess that anyone on here might have a vague interest in some footage of Powerboats on Chasewater in 1978



I don't actually know much about the meet other than it was in '78 and at Chasewater! Some tasty boats though, to my interested, but uninformed eyes.

Lastly, a very brief, and not that interesting other than a bit of Leyland Concrete Mixer Pron footage of some of the construction of the low bake ovens in 1981:



Thats it again for now - will try and not leave it quite so long before I stick the next load up!

[pistonpopper]

Sorry for your loss, but thanks for sharing this dan95x, its some pretty cool stuff, and even though I obviously don't know anyone in the films I love looking at old films and old photographs, it's great that you're happy to share this with us.

[dan95x]

Sept 7, 2022 21:24:16 GMT pistonpopper said:

Sorry for your loss, but thanks for sharing this dan95x, its some pretty cool stuff, and even though I obviously don't know anyone in the films I love looking at old films and old photographs, it's great that you're happy to share this with us.

Cheers - It seemed criminal for none of it to ever see the light of day again except in the family - I know I would sit and watch it if it was someone/a garage I didn't know, so I figured it may be of interest to others on here! Especially as I had rushed round getting it all digitised for him to watch in his last few months too, I didnt want it to then just disappear into the depths of my hard drive.

There is a ridiculous amount of stuff from a lifetimes 'tatting' for us to work through, and again, I don't want us to be the only people who see it before it goes up the loft/into the garage/moved on elsewhere/to the tip!

[dan95x]

Few more, all actually away from the garage itself, as it happens, but some nice bits of film:

Like most old school VW fans, Granddad had a bit of a thing for Porsches. The Martini 935s blew his mind in a way he was still going on about 40 odd years later, so I think he would go and try and see them 'live' whenever he could. Both of these meets are at Silverstone, one in '77 and one in '78:

Silverstone August 1977 Martini Porsches:



Silverstone 1978 - Moby Dick:



I don't actually know whether he was 'on duty' at these and went as part of the VAG family, or whether he just went because he fancied it.

What definitely was a work trip was the following one - Trip to Wolfsburg 1979:



Pretty much smack at the back end of the real push from aircooled to watercooled, there is some interesting stuff floating round the streets near the factory. No footage from inside, unfortunately, I assume that was 'verboten' but some good stuff spottable in the car parks etc.

Lastly, completely unrelated to the garage, and involving more of the other side of my family alongside them, but I thought it was a nicely typical period bit of road trip footage - A group of them all off on a holiday to Plymouth in a German/British/Japanese rainbow of vehicles

Plymouth Late 70s:



Will do some more when I get a minute.......

[dan95x]

Few more while I have a bit of time.....

Brands Hatch Caravan Show 1982 & his 911:

Short but sweet - a nice bit of period footage from another trade show at Brands Hatch in '82 and a very brief look at one of his Porsche 911s on the drive. He had 3 911s at various times (one of which we still have, but it has most definitely seen better days, and it isn't this one). This one in the footage I think was a 3.0 SC (although a Porsche beard may be able to tell me differently) but I know it definitely was the one that he went out and bought brand new, using a house deposit, without telling my Nan If you'd met my Nan, you would be even more surprised that he made it to 84 before kicking the bucket after that.



MOT Bay:

Not very long, and not especially interesting either Bill is back with his armoured Cardi laying some compo, and there is a couple of glimpses of some retro beetle and concrete mixer, but that's about it. Its only 40 seconds though, and it 'completes the set' in terms of what I have transferred, so might be of interest to someone and I didn't want to leave it out as a result!



Garage 'R' Beams:

Thats what it said on the cinefilm anyway? I am guessing it refers to the preformed concrete beam floor that is being laid in the footage. Of more interest personally is the Foden that is delivering them, and some of the motors littered around in the background. This is mainly down the side of the garage where the service and parts departments were (St Johns Road in Walsall for anyone local - Its still pretty recognisable as what is in the footage)



Turning the Yard into the Garage:

While not recognisably the garage, this is actually the earliest footage of it I think. As I said earlier, the garage was built off the back of his Dads builders firm and yard (you can see some of his dads signage in this footage - J Molyneux Building Contractors, and the brown/cream Bedford wagon was one of the firms). The yard was an old local manor house and its outbuildings, but when his dad wanted to have petrol pumps for his wagons, he was told he had to sell to the public too, so they did.

They then also started doing car repairs and servicing etc alongside it, and eventually decided to dump the building (his Dads health was failing a bit, and while he was a decent builder in his own right, Granddads heart was in cars) and open a dealership. They looked at Lada, Datsun, Toyota and VW, plumped for VW in the end, and that was that.

This footage seems to be the turning of a load of the old outbuildings into workshops etc. I am guessing from the fact that his dads firm was still going, but they werent yet a fully fledged VW dealership, it will be very early 60s. There is an early beetle in one of the outbuildings, and the start of the parts department as well. I don't know whether that means they were open by this point, or it was just before and unfortunately this was one of the few bits I didnt manage to get done before he died, so cant ask him anymore



Thats it for now again

[dan95x]

I have a bit of time to add a few more again.....

Demolition of 496 Pleck Road:

It got to the point where I think the old houses on the edge of the plot, and using the old manor house as the main part of the garage started to limit what they could do, and I suspect was rapidly becoming not in keeping with what was needed by both VW, but also the petrol company (Regent at the time) in terms of 'corporate look' so the house next door had to come down......



Away from the garage again and there is some Saloon car racing from Silverstone, Late 70s:

I am guessing it was a 'work thing' as Mk1 Golf and Scirocco, plus Audi 80 Sports feature pretty heavily as the main racing, with a a nice smattering of BMW, ford etc as well - A pretty varied field actually. Tiny bit of historic racing at the end too:




Ingolstadt New Audi 100 Launch Oct 82 and VW Action Sep 82:

The titles are both fairly explanatory! Launch of the 'cigar tube' Audi 100 over at the factory, and some good footage of around the factory etc. That is followed by their stand at VW action in '82. Unsurprisingly to me, while uploading the footage, I spotted a boxed 'Paloma Water Heater' that I assume was for sale at the show, that I literally this weekend moved from under his stairs, 40 years later, still boxed




If you are still here, the next one is quite long (half an hour) and at times a bit 'dry' (think footage of underground petrol tanks being installed) but there are some bits of gold in there too (plus if anyone, anywhere on the internet is going to appreciate 50 year old footage of petrol tanks being installed, I guess it will be here!)

Forecourt development Sep 77 to May 78:



Shows the petrol canopy being installed, including period 'climbing RSJs in my flares and eating my lunch up there with no harness or helmet' working practices. It looks like this was part of Texaco taking over from Regent, as there is Texaco branding appearing in the background, and the Regent pumps are coming out.

There is a brief shot of a beetle in the showroom with the number plate 'last 1' which I am assuming was one of the final edition saloons, which I think were the last German built hardtops before they stopped producing them in Germany itself.

There is also some footage of someone having a terrible attempt at getting a derby up onto a car transporter - I am not entirely sure what is going on there

The following 20 minutes are mainly literally the underground tanks being installed, tested and concreted in (with some interesting stuff in the background sometimes, to be fair) - If you are interested in that sort of industrial history, you will find it fascinating. If not, then it wont be the most exciting 20 minutes of your life overall if you do decide to watch it


Thats it again for now - There is probably only enough for about one more instalment I think after this, and I am probably out of footage then, unless we find more. Hopefully I will do the next lot a bit quicker!

[philsford]

Just caught up on Johnny and his barn find editions and it was you. What an Alladins cave you have got to sort through there. The pick up is a keeper I take it?

[dan95x]

ha ha - It was me! or at least a broader black country accented, slightly fatter, slightly scruffier version of me than I am in my own head!

Aladdins cave is one way of putting it! 2 years in and counting - There is some really cool, interesting stuff though, so we don't mind too much!

Yeah - Pickup is 100% staying, that means most to us and is what we were carted round in most as kids.

The Riley is on first refusal to a mate of Granddads, but until the boat and/or 412 are moved, it cant come out anyway.

The 412 I need to have a look at - Its worse than it looks in the video. If the underneath and rear end is as bad as the inner wings/flitches are, its probably dead i think I need to pull it out and see.

The Humber is a difficult one - Its a beautiful thing, the craftsmanship is amazing, but its huge, and no one really wants them any more. I will probably struggle to store it anywhere, but equally I don't want it to just go for £500 to become beancans - I really don't know!

The boat is buggered, but I am going to put it in my back garden for the kids to play in - He would have liked that!

Its difficult with him leaving behind so much stuff (as I say, 5 cars and 3 trailers have already gone by this stage. Plus 36 tip runs in a fully loaded Audi A6 estate, 11 tip runs in a fully loaded transit, and another 10 transit runs to the metal yard. I think I have sold 4 gearboxes, a couple of engines and various other bits to help people - Its never ending!) because 90% of it means 'something' to us, but we cant keep all of it.

I loved him to bits, but he was a nutcase