Rootes ??

Someone mentioned "Rootes" ...

pmj...

Did they?
Oh, I missed that (I haven't yet read all the Post in here, from the
past few Days)...

I remember them well. This was where I used to go to admire the new shiny
cars when I was a boy of 8 !!
This was in Maidstone in Kent.

pmj...

That Car Dealer/Showroom is still there - in the same place!!!

It's now a Peugeot Dealer, since the Rootes Group (including Robins
& Day, who ran the Dealers & Finance for Rootes) were bought up by
Peugeot

One day they had Herman Goerings bullet proof car on display and I had to
pay 6p (sixpence) to sit in it !!!

pmj...

& did you also visit the Tilling Stevens Factory? (by the River/
Railway), nearby?

That made (Engine) parts for the Rootes Group, years ago.
But they packed up yonks ago.
The actual Building is still there, though!
& it's been divided up into "Business Units"

Ohh happy days.... Another car dealer of that time was "Drake and
Fletcher" - they used to sell Jaguar cars and they didnt allow kids in the

pmj...

They were actually still around until a few Years ago!
They got bought up by F. G. Barnes

When they were D & F they also did Agricultural Machinery.

The D & F Building is *also* still there! (with it's distinctive
curved/wavy Roof)

The other D&F Building, nearby, is also still standing (at the mo,
but is about to be "ReDeveloped" into 58 Flats.

pmj...

They ended up selling Vauxhalls.

showroom unless mum and dad were there!!! they used to say "Come back when
your older" ... now I,m older and I dont like Jaguar's anymore !!!
I remember too seeing the first Mini in the car showrooms too... I think it
cost something like £600 ... I,m not sure - but anyway I know it wasnt too
expensive .
John in Cornwall

Flyiñg Ñuñ 2°°6 +...

In 1963 my brand new Hillman Imp cost £532. A Mini was about £485 at that
time.

Gareth...

The Rootes Group - Hillman, Humber, Singer, Sunbeam if my memory serves

Flyiñg Ñuñ 2°°6 +...

I had a Hillman Imp, Singer Chamois Sport, Humber Sceptre and Hillman
Hunter.

The one I always wanted, but never managed to get was a Sunbeam Tiger
(basically an Alpine with a 4.2 litre "V8 American Ford engine

Mind you if I could have got a Daimler Dart that would have done too:
http://www.constructorscarclub.org.nz/Resources/PriceDart1.jpg

me right?

David C...

You could also add Commer, Trucks (with a weird 3-cylinder opposed
piston two-stoke diesel engine) & light vans.

Rootes were purchased by Chrysler in'67, as were SIMCA in France.

Fond memories of two Sunbeam Rapier's, (a series 2 & a 3a), three
Hillman Imps, a Chrysler Sunbeam (rebodied 2-door Avenger) & four
Chrysler / Talbot Alpines.

In later years, Chrysler decided to sell their European operations to
Peugeot forming today's PSA Group.

Never could afford a Tiger, (too young!), but a lazy V8 in a Hillman
Husky platform, rebodied as a tow-door coupe (Sunbeam Alpine) has a
certain quaint charm, in a straight line! The last of the breed,
(Series 2, with the 4.7 / 289 V8) were more fun, but the production
run was curtailed by Chrysler. (They weren't prepared to buy engines
from Ford, & didn't have a small-block V8 of their own to shoe-horn
under the Tiger's hood.)

One more point of "anorak" info, the Tigers were developed & built by
Jensen, rather than Rootes Group.

David C.