Anybody know the MB dealership in Coventry C1989?

[classicmel]

Hi, I've been trying to locate the dealership who supplied my car when it was new, on the other forum I was advised that the two second letters gave your area which is AC so Coventry right? So, I've searched and can only find Inchcape but as far as I'm aware they were not the original Mercedes benz dealership only they've taken lots over being a corporate. If anyone has any ideas I would be very grateful, sadly my car came without the original service book.

 

[Ted]

FWIW
Mercedes in Coventry were run by Swanswell Garage in Spon End, and then Cowies at the same location until 1979 when Terry Lister took over (his first venture after being dealer principal at Heron in Stratford upon Avon)
He quickly got rid of the Mercedes franchise as he felt there wes more money to be made in continuing the existing Audi/Volkswagen/Fiat franchises, and as far as I recall the sales and service moved to Seven Stars industrial estate, off Humber Road, Coventry.
Pretty sure that this was owned/run by Mercedes themselves but I could definitely be wrong there.
Oh, and AC was, I think, Warwickshire but could have included Coventry.

 

[classicmel]

FWIW
Mercedes in Coventry were run by Swanswell Garage in Spon End, and then Cowies at the same location until 1979 when Terry Lister took over (his first venture after being dealer principal at Heron in Stratford upon Avon)
He quickly got rid of the Mercedes franchise as he felt there wes more money to be made in continuing the existing Audi/Volkswagen/Fiat franchises, and as far as I recall the sales and service moved to Seven Stars industrial estate, off Humber Road, Coventry.
Pretty sure that this was owned/run by Mercedes themselves but I could definitely be wrong there.
Oh, and AC was, I think, Warwickshire but could have included Coventry.

More than I wished for, Thank you so much! I shall check again regards my Reg, it's a 1989 190E

 

[zipdip]

Bear with me as it is Sunday afternoon and the drink has been flowing,but is the op looking at the number plate trying to find where the car was sold,if so AC was Anglia and the DVLA was Peterbourgh ,just like any reg from that time that started with S was from Scotland

 

[zipdip]

And E was essex hic!!

 

[Ted]

KV and VC were definitely Coventry (look at some classic car photos).
AC was also definitely a Warwickshire number but Leamington Spa and Warwick come to mind.
lots of cars in Coventry with an AC back in the day

found this - scroll to pp 10-13

http://www.cvpg.co.uk/REG.pdf

How could I have forgotten HP, DU, RW??

 

[Dippo]

They were the suffixes I had on all my Chrysler company cars.

 

[classicmel]

Ok, so now i'm confused only reading this is why I thought that the AC was Coventry:

What about old number plate area codes?​

Since our new number plate system has only been around since 2001, it’s not uncommon to see older cars with ‘prefix’ number plates.


These types of plate are a one letter, one-to-three number, then three letter format – like ‘A123 ABC’, for example. In this type of plate, the first letter indicated the car’s registration year – and the final two letters acted as the area code; in this case, BC.


Before these prefix plates came ‘suffix’ plates – which used the same format but backwards. An example of a suffix plate would be ‘ABC 123A’. Here, the final letter indicates the registration year of the car, and the second and third letter indicate the registration region; again, in this case, BC.


The same area codes were used for prefix and suffix plates – so the following chart will help you identify the original location a registration mark comes from. There are a lot of them – so we’ve sorted them into alphabetical order so you can quickly sort through them:

A
A	London
AA	Bournemouth
AB	Worcester
AC	Coventry

 

[classicmel]

My Reg number is F117 TAC

 

[Dippo]

The number plates at the time were issued by the local Vehicle Registration Office. In this case, Coventry. Originally that VRO may have allocated certain suffixes to different places - for example, the Northampton VRO had the suffixes NH, VV, NV, BD, and RP. They initially allocated NH and VV to the town of Northampton, and NV, BD and RP went to the rest of the county. As Northampton expanded, the ratio of registrations between the town and the county changed, and the VRO started allocating county suffixes to the town as well.

The list you quote above probably refers to the issuing VRO - but yes, your registration listed above comes from the Coventry/Warwickshire area.

According to my "Glass's Guide Index of Registration Marks 1998", F***TAC was issued by Coventry VRO for registrations between 1 Dec 88 and 15 June 89.

 

[tonysmb]

I have an advert in a 1990 Autocar for 'new and used Mercedes Benz in the Midlands' - Coventry and Birmigham, Gerard Mann, tel 021- 643 9271.

You could always give them a ring

 

[oldguy57]

I have an advert in a 1990 Autocar for 'new and used Mercedes Benz in the Midlands' - Coventry and Birmigham, Gerard Mann, tel 021- 643 9271.

You could always give them a ring

You could indeed - Gerard Mann still have dealerships in Coventry and Birmingham.

 

[zipdip]

The op does know that it is far too late to return the vehicle as not fit for purpose

 

[classicmel]

The number plates at the time were issued by the local Vehicle Registration Office. In this case, Coventry. Originally that VRO may have allocated certain suffixes to different places - for example, the Northampton VRO had the suffixes NH, VV, NV, BD, and RP. They initially allocated NH and VV to the town of Northampton, and NV, BD and RP went to the rest of the county. As Northampton expanded, the ratio of registrations between the town and the county changed, and the VRO started allocating county suffixes to the town as well.

The list you quote above probably refers to the issuing VRO - but yes, your registration listed above comes from the Coventry/Warwickshire area.

According to my "Glass's Guide Index of Registration Marks 1998", F***TAC was issued by Coventry VRO for registrations between 1 Dec 88 and 15 June 89.

That's brilliant, Thank you so much!

I have an advert in a 1990 Autocar for 'new and used Mercedes Benz in the Midlands' - Coventry and Birmigham, Gerard Mann, tel 021- 643 9271.

You could always give them a ring

Please don't, i would be likely to try the number too

 

[DavidL]

AC is a Cov number. I'm trying to think who and where the Merc dealer was then but I can't immediately recall. I'd just finished my A levels then and working at the (now demolished) Cov and Warks Hospital.

 

[Petrol Pete]

If you want to call old phone numbers from the 70's -90's you will need one of these.

I actually still have a few of these old Nokias knocking around (see what I did there ?) in my workshop somewhere

 

[Fastcar155]

Ok, so now i'm confused only reading this is why I thought that the AC was Coventry:

What about old number plate area codes?​

Since our new number plate system has only been around since 2001, it’s not uncommon to see older cars with ‘prefix’ number plates.


These types of plate are a one letter, one-to-three number, then three letter format – like ‘A123 ABC’, for example. In this type of plate, the first letter indicated the car’s registration year – and the final two letters acted as the area code; in this case, BC.


Before these prefix plates came ‘suffix’ plates – which used the same format but backwards. An example of a suffix plate would be ‘ABC 123A’. Here, the final letter indicates the registration year of the car, and the second and third letter indicate the registration region; again, in this case, BC.


The same area codes were used for prefix and suffix plates – so the following chart will help you identify the original location a registration mark comes from. There are a lot of them – so we’ve sorted them into alphabetical order so you can quickly sort through them:

A
A	London
AA	Bournemouth
AB	Worcester
AC	Coventry

Hi , AB / WP was Worcestershire.

FK was Worcester

 

[classicmel]

Update: No help from Mercedes available

I wrote and had a reply from a Brian saying ;
I have checked all the Mercedes Benz systems we have access to and unfortunately there is no longer any information listed for this vehicle. I have also checked our internal systems and can find no records. I can only suggest you contact Mercedes Benz directly to see if they can access any archived information for the vehicle. I am sorry I could not be of any more help

Later the same morning i had another email from I believe his brother (Adam) saying : We are working on this for you – I appreciate the effort you have gone to so far with your car. I have included Bart into the email, who is very well connected with Mercedes Benz – He has access to Classic Car spec checks within Mercedes Benz. I will let him sort you out
Best of luck.

I've since written to Bart direct and never had a response whatsoever and as such I'm still unable to get confirmation as to which showroom my car was sold at, even if it is closed now.

Does anyone actually know who or where to write to Mercedes Benz direct please?

 

[Fastcar155]

More than I wished for, Thank you so much! I shall check again regards my Reg, it's a 1989 190E

Hi , a proper Mercedes Benz