Manchester Garages

[celeste]

Working at Manchester Airport I used to hear the above company mentioned quite a lot and wondered if they were still operating.
 
Anyone work for them or know anything about them where they were based?

[bluemikeaway]

  At one time they were Ford main dealers,we used to get our company cars from them.They were up the road from Manchester Royal.No idea if they are still functioning.

[colincampsite]

I looked on Google Street View and saw the site had been redeveloped. We used to buy our Ford cars from them and also did a lot of sign work for them.

[bluemikeaway]

  I thought they might have bitten the dust by now.We used to have our cars serviced by them which was a bit of pain,being based at the airport.

[Chipsandgravy]

I remember them, we used to live nearby, they had an enormous building on Oxford Rd opposite Whitworth Park, they had an indoor showroom and an outdoor sales pitch.
They had a ramp to the upper level (or roof I'm not sure) a green light meant it was ok to go up, a red light meant another car was coming down, this was for the mechanics only, not the public. Also, they had 2 or 3 compounds on Hathersage Rd opposite St Mary's hospital, some contained new cars and others contained crash damaged cars awaiting repair.
My best memory by far was when they had Graham Hill's Embassy Shadow formula 1 car on display in the showroom window for a week or so.

[bluemikeaway]

Manchester garages were a pretty successful company.We used them for years,we bought our company cars from them and used them for servicing.They were a Ford main dealer,but memory serves they may have changed franchise in later years.

[celeste]

Before I joined an airline I used to work for an airfreight company and the warehousemen were always talking about Manchester garages, they seemed to be a regular back-up

[bluemikeaway]

  Yeah I worked for Lepair at Manap for years and we always used them for our cars and transit vans.I recall that they also had a small facility on the old cargo centre for a few years which was more convenient.

[Stephen mcnulty]

Working at Manchester Airport I used to hear the above company mentioned quite a lot and wondered if they were still operating.
 
Anyone work for them or know anything about them where they were based?

[Stephen mcnulty]

 I worked at Manchester garages in 1977 as a car delivery driver, the ramp mentioned ran up to the area that the new cars were cleaned and made ready to be sold, the garages have shut down now and shops built on the site.

[Helly]

Hi there

I worked at Manchester Garages Trucks Division on Gorton Lane 1979-1983. It was a great company to work for, we used to get bonuses every month for selling engines and gear boxes, and we had some great promotion events when we introduced a new vehicle, like the Yak vehicle for instance. If we went in for stock taking the boss used to buy us chippy tea...happy days.
Anyone, remember Tom Hughes, Dave Sedgley, George Mira, Harry Hardacre, Graham Otto, Darren White, Paul Stoodley, John Wallwork, Brian White, Debbie and Paul-service Dept....ha ha ha

[Ron Gillatt]

Hi everybody, I am new to this forum having just found it yesterday while looking for 'Manchester Garages'. I worked there from 1960 to 1963 as an apprentice mechanic. I worked with Keith Barlow but I remember a lot of names. I remember Norman Davies who became Man U's kit man before Albert Morgan. If anybody wants to chat about 'the garages' as it was known please reply. I live in Canada.

[Adsum]

I knew Mr. Bob Stoodley slightly. He walked with a limp he got when he was a Pathfinder in WW2. Pathfinders were extremely brave. They were the first on the beaches in Normandy and Dunkirk clearing the way for the following troops. I seem to remember him saying that when he was injured they strapped him to the front of a tank whilst they carried on fighting. He was a director at Manchester garages. Later on he and his sons opened up Stoodley vehicle auctions in Gorton.


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[GORDON WOODS]

I worked at Manchester Garages from 1972 till 1990 working through sales to sales manager.

I remember Bob Stoodley well, and his secretary 'MISS ' Lister as we had to address her.

Colin LLoyd , John Yarwood, Danny Bailey , Ken Long, Joe Sargent , and Lewis Marland all spring to mind, as well as Neil Buckley from the Gorton lane truck division.

Talking the other day about Bob Stoodley coming back from a meeting with Motorola in about 1975/76 with a huge, primitive mobile phone with a great big battery attached, and declaring how big this market was going to be !!, we all thought he was daft,.....if only we had bought shares  .

I have been living in the US for the past 21 years, so nice to find this forum !

[Manx]

I use to get all my Ford spares at Manchester Garages, they cost a bit less than the other garages. When they closed down i changed over Quicks.

A 1970 shot.

http://images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=2406&reftable=ecatalogue&refirn=30960

Google map view, as the area is today.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Musicana+Cafe,+10+Wilmslow+Rd,+Manchester+M14+5TP/@53.4591258,-2.2275877,3a,66.8y,106.38h,97.25t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sm8dZw004zuxK_3yJHZ0hmw!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x487bb1882d641021:0xf332b0df483caadd