'NATO Cars'

As well as Natocars there was another firm called Rankin's of Rheydt.

Bunch of crooks.

steve jones wrote:

The one and only brand new car i ever bought was in Munster, i cant remeber who sold it, if it was NATO or not. These guys used to hang around outside the NAFFI complex. Anyway it was a peugeot 204. very nice little car. They were very popular, and we had a swag of 504's around camp as well. last time i saw a 504 was as a taxi in Tukey a few years ago.

Remember a chap had purchased a new Avenger ,which was riddled with problems.The agency , not sue which one was it, would not take him on,so one Saturday morning while the agency had a show parade of their popular cars outside the Toc H, this guy turned up with his , parked it nearby with a large billboard listing some 15 faults.

in '71 I bought a Hillman Hunter from Hillmans mil/export sales prior to moving to BAOR. Six months later I had to remove the rear seat to fit child safety seat anchorages, on the back of the rear seat was written in large letters "REJECT - MIL SALES ONLY". Within a year it was developing problems, managed to get rid of it to a Gunner in Dortmund and bought a Peugeot 504 estate. How many other rejects were sold to unsuspecting squaddies ?? In '91 I bought an Audi 80 from NATO cars - a great car, sold it in Bielefeld in 2000 at a good price and bought a Merc for final retirement.

One of the lads in the LAD collected his new car ,a Sunbeam Stilleto or a Hillman Imp, from somewhere near Bremerhaven during the winter. Getting back to Muenster very late that night ,he parked it outside the barrack block. Next morning when he tried starting it he discovered that the Anti freeze had frozen solid. It took 3 days ,parked inside the LAD workshop before it was fully thawed out.

I bought an MG Metro Turbo from Natocars in 1983, had to chase up the warranty card though as it was not with the vehicle when I collected it.

I loved that metro, problem was that they never upgraded other elements to cope with the Turbocharger. My cars weak point because of this was the gearbox. had third gear replaced under warranty, then had to replace the gearbox (out of warranty). Part ex'd it for a Rover SD1, 6 months later saw the metro, talked to the new owner only to find out it was now on it's 3rd gearbox and it was only 5 years old.

Bought a Borward Isabella in Munster - 1962 for 3500 DM (about £280 then). Great car. Used to travel to the UK four times - twice on courses. Had it for 3 years and sold to a couple of guys in 4 Div Herford for £75 in postal orders. Then I ordered a new Taunus 17M but got posted to Singapore and had to pull out of the purchase.
Had another Borgward by coincedence - Borward Combi (estate). Had that for a couple of years in the mid 1960's. Company went bust in 1962 - What a shame.

Jimsigs1

Bought a Mk III Capri 3.0 S from Niebaum & Hamacher, in Herford, in 1978. Used to play the Deutschies at their own game with it, come up behind a Beemer or a Merc on the autobahn and flash the headlamps at them until they shifted over. Eventually sold it in this country after demob and no more coupons !

I recollect around 1960 my old man at BAOR Dortmund, purchased a BIG Yank Tank, V8 Ford from a Yank Sgt who was going back to the 'Land of the Free/Land of Tipping' (USA.) Did not want to take the guzzling monster back with him.

I think we drove back to UK on poting back. After a year or so of driving the bloody tank around Northampton my old man sold it, or perhaps gave it away and brought a Morris 1000 or something like that.