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Re: Tiger Trivia Answers

To: jxnichols <jxnichols@Prodigy.net>
Subject: Re: Tiger Trivia Answers
From: ssage@socal.rr.com
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 20:45:06 -0700
jxnichols wrote:

>All questions and answers are from Thoroughbred & Classic Cars, Feb. 1983
>Interview with Ian Garrad.
>
>
>..................................
>What business did Ian Garrad go into after leaving Rootes/Chrysler?
>After accepting a buyout from Chrysler in 1968,  he became president of
>Space-O-Matic.  The company sold  a two-tier storage system for car parking.
>

I know this very well as I used to manage Studio City Motors (we sold 
Volvos and Saabs), in Studio City (Los Angeles area), California, which 
used to be Haste & Hirsty Studio City Rootes Group Motors. Bill Hirsty, 
the owner and my boss at the time, had started out as a Rootes dealer in 
the late 50's, then took on MG and Triumph through the years, and 
finally Volvo and Saab. He had known Ian Garrad as his Rootes regional 
manager (laison between the factory and the dealers), and when Rootes 
went under, Ian went to work at Space O Matic. I'm not sure if he was 
actually the president of that company, but he in fact sold the systems 
to Studio City Motors, and many other garages and dealerships.

I used those systems at the dealership many times, although I was always 
a bit nervous doing so. The systems looked very similar to those car 
carrier trucks you see on the highways all the time, except they were 
anchored to the ground. They had ramps and hydraulic lifts by which a 
ramp would tilt down and you'd drive the car onto it and then up you 
went to the top level, about 12 feet up. When you loaded two cars on 
top, you hit the button and the ramp would go up, making way for two 
more cars you could park below. This was very handy at our dealership as 
space was at a premium. You always got the sensation, though, driving 
cars onto those narrow rails, that you and the car might fall off, which 
would not have been pretty. That never happened as far as I know, and 
the hydraulics worked, without fail, from 1968 or so when they were 
purchased, to about 1996 when they were sold to a local body shop.

In fact, it's an interesting story how my ex-boss acquired his Rootes 
dealership, but I'll save that for another time.

Steve Sage

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