I miss...

[SC Derby 259]

3 hours ago, MarkTVS said:

Some of you guys are showing your age here! I never remember Vat being any less than 17.5% 

 

They put it down to 15% for a bit during my time in the trade, so last 8 years

[Casper 272]

6 minutes ago, SC Derby said:

They put it down to 15% for a bit during my time in the trade, so last 8 years

I remember that too was it not for about a year .

[SC Derby 259]

2 minutes ago, Casper said:

I remember that too was it not for about a year .

Yes, felt a right brucey bonus at the time. Then it went to 20% 

[Mark101 536]

9 hours ago, MrC said:

White dog shit

Yes 

[BHM 994]

10 hours ago, MrC said:

White dog shit

What happened to it? It was all over the streets in the 70s.

[Arfur Dealy 823]

15 minutes ago, BHM said:

What happened to it? It was all over the streets in the 70s.

You don't see it very often because it's become highly collectable - I've witnessed someone nabbing some and going off with it in a plastic bag.

[It's me 609]

18 hours ago, trade vet said:

How much did your brick cost.I think I was paying £500 p/m in the 80s.

it wasnt that much but its wasnt cheap plus all the please hold the line payments to british telecom at 33pence per minute or there part of as it went from my landline to the mobile

back then people wouldn't ring a mobile number

now people wont ring a land line

funny old world..................

[NOACROSS 414]

People calling Audis 'Or-dees'.

(White dog poop is in fact Fox-poop I think).

Edited August 9, 2019 by NOACROSS

[trade vet 695]

6 minutes ago, jason doyle motor sales said:

it wasnt that much but its wasnt cheap plus all the please hold the line payments to british telecom at 33pence per minute or there part of as it went from my landline to the mobile

back then people wouldn't ring a mobile number

now people wont ring a land line

funny old world..................

In those days,I think you were charged for receiving calls.I used to have main dealers ringing me constantly to underwrite their swappers but I recall other traders paying more than £500 per month for their brick.I do remember having a aching shoulder !

[XFS 70]

12 minutes ago, jason doyle motor sales said:

it wasnt that much but its wasnt cheap plus all the please hold the line payments to british telecom at 33pence per minute or there part of as it went from my landline to the mobile

back then people wouldn't ring a mobile number

now people wont ring a land line

funny old world..................

I had the half brick, about half the size of the Motorola grey brick.

Cost about £300 to buy, line rental was about £30 per month and I’m sure calls were about 50p odd per minute. I remember I still used my phone card unless I couldn’t leave the block or it was urgent. There used to be banks of payphones outside the hall at ADT as it was then. Think this was about 89/90

[CRW 73]

Rover 200's and 25's with blown head gaskets for £200, doing the head and retailing within a week for £1995.

Ford Focus saloons, used to do really well with them.

Going into the local newspaper office to place an ad.

Going to the scrappy and walking out with about 20 unmarked Rover 200 wheel trims from the rear wheels, paying about a quid each for them and ebaying them for £10 plus P&P.  Rummaging the waste metal bins to dig out Ford chrome capped alloy wheel nuts, polishing them up and selling as a set of 16 for £16, used to pay nothing for them.

Definitely the tax disc rebate, that used to be great!

Don't miss the "wet behind the ears" mistakes I used to make. Still make some though!

[SouthernTrader 20]

I used to do really well off Rover 200s, used to be great little sellers!

[trade vet 695]

5 minutes ago, CRW said:

Rover 200's and 25's with blown head gaskets for £200, doing the head and retailing within a week for £1995.

Ford Focus saloons, used to do really well with them.

Going into the local newspaper office to place an ad.

Going to the scrappy and walking out with about 20 unmarked Rover 200 wheel trims from the rear wheels, paying about a quid each for them and ebaying them for £10 plus P&P.  Rummaging the waste metal bins to dig out Ford chrome capped alloy wheel nuts, polishing them up and selling as a set of 16 for £16, used to pay nothing for them.

Definitely the tax disc rebate, that used to be great!

Don't miss the "wet behind the ears" mistakes I used to make. Still make some though!

I only bought 1.4 Rover 25’s because they rarely blew head gaskets.

One of the first questions the Vat Man would always ask was if you surrendered any tax discs..Standard answer..Every car we buy is not taxed.( not a lie).....we never mentioned the swappers.

[SouthernTrader 20]

All the talk of the tax disc refunds reminds me of working for a big local used car site. There were constant heated discussions with PX customers pinching the tax disc out their swapper when they came to collect their new car

[trade vet 695]

1 hour ago, SouthernTrader said:

All the talk of the tax disc refunds reminds me of working for a big local used car site. There were constant heated discussions with PX customers pinching the tax disc out their swapper when they came to collect their new car

Tax discs,radios,spare wheels,jack and wheel braces but I did not blame the punters.I used to blame the salesman.

[SouthernTrader 20]

1 hour ago, trade vet said:

Tax discs,radios,spare wheels,jack and wheel braces but I did not blame the punters.I used to blame the salesman.

Yep, I got the owners wrath a couple of times as a young salesman and I soon made sure I didn’t make the same mistake again!

[metcars 394]

17 hours ago, XFS said:

Phone cards.

Thinking you were clever because you had a mobile..but at £300 odd to buy and £30 month plus calls at 50p per min...maybe not so clever.

 

I remember complaining about poor reception so I got a big fancy thing built into a briefcase, like a Navy Seal magnaphone! Battery was always flat?

[Mojo121 229]

(Guys. I've loved reading this thread. Thank you. CDM forum back cooking on gas)

[trade vet 695]

1 hour ago, Mojo121 said:

(Guys. I've loved reading this thread. Thank you. CDM forum back cooking on gas)

I am not sure whether the millennials like reading about the old days.I think we are being quite reserved,if we disclosed a lot more that might really sicken them !

[trade vet 695]

7 hours ago, trade vet said:

In those days,I think you were charged for receiving calls.I used to have main dealers ringing me constantly to underwrite their swappers but I recall other traders paying more than £500 per month for their brick.I do remember having a aching shoulder !

An old trader guy I got to know insists that in the mid 70s the best thing he did was have a phone system fitted in his car that cost him £2500 ! when you could get a descent house for that.He used to underwrite the very heavy stuff and main dealers would contact him first by leaving a message somewhere which would then be passed on immediately to his car phone.I have to say I do not recall anyone with a car phone at the time but I do believe him.

[Mark101 536]

2 minutes ago, tradex said:

Anyone remember Pagers

Yep, my Dad had one.  I used to page him and he would find a phone and call me.  He loved that bit of tech.

[Mark101 536]

44 minutes ago, trade vet said:

I am not sure whether the millennials like reading about the old days.I think we are being quite reserved,if we disclosed a lot more that might really sicken them !

Not me... I love old tales and to be fair TV, when we get towards the end of our careers, we will be just the same as you.  

Probably along the lines of, we used to pour a liquid in a car and ignite it and then some clown who sounds like a Lynx Deodorant thought electricity would be the future.  Think Sir Robert Sinclair.

Things change and we always think our heydays were the best times but they were only the best for that person who operated within them.

I still miss cashing the rent out of a swapper in though.....

 

[trade vet 695]

2 hours ago, Mark101 said:

Not me... I love old tales and to be fair TV, when we get towards the end of our careers, we will be just the same as you.  

Probably along the lines of, we used to pour a liquid in a car and ignite it and then some clown who sounds like a Lynx Deodorant thought electricity would be the future.  Think Sir Robert Sinclair.

Things change and we always think our heydays were the best times but they were only the best for that person who operated within them.

I still miss cashing the rent out of a swapper in though.....

 

Sir Robert Sinclair ?

[beenaroundtheblock 21]

3 hours ago, trade vet said:

An old trader guy I got to know insists that in the mid 70s the best thing he did was have a phone system fitted in his car that cost him £2500 ! when you could get a descent house for that.He used to underwrite the very heavy stuff and main dealers would contact him first by leaving a message somewhere which would then be passed on immediately to his car phone.I have to say I do not recall anyone with a car phone at the time but I do believe him.

Just read up as it interested me and they were indeed available in the 70's. The first one was 1965, upgraded in the 1970 and became more widely available in the 80's.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/connecting-britain/first-car-phone-uk/

[David Ayers 171]

28 minutes ago, trade vet said:

Sir Robert Sinclair ?

Clive’s son?