The CV of Chris Sengers

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The End of Winford Motors (the way I knew it)



15th May 2007.

Yes, it is the end of Winford Motors as I have known it.
In my page about my working days at Winford Motors you can read how and what I did during the years between the 23rd of October 1967 and the 25th of January 1996. That page you can visit by clicking here

It all started at the end of the year 1966.
There was Basil Malaher, who was, as far as I know, employed by Ford and had something to do with Used cars etc.
At age of 44, Basil was a very good salesman and had a tremendous knowledge of motor vehicles.
Then there was Mr. Grier. He was then the boss of Ford Motors for NSW Australia and knew Basil apparently very well.
Mr. Grier had a son name John Arthur Grier who's age at that time was 22.
And then a small dealership came up for sale in Windsor NSW.
I don't know who put it all together but Mr. Grier got Basil Malaher and John Grier together.
Both Basil and John had somehow to get some money together and they borrowed the purchase money.
And so it came to pass that the Ford Dealership at Winford NSW came to be owned by them.
What that means that they could operate the Ford Dealership. The premises were owned by the Ford Motor Company
A company named Winford Motors Pty. Ltd. was registered and on the 6th of December 1966 it started operating at 251 George Street Windsor NSW. Telephone number at that time was 2241.

It was here, at Winford Motors on the 23rd of October 1967 where I got to know Basil and John.

When I arrived there on my first day, I found it all very quaint.
My desk was somewhere in a corner of the showroom next to some steps leading up to an old house that was occupied by Basil and his family. (there was not enough office space to accommodate the office staff as well as the sales people.)
That door was mostly open and in winter it was very cold sitting there doing my work
The first winter I was sitting there I did have a radiator heater under my desk to keep at least my feet warm. At one time I had some shoes on with thick soft rubber soles. When I wanted to go up, the soles of my shoes had molten and were stuck to the floor.
The service department was also very small and restricted. Service Manager was Robert (Bob) Parveez and the foreman in that department was Herb Connelly who by the way also started his job there on the same day as I did.
Parts Department was small and opened up in the showroom. The manager there was Doug Kendall and later his assistant was Ivan Kelsall.
After a few years, it became apparent that the premises were too cramped for the expanding sales etc.
A property at the back of the site was purchased by Ford and a very large new workshop was build.
This also allowed for some changes and gave more showroom and office space.
After all that was done, Winford Motors really started to look like a fully fledged dealership.
Some time after that, Ford Motor Company decided to divest itself of all dealership properties and Winford Motors (Basil Malaher and John Grier) got the change to outright purchase the property.
That was after I became the Accountant (Financial Controller or whatever one might to call it) and I helped to successfully secure the property with a loan from the bank.
The then called, Windsor Council, got the idea to block the street where the dealership was established and put a pedestrian mall in its place.
To cut a long story short, that decision killed the shopping in Windsor and the dealership haemorrhaged.
I had to really push Basil to make the decision to sell the Windsor property and move to McGrath Hill.

The Dealership at McGrath Hill recouperated after the heamoraging in Windsor.
Then Basil got sick, cancer and he passed away soon after they found out.
That was when John Grier took over the complete management of Winford Motors.

I retired from the company on the 11th of January 1996 after having celebrated my 25 years with the company on the 23rd 0f January 1992.
That is why it is the end of Winford Motors as I knew it.
I sort of knew that John wanted to get out.
He even came to see me to find out if I had any figures from the time that I left the Company because he was in negotiations to sell the dealership.
I tried to help but the figures I had were only some balances of accounts without any details.
I learned later that all the paperwork that he tried to find was all destroyed.
Even the most important bits in regard to buying out Betty Malaher after the death of Basil.
If I would still have been at Winford, that would not have happened. At least a digital copies would have been made.

Well, visiting the Dealership on the 2nd of May 2007, I found out that the Dealership changed ownership on the 2nd of April 2007.
That surprised me because I would have thought that at least somebody would have told me.
It is however only the Dealership that changed hands.
The property and all that belongs to it still belongs to Mr. John Grier.
In the past, John Grier at times mentioned that he would like to retire at the ripe old age of about 60.
Well, I suppose he did, he is 63 years old now.
I would have thought that he at least would let me know when, who and how but I did not hear more from John.
When I visited the dealership on the 2nd of May 2007, John was there, but he seemed in a terrible hurry to go to Dr.Stubbs for one reason or the other.
That was the last I heard from John.
From here, I wish him and his family well.



I found out a lot later that Winford Motors was closed down in December 2013.
Only a few people who I worked with before I retired still worked there on that day.
From what I heard from them, some will be transferred to another location of the new owners.
What happened to others I don't know, maybe one day I might hear something.


And that was certainly The End of Winford Motors `(the way I knew it)`








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