I found this photo in the archives of the QLD State Library. It says that this is the VW agency in Nambour.

Problem - the VW dealer lists of the 1960s say that the Nambour VW agency was called 'Motorways Pty Ltd', at 25-31 Lowe St, not 'Day & Grimes Pty Ltd', as the photo seems to show. I cannot find a listing for a Day & Grimes anywhere, QLD or otherwise.

Can anyone shed any light? Nice photo anyway. Many of the VW country dealers of the 1950s and 1960s were farm machinery places.

Look on the LHS where it says
VOLKSWAGEN

Motorways

Lubritorium [is this really a word?]

they may not have been able to use the other name as a VW dealer...??? another company???

LEE

Phil

I had forgotten about Neptune petrol stations.... lol

[did I ever remember them??}

Golden Fleece
TOTAL
AMOCO

Ampol seems to have gone.
BOGAS seems to have gone.

Lee

Well spotted Lee, gosh your eyes are better than mine. I'm going to have to eat more carrots. Thanks for solving the mystery - this IS Nambour then.

I had a look on Google Earth street view, as Lowe St Nambour is easy to find. There is nothing at 25-31 Lowe St that comes close to matching this old photo, so the old place must have been bulldozed and rebuilt years ago. It's a main shopping street nowadays, with what looks like a shopping mall on the old site. Right across the road from the large post office building.

I remember Golden Fleece, Total and Amoco; I don't remember Bogas. There is still the occasional Ampol servo around.

Neptune is one out of the distant past, like Plume I suppose.

To all,

Day & Grimes was a local company in Nambour - and I believe actually owned or had the subsiduary company of Motorways Pty Ltd. The dealership was on that site originally and then moved to a location in Howard Street in Nambour (this was then bought out by Walter Rein and became Rein Motors during the 70's, then Kallenbach motors in the 80's).

The actual building was on the corner of Anne & Lowe Streets in Nambour.

Day & Grimes also had a furniture store and real estate agency.

I actually have an old Key Ring with Motorways and some other memorabilia from that time from Motorways.

Hope this sheds some light!

Regards

Kerry

Hmm i reckon we should get a VW wiki setup here for all these old places, i will email the board owner and see if hes up for it, if not i will set one up on my site. Save alot of this cool interesting stuff disappearing.

Sounds good. I have been working on a spreadsheet of all the VW dealers in Australia, with their addresses, from 1954-2008, so I can see who was where, and when. Mostly done but still a lot of gaps - 1980s is hard to find! Dealer booklets are a good source but not for that period. Looking up old phone books in the library is the only other way, but time consuming. Especially as NSW, for example, has a dozen or so books for the country regions, each year.

It would also be great to locate a period photo of the VW dealer in question - very difficult ! And a recent photo if possible, or at least of the area if the old one is demolished. This is also difficult for really old dealers that may not have an address listed, or maybe just 'Bruce Highway' for example, in a given town. And yes, South Australia has a fascinating country VW dealer history too, as does Western Australia.

Some people lust after 'barn finds' - I dream about that forgotten little VW dealer in a country town, still with its original signs and a forgotton attic full of NOS VW parts in their boxes...

oh to have spare time.

My thoughts exactly Nick..

Hi

Spare time, this is an example of your tax dollars at work.

Greg Mackie the famous VW racer was part of the Neptune racing team many years ago, we had Neptune station around the corner from where I lived as a kid, in Gibson Ave Padstow. I had a blue & white toy Mini done up in Neptune racing team livery, Im not sure if they ever had VW toys.

Steve

Yeah spare time seems to be in short supply. I have been working on the VW dealer database for more than a year, and still a long way from being finished. Beats wasting time watching TV though.

There was a second photo that went with the Nambour Motorways photo above, which was their second-hand lot. This looks to be a different address. Nice cars in the lot - mostly...

Well actually I was wondering about Wagga Wagga. It's one place I've never been, and it's one town that had a LONG time VW dealer at the same address. And Jupiter wasn't the first.

Edward Street Motors became a VW dealer, at 20 Edward St, Wagga Wagga, in 1958. They replaced an even earlier VW dealer, E.W. Litchfield and co, who were at 114 Bayliss St Wagga Wagga, from 1956 to 1958. This is now the main shopping street, and I can't tell from Google Earth what is there now - but shops, anyway.

So Edward Street Motors began at 20 Edward St (now called 20 Sturt Hwy) in 1958. In 1962 this business was purchased by Lanock Motors, and it was renamed 'Lanock Motors Wagga Wagga', still at the same address. Lanock Motors also purchased Clegg Motors in Wollongong at the same time.

In 1966 there was another ownership change, and the 20 Edward St VW dealership became 'Lawrence Motors Pty Ltd.' This is probably because in 1966 VW Australasia's 'Volkswagen Distribution Ltd' division took over all the state distribution of VWs, which in NSW's case had been done by Lanock Motors, and they reverted back to just being a retail and servicing dealership chain. Perhaps they sold the Wagga business to locals?

Anyway Lawrence Motors lasted from 1966 to 1974, when they became Jupiter Motors at the same address. Incredibly, Jupiter Motors survived until 2004, selling Subarus and other makes alongside VWs for many years (particularly in the 1980s when no new VW cars were available). Today, according to Google Earth, the site is the Avis Car and Truck Rental. The paint looks new, so it hasn't been like that long. I wonder if there's any VW stuff left inside?? Anyone know?

Today's VW dealer in Wagga is Wagga Prestige, at 42-50 Dobney Ave, established 2006.