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A small established family
business,
with a
reputation for
the:- "quality
of our stock & after sales service"
known for
Buying/Selling ....Quality; Sports/Prestige/Classic
Cars & Motorcycles
Mobile Contact :
07768 726644
or
01383-723222
1
Green St, Townhill, Dunfermline Fife KY12 0HE
Ronnie Cowan Specialist Cars &
Superbikes
for
Recent Low Mileage Sports
, Prestige, Unusual Cars & Superbikes
operated by husband &
wife team
... Ronnie 
& Linda
Cowan.
Specialist Cars founder's Blog;- A
small family run
car business with old traditional values formed in 1985
Now in his
mid seventies and semi-retired from car sales, Ronnie Cowan is
a former Queen Anne pupil (Dunfermline)
Specialist
Car Dealer, Commercial Pilot , Soul DJ as .... "Captain
Ron (the old man of soul)",
Townhill
Community Council Chairman (since 2012) - Qualified 'Master Reiki
Practitioner' - General Election Presiding Officer 2024/25/
Former:- Biker/Rocker
in the 60's (Ex 'Devon Valley' Chapter member) - pic 'Satans
Slaves' co-founders Les Gavin & Ronnie C. circa 1968 
This pic
was part of an art exhibition in the Glen Pavilion in 68, then
featured again more recently in Carnegie's Birthplace !
Ronnie C. on
750cc Bonneville taken 1967 at City Hotel Dunfermline car park
with Ronnie Shepherd .. opposite local rocker/bikers haunt.. 'Mary's
Cafe' 
same two Ronnies
recreate above pic in 2025, but with a Commando 961
Ronnie worked Saturday
afternoons in 'Angus Campbells' Triumph motorcycle dealership
parts dept. to help fund his passion for bikes where he assisted
'Peggy', an elderly lady with no need for a parts catalogues as
she knew the part numbers off by heart and could put many a hardy
leather jacketed biker in their place :-)
Ronnie served 'his
apprentiship ' with Bt & was employed as a 'business systems'
installer ... also an experienced Electronics engineer, Personal
security and a Disco/PA Equipment supplier/DJ,
Working mainly as a
Club D.J. from the early 70's throughout the 80's with
most of the major 'Disco' record labels of the day promoting new
releases for; Motown/Atlantic/CBS/Warner Bros/Magnet/Phonogram
etc.
The Explosion Road
Show also supported many touring chart bands of the day, including
in various Discotheques when not on promotional tours or general
mobile Disco gigs, such musical variety included being the support
act for the Bay City Rollers when they were at No 1 in the Charts
when he was resident DJ /sound equpment owner in the Kinema Ballroom
thereby playing vinyl to over 1400 tartan fans.
NB the bespoke platform
shoes from 'Mr Bumbles of Edinburgh' Ronnie wore at this gig are
now on display in the new Dunfermline City Library !
Kinema Ballroom residency 1972
...until 1year before the venue closed then became 'Night Magic'
circa
1972 Explosion Road Show Promo Pic taken by the late 'Peter
Leslie' - his photograhy business was based in Bruce St.Dunfermline
However, other than
chart music Ronnie was also a well known Scottish base 'Soul DJ'
........Funk, Motown, Reggae, Stax, TSOP etc which record companies
recognised the value of and provided free promo copies of new
tracks (one of only 3 DJ's in Scotland in early 70s on such mailing
lists).
One such long term
soul music residency was at Brian Joyce's inspirational
and innovative 'East of Scotland Soul Club' (ESSC) every Sunday
evening in Edinburgh's West End 'Grosvener Hotel' (1974 > 1980).
Held initially in the annexe room of the hotel, but within a couple
of weeks due to the rapidly increasing membership the club took
over the entire Rosebury suite, it was packed out from 6pm until
10pm, also featuring guest DJ's for the Northern Soul slots
for fans returning from their regular Saturday night at Wigan
Casino complete with their own 'vinyl rare finds' - Major touring
bands of every musical genre staying at the hotel often attended
the Sunday club night !
Many of the lesser
known Soul 45rpm 7" & 12" discs played were imported
weekly from the USA and were carefully selected each Saturday
afternoon by Ronnie with help from Bruce Findlay of 'Bruce's Records'
(he later became Simple Minds manager) in the room above
his music shop in Shandwick Place Edinburgh.
Ronnie owned the Sound
& Lighting Equipment in most of his regular venues and was
officially the resident DJ at the following permenant disco sites:
Kinema Ballroom (Dunfermline) , The Palace (Rosyth), Birchgate
Hotel (Kirkcaldy) & the Forum Hotel (Glenrothes), he also
has guested on a local radio station as a 'Soul DJ', with Radio
Forth's first outside broadcast delivered from his 'road show
set up' in Dunfermline.
Another exceptional
experience and long running DJ mid week gig was for SMG (Scottish
Minorities Group), these Wednesday night / Thursday morning
events were held in Edinburgh's Stewart's Ballroom with 600+ in
attendance .
This SMG gig was a
vibrant melting pot for the latest Euro disco tracks and dance
trends and subsequently led to Ronnie hosting numerous fashion
show events in the City.
Technical Note:
early days the 'Explosion Road Show' utilised two new Wem X29
Speaker/ Horn Stacks (as also used by Nazereth) driven by Wem
amps and a loop echo chamber. A Custom built broadcast standard
'Chymes of Wokingham' audio mixer featuring integrated Jingle
machine, Background music and the twin Garrard Record Deck outputs
to the 600 watt of amps. Later, four of the latest huge Altec
Bass bins & Horns along with American Electro Voice 'W' sound
bins with built in Hf Horns driven by H&H amps were purchased
to replace the 'Wem' speaker stacks /amps, a revolutionary 'Millbank'
crossfade mixer was introduced to increase the overall sound quality.
Shure mic set ups were
always the preference for the road show's DJ /P.A.
The bespoke Explosion
Road Show Jingles were all professionally recorded 
in
the 'Roger Squires Studio' in London (where Ronnie had completed
a DJ course with the then producer of Top Of the Pops Tony Newman).
All Lighting Effects other than local Jack Harvey (Rosyth Tv shop
owner /electronics genious ) custom built units were created/supplied
by 'Pulsar' & 'Optikinetics' sound driven light and strobe
units - a dry ice machine and a cine projector showing cartoons
were also included for large events along with a bubble machine.
2024: Ronnie still has his entire Soul Collection of vinyl
and in late 2024 Ian Parker who runs Soul events in Dunfermline
kindly invited Ronnie to cover a DJ slot (at the age of 74yrs) to commemorate what would have been the 50th anniversary
of the 'East of Scotland Soul Club', this event was held in Dunfermline
Glen Pavillion 15th March 2025.
2025 > update: The success of the Glen gig reminded
Ronnie of his love for playing Soul/Disco music .... suitably
inspired to then aquire his own top quality 8Kw DJ Sound system,
complimented with a spectacular modern Light show 'set up'.
To then host a monthly Soul/Disco
Music event in Townhill Bowling Club (all genres of Soul/Disco
on vinyl) & promoted under 'An Explosion of Soul'. The name
paying homage to his 70s/80s/90s Explosion Road Show.
As an aging 'Commercial Pilot'
licence holder he DJ's under the name "Captain Ron (the old
man of soul)" this brought about a new chapter in his life's
journey. Linda (Ronnie's wife of 45years) actively promotes this
Soul/Disco event via Facebook & Tik Tok and she also loves
the soul /disco music mix.
"An
Explosion of Soul" 2026
The Townhill event is aided
by the assistance of DJ George Wallace on the decks, whom Ronnie
has known since the ESSC in 1974. Both George & his wife Maureen
were regulars at the ESSC and have travelled the country attending
N/S gigs. Both are knowledgeable with regards to Northern Soul
Music scene and George also operates the https://www.scottishsoul.info
web site documenting
a history of Scottish Soul Clubs and Soul DJs (check out the 'East
of Scotland Soul Club' listing, which was indeed a pioneering
event run by Brian Joyce & where Ronnie was the sole Funk/Motown/
TSOP/ Reggae DJ 74 > 1980) with the two Northern slots then
latterly covered by Tommy Cockburn from Falkirk.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Linda Cowan is a well
respected Master/Teacher member/Scottish and was a representative
of the 'UK REIKI FEDERATION ' in Scotland, now retired from Reiki
to concentrate on the family business and her Community Council
secretarial duties.
Linda has a enviable knowledge of the car business despite
the fact she does hate driving!
Ronnie is an eccentric
'fast' motorcycle & specialist car petrol head and is responsible
for our Web Site - Linda maintains all Social Media.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ronnie Cowan the 'Commercial
Pilot' 
has
remained a fitness enthusiast
Ronnie is also a qualified
Reiki Master/Practitioner ... having firstly studied thro' levels
one & finally two.
Ronnie holds a C.A.A.
Commercial Pilot's licence, an unrestricted Multi Engine Instrument
Rating C.P.L.I.R./PBN (Performance Based Navigation), he
also held an American FAA Certificate and flew around the south
of the USA.
He has also been Pilot
for the 'Golden Lions' crack British Army Parachute Display Team,
also a B.P.A. Parachute Pilot Examiner (Trained & Flight
tested Pilots for B.P.A. licences - required in order to fly Parachutists
in Uk).
This was followed by
some years of Corporate Flying ferrying Directors, Sales Executives
& I.T. engineering teams all over Europe for well known 'Call
Centre Software' company 'Graham Technology' .
Until his 60th he was
'Freelance flying' commercially under an AOC (Air Operator's
Certificate -- something all airlines/Charter Companies are required
to have) for the 'Edinburgh Air Centre' an aerial survey /
sight seeing tours company based at Edinburgh International
Airport.
From 2002 until July
2024 he was the Chief Commercial 'Fixed Wing' Pilot for 'Operator'
Historic Environment Scotland (HES) formerly known as the
Royal Commission for Historic Monuments Scotland (RCAHMS)
until they ceased their aerial operations abruptly due to Government
cutbacks in May 2024, their Pilot and aircraft owner contracts
were both terminated immediately, resulting in Ronnie deciding
to hang up his wings after 35yrs of Commercial Flying.
Survey flying for HES
was a role that demanded a great variety of flying skills as the
crew operated a single engined aircraft in extremely varied &
remote locations, covering the length and breadth of Scotland
including its mountains and many islands eg the
Highlands & the Western
Isles.
on
survey task Wick Airport 2025
He also worked concurrently
as a freelance 'Co Pilot' in the right hand seat of Sir Tom
Farmer's privately owned Edinburgh based Citation Corporate
Jet G-BVCM (CJ1 ) operating all over Europe.
just
rolling out at Edinburgh International
passing
over Mont Blanc at 24,000feet in CJ1
Whilst also employed
as a Charter Pilot for Exeter based 'Captital Aviation'
(another AOC holding operation) which operated a fleet aircraft
based around the uk specialising in Executive Uk/Europe wide 'charter/air
taxi' travel, document movement and Ambulance flights he operated
'single crew' on the mighty 'Piper Chieftan Twin' engined
(350Bhp per side) aircraft - he covered many of their routes as
a 'holiday relief pilot', invariably in all weathers (any
time of day or night).
All of his required
operational aviation courses for 'Capital' were run by 'Flybe
airlines' also based in Exeter.
landing
at Belfast International - call sign; 'Prestige 40'
Having carried out
operations in & out of many European airports eg Gronigen,
Leylystad, Rotterdam, Schipol & most UK airports including
Sumburgh, Stornoway, Kirwall, Inverness, Aberdeen, Edinburgh,
Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds/ B., Birmingham, Biggin Hill, Galway,
Dublin, Belfast & Heathrow which made for an interesting diversion
from his Specialist Car Sales business !
Over the years he has
also flown commercially for a number companies producing glossy
picture type books on archeology and of scenic views eg Fife from
Above, Glasgow from the Air, Scotland's Landscapes , Above Scotland,
Above Scotland's Cities, the Sunday Times & Britain from Above
with various BBC type documentary work involving aerial photography-
including the three episode BBC2 series entiltled 'Scotland
from the sky' which first aired in 2018.
some of the aircraft flown by Ronnie:-
Ronnie has accrued over
5,000 thousand hours experience of Corporate, Charter, Parachute
displays,
Aerial Survey & Photography
part time flying duties, ............ but now only flies in December
Ho Ho Ho
still
driving unique vehicles as a supplier of a mobile sound system
rig for parades with the 'Buggy'- featured in many Perth City
parades, but seen here at Kelty's annual Coal Race.
Ronnie Cowan Specialist Cars operated from
a modern showroom with an adjoining 'well equipped workshop' situated
in Townhill, a small village located in the country just South
of Knockhill Race Circuit - 10min from M90 - 14 miles North of
Edinburgh.
The premise of the business has always been
to supply not the cheapest (cheap usually equates to ongoing
expense) but carefully sought, good quality low mileage Sports,
Prestige, Unusual Cars & Motorcycles, in the knowledge that
all of the stock offered for sale has been selected, purchased
and fastidiously prepared for sale by a competent motoring enthusiast.
Now semi retired he is mainly focused on DJing
& working with more interesting/ unusual vehicles, still carrying
out electronic diagnostics and all of his own vehicle maintenance
& repairs .
Kind Regards,
Ronnie
7 days @ 8am until 8pm
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
has
remained a fitness enthusiast
passing
over Mont Blanc at 24,000feet in CJ1
Beech
Duke
Kingair 
Beech Bonanza 
Beech Duchess
Diamond DA42 twin 
citation
Cessna
310 Turbo
Cessna
340
Cessna
206 Turbo 
Cessna
17
Cessna
172 
C310 
seneca 2 
Seneca
V
PA31 (Piper Chieftan)
10 seater
mailto:ronnie@ronniecowan.co.uk