![Macalpine Motors was situated on Macalpine Road and offered new and used cars alongside garage services and petrol pumps. Image: DC Thomson.](https://wpcluster.dctdigital.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2023/08/H250-1989-07-26-MacAlpine-Motors-%E2%92%B8DCT_50862258-mv3boepl-scaled-e1692876039275-azutp4r4-940x564.jpg)
This week’s pictorial trip down memory lane is a drive out to the past.
The DC Thomson archives team has dug out a varied and interesting collection photographs of Dundee garages and forecourts which are sure to spark a memory or two.
Grab yourself a cuppa and enjoy having another browse back through the decades courtesy of The Dundonian, which appears in the Evening Telegraph every Wednesday.
Some of these photographs have not been seen for years.
Do you remember any of these motor locations?
Take a look at some of the pictures below.
1985
The sign hanging from the showroom roof was celebrating “20 years and still going strong” when entering Barnett’s Volvo Centre at Riverside Drive in April 1985.
Bob Barnett began selling Volvos in the city’s Seagate in 1965, and the rest is history.
1986
Managing director Martin Rumble and financial manager Jim Hackett are pictured at the Nissan Marketgait showroom of Martin Motors in June 1986.
Martin Motors was taken over by Aberdeen firm Anderson Cars in April 1988.
1986
The Kingsway East service station at the Scott Fyffe circle in March 1986.
The filling station is long gone but the Scott Fyffe showroom is still there today.
1987
A BMW on the forecourt at John Clark (Tayside) Ltd in October 1987.
An advertising feature for the Rutherford Road showroom stated you’d be pushed to find either a better approved used warranty or better used cars anywhere in the world.
1988
Saint Roque’s Automobile Company’s showroom on Ward Road in April 1988.
The company was Tayside’s Austin Rover main distributer and also offered 0% finance, free delivery and 12 months’ road tax on any Metro, Maestro, Montego or Mini sold.
1988
Several cars fill up at 38p a litre at Burmah Filling Station on Dock Street in 1988.
The fuel price landscape couldn’t look any different in 2023, following the combined forces of Brexit, Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine, seeing pump prices hit record highs.
1988
A January 1988 picture shows the staff at Fairfield Garage Services posing for a promotional snap inside the workshop.
The garage was “Tayside’s Crypton tuning specialists”, which could “improve your car’s starting, performance and fuel consumption” from only £22.50 plus VAT.
1989
The garage, originally opened by Alf Stewart in the 1930s, acquired the Citroen franchise in 1970 and had premises in Roseangle before moving to Clepington Road.
Did you purchase a car from Edward & Stewart back in the day?
1989
The Tayford Showroom looking resplendent in Balfield Road in July 1989.
The Quicks group acquired Tayford Motors in 1998 and became Britain’s eighth-largest motor dealer at the time of purchase with a total of 44 outlets.
1990
The Arnold Clark showroom in Trades Lane in November 1990.
Arnold Clark opened his first garage in Glasgow in 1956 and by 1990 owned 29 outlets in Scotland and England.
The company moved from the Trades Lane showroom in the 2000s and still has premises across the city, including the dealership and garage in East Dock Street.
The 1990 image was our final gallery item.
Did our pictorial trip back in time jog any motoring memories in Dundee for you?
Let us know.
Conversation