C Allen and Son (Bristol) Ltd - Triumph car dealers 13

This article about C Allen and Son (Bristol) Ltd is number 13 in my series about Triumph car dealers.

A short history of C Allen and Son

C Allen and Son (Bristol) Ltd sold many marques of cars over the years including Alvis, Armstong Siddeley, Singer, Standard and Triumph cars.The firm was first established in Taunton Somerset.  The firm was a foundry, millwrights, engineering works involved in steam boiler and water pump making by 1874. Subsequently they opened branches in Plymouth and Bristol and started selling lorries and cars by 1924.

The company manufactured van and lorry bodies. In 1951 a mobile shop they made featured in Commercial Motor.

From Van to Mobile Shop - Commercial Motor 10 August 1951

C Allen and Son (Bristol) Ltd no longer trades and the company was dissolved March 1979.

C Allen recovery truck

C Allen & Sons Ltd garage forecourt image 01

C Allen & Sons Ltd garage forecourt image 02

These two photos were recently posted on facebook Ed Coldrick who seems to have a knack at finding great images of old garages. I believe it is a Singer van and that the recovery truck may be a cut down Armstrong Sidderley.

The Allen Trial

The Allen Trial is sporting car trail organised by the Bristol Motor Club.  You can read more at: http://bristolmc.org.uk/the-story-of-the-allen-trial/ ..the Allen Trophy was first presented to the club in 1938 by Mr Dennis Foot on behalf of the local Armstrong Siddeley agents, C. Allen and Co. Ltd., the pre-war events were more social than sporting. We therefore take the first post-war Allen on 6th July 1946 as the first Allen Trial....

Triumph warranty document AKD8020

Triumph warranty document AKD8020 rear - C Allen and Son Ltd

This interesting document shows a dealer address stamped card found amongst the papers included with his Triumph Toledo by somebody whose details have lost.

Not just Triumph cars

A comment from facebook by Alan Cain Various makes were sold by the Bristol branch of C. Allen & Son Ltd between 1929 and 1976 - at 159 Whiteladies Rd until 1945 then Berkeley Square from 1946 - 76. They were a dealer for Armstrong Siddeley from 1929 until 1960, Triumphs were for sale up until 1976

Dealer address and street views

C Allen and Son (Bristol) Ltd, Berkeley Square BS8 1HZ are listed as a dealer in 1955, 1965, 1968, 1972, 1974 and 1975. The firm also had premises on 159 Whiteladies Road and Gloucester Road.

C Allen and Son (Bristol) Ltd, 159 Whiteladies Road showroom 1937/38

Now

Site of C Allen and Son (Bristol) Ltd, Whiteladies Road showroom  July 2015

Further information and sources

If you have any more information about this garage, photos of window stickers, dealer badges or sill plates etc please let me know.

Click here to read my blog post about College Motors another Bristol Triumph dealer.

Link to a fuller list of Standard Triumph car dealers in Bristol.
 
Link to the other articles in this series.

Link to my Facebook page: Triumph Car Dealers.

Link to my Triumph Car Dealers Flickr group .

I have a collection of Standard Triumph car dealer directories: http://vitessesteve.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/triumph-car-dealer-directories.html

Picture credit: From Van to Mobile Shop - Commercial Motor 10 August 1951 image from the Commercial Motor archive website. The Whiteladies Road garage 1937/38 from FAC 51 on Flickr; C Allen & Sons Ltd garage forecourt images 01 and 02 originally posted to facebook by Ed Coldrick.

County Motors of Carlisle -Triumph car dealers 12

County Motors of Carlisle Window Sticker

County Motors (Carlisle) Ltd a short history

County Garage Ltd was selling Ford, Standard, Triumph and Ferguson before the second world war. After WW2 Ford was taken to court by Ferguson who accused them of stealing his patented 3 point linkage tractor invention. Ferguson won his legal action and decided not to share it with Ford. After this date there were to be no dealerships with both Ford and the Ferguson connected Standard Triumph cars.

County Motors (Carlisle) Limited (company number 00439912) was incorporated as a company on 30 July 1947. County Motors came into being in 1948 selling Standard, Triumph and Alvis cars as well as Ferguson tractors. 

County Motors (Carlisle) Ltd 1978 advert

The car retailer hit its peak in the 1970s, when its showrooms in Rosehill and Botchergate sported offerings from brands such as Jaguar, Daimler, Triumph, Rover and Land Rover. In more recent times it also acted as distributor for Fiat, Daihatsu and Alfa Romeo. Since 2009, however, County Motors dealt only in selling and repairing used cars.

New Showroom: Extract from STR July 1959

Showroom view 1959: Extract from STR Volume 10 October 1959

At its peak the business employed over 140 people at several sites. The failure of the Rover Group in 2005 was a big blow to the business.  February 2006 saw the sale of the Penrith branch. 24 July 2013 saw the appointment of an administrator to the business.  With the closure of the showroom and workshop at 78 Kingstown Broadway, Kingstown Industrial Estate, Carlisle, Cumbria CA3 0HA eight employees working at the dealership, among them the owner and sole director Barry Tweddle lost their jobs and the business was closed down. The business had been an MOT testing station..

County Motors Penrith window sticker

Death of Mr I H Dixon

Mr I H Dickson founder & Managing Direcector of County Motors (Carlisle) Ltd

The death of Mr I H Dickson, founder & Managing  Direcector of County Motors (Carlisle) Ltd, was reported in the Standard Car Review October 1953. One of the early pioneers of the motor industry. Henry Dickson held one of the earliest  distributorships of Standard products. 62 years of age. he was naturally very well-known throughout the motor industry.

After the first world war he gained considerable respect as a successful competitor in motor cycle trials and later as a racing motorist. Mr Henry Dickson had a wide circle of friends among the farming community of Cumberland and was especially interested in mechanized farming, being closely associated with Harry Ferguson Ltd. His main personal interests were shooting and fishing. He left a widow and an only son, Mr Bob Dickson.

Atlas in the Lake District

Early 1960 saw an Atlas Pick-up on display in the showrooms of County Motors (Carlisle) Ltd, Carlisle. The display vehicle regularly covered the Lake District with an average load of 15-18 cwts. Refrigeration (Mitton) Ltd, Carlisle had two Atlas vehicles and four 6 cwt vans, out of a total of nine Standard vehicles in their fleet.

Show and Service Week

Standard Triumph factory staff visited between 10th and 14th April 1967 to assist the Botchergate branch with a special promotional Show and Service Week.

Key Fob

County Motors Group Carlisle Key Fob

County Motors Group Carlisle Key Fob 2

Triumph car dealers in Carlisle

In the 1955, 1965 and 1968/69 Triumph Service Directories  County Motors (Carlisle) Ltd of 14 Botchergate were listed as a distributor. By 1974 only County Motors are still listed as distributor.

Carlisle Motor Co on Fishergate listed as a dealer 1965 and 1968/69.

J Wright & Co (Carlisle) Ltd of Spencer Street listed a dealer in 1955.

Plea for information

If you have any more information or recollections about County Motors (Carlisle) Ltd or any other Carlisle area Standard Triumph garages such as photos of window stickers, dealer badges or sill plates etc please let me know. I can be contacted via the comments to this post or on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/stephen.weblin

Sources and links

Link to the other articles in this series.

Link to face book page: Triumph Car Dealers.

Link to my Triumph Car Dealers Flickr group .

I have a collection of Standard Triumph car dealer directories: http://vitessesteve.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/triumph-car-dealer-directories.html

Link to my Triumph Car Dealers Flickr gallery of images I have found on Flickr.

Galileo on the Triumph Dolomite forum has very kindly scanned and made available a 1974'ish copy of the Triumph Sales And Service directory.   You can get a copy here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6QR7c9loufLQXJsTkJWUTEtelk

Picture credit: County Motors (Carlisle) Ltd 1978 advert posted flickr by Miles McClagan; window sticker from Derek on the TR Register forum.

College Motors Ltd of Bristol - Triumph Car dealers 11

College Motors Bristol - dealer plaque

College Motors Ltd of Bristol

College Motors Ltd of Bristol number 11 in my articles about Triumph Car dealers.  At present I am only writing about UK based dealers.  I have been asked about oversea dealers and in particular those based in the USA.  However for now I have very little information about non UK dealers.

College Motors  were a car dealer based in Bristol selling Triumph cars from at least 1938. They operated from several garages including on Rupert Street, Old Bread Street, Whiteladies Road and Temple Way.  They were a staging post on the first Club Triumph Round Britain Run in 1966.

College Motors advert from the Western Daily Press newspaper dated 25 November 1938. At that time time they were selling Fiat and Triumph cars from Rupert Street.

College Motors Bristol - dealer plaque 2

This fine dealer plaque was fixed to Singer 9 sold in 1932 by College Motors, Rupert Street  Bristol.

A photo from 1960 of Rupert Street, Bristol shows the Victorian skating rink / College Motors building with the semi-circular window long since demolished for a road widening. As at 2014 this road is double the width and for west bound traffic only.

College Motors Ltd Bond advert from Motor 16 October 1963

I think that College Motors were taken over by Dutton Forshaw in 1973 and became known as Dutton-Forshaw (Bristol) Ltd.

Dutton-Forshaw (Bristol) Ltd key-ring

Fleet sale to Wills tobacco company

81 Standard Ten Companion Estate cars were sold to WD and HO Wills. At the time, March 1959, this was the largest fleet order that Wills had done.

Sales and Service Week

Staff from Standard Triumph HQ visited the business and assisted the firm with a week long Show and Service promotion. This was held by the firm at their Rupert Street from 31 October 1960.

Brochure

Dealer address stamp on Triumph Herald 1360 brochure from 1967.

Triumph car dealers in Bristol

College Motors are listed as distributor in 1955, 1965 and 1968/69 with sales at Rupert Street in 1955, 1965 and Avon Street in 1968/69 and their Service and division at  Old Bread Street, Temple Way in 1965 1968/69.

College Motors on Avon Street are listed as a distributor in 1974 at which time the dealers in Bristol were: 

Cook, S. J. & Sons (Kingswood) Ltd, Rodway Garage, Station Road, Kingswood, BS15 4XX.
Allen C. & Son (Bristol) Ltd, Berkeley Square, Bristol, BS8 1H2.
M. W. M. Motors Ltd, 672-686 Fishponds Road, BS16 3HJ.
Lex Mead (Bristol) Ltd, 11-15 Merchants Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 4ER.

Read my post about C Allen and Son (Bristol) Ltd.

Link to a fuller list of Standard Triumph car dealers in Bristol.

Plea for information

If you have any more information or recollections about this garage, photos of window stickers, dealer badges or sill plates etc please let me know.  I can be contacted via the comments to this post or on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/stephen.weblin

Source and links

Link to the other articles in this series.

Link to my facebook page: Triumph Car Dealers.

Link to my Triumph Car Dealers Flickr group which includes many photos of Standard Triumph garages etc from my collection and many other contributors .
I have a collection of Standard Triumph car dealer directories: http://vitessesteve.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/triumph-car-dealer-directories.html

Picture credit: College Motors plaque 1 from Steve P on the Club Triumph forum, College Motors plaque 2 from an article in the Bristol Post. Paul Townsend on Flickr for the street view. Dutton-Forshaw (Bristol) Ltd key-ring image from an eBay advert.