Southampton Car Auctions

Any one remember going down to Dock Gate 10 to check out the cars going thro the Auction Site on a Weds or Saturday?

Always remember the smell of the flour making at the Ranks Mill next door, the fry ups in the Auction Canteen and the Car Dealers doing the rounds.

Bob Charles, the ex Saints Goalie, was always in evidence (he had a second hand car site in Swaythling)

Only bought I car there (a Triumph Herald) only to find the chassis riddled with rust.

My mates Dad went down to 'have words' with the Auction owners'

They thought he was a copper and paid for most of the repair costs!!

Bought quite a few cars their and never had a problem. There was a simple rule - if it looks to good to be true it is! Had one that I paid £2k for and 9 months later some idiot ran into the back of it and wrote it off - insurance company paid out £3.5k - KERCHING!

My first car auction purchase was an A35, loved it.

Others included an Allegro and 'insurance job' MG Metro Turbo (scary stuff). As a surprise my nipper and mrs brought home a Rover 213, what a pile of poo. it had a crakced block and eventually broke it at a small profit and got a decent scrap value to boot.

ime if you took a 'knowledgeable person' with you they would invariably scowl at the cars on offer but there were always odd gems to be picked up.

Incidentally, I note that Millbank (old auction site near SMS) is just starting up again.

Millbank used to run as a general auction then started selling cars (small volume) when the site at 10 Gate was turned over to container storage.

According to the Echo now back to General Auctions

I was always down there in the 90s. Back then I used to buy a car with a few months tax and ticket, run it, scrap it and buy another. It's very cost effective motoring.

Remember watching big Mercs and Jags going through at giveaway prices, whilst Minis were fetching ridiculously high prices in the Oil Crisis in the early 70's, the one when the Government issued the petrol ration books.

It was great watching the traders bumping the price of their mates old bangers up. Also one could approach the seller afterwards to offer them cash, although strictly speaking is a bit naughty.

We used to watch a chap who we nicknamed 'Datsun Man' after buying a Datsun Violet from previously. Nice bloke who really looked the part.

I was always down there in the 90s. Back then I used to buy a car with a few months tax and ticket, run it, scrap it and buy another. It's very cost effective motoring.

That was ok until they started claiming the tax back. I bought a couple of cars there myself, both went on for many years. I remember seeing Dave Webb there a few times. This would have been just after he had managed Bournemouth.

My best ever buy down there was a Sierra 2.0 - 10mths MOT, 2mths Tax - £163.

Thursday nights were always good - a lot of traders put through more P/Ex's then. Great bargains, happy days!

Morris Ital Estate for £70. Ran okay for a few months but permanently had ponds in the footwells.

My Nan (God bless her), was the cook down there. I was forever down there as a kid, trying my best to get into as much mischief as possible, as everyone in my family had to work and as my Nan worked the least hours, it was off down the auction bright and early on a saturday morning. Was ruddy brilliant if i'm honest... endless amounts of her finest Cakes, Scones, Bakewell Tarts and even the odd fry-up or two!

Unfortunatly, I was only young, so never got to purchase a bargain motor. I do however think that the guy who owned it now buys motors from auctions and sells them on... so I asume there were some good bargains to be had and he cottoned onto it.

Went with a mate who bought a 3.8 Jag S-Type previously owned by the landlord of a Shirley pub.

Lovely motor, luxury motoring at a bargain price.

If you knew a bit about cars, there were some good buys to be had.