Robin Hood Garage - Triumph car dealers 75C

Robin Hood Garage of Penge is the subject of this short article.

Robin Hood Garage, Penge

Like many garages at the time Robin Hood Garage sold and services several brands of cars.  The fascia shows Standard, Vauxhall, Bedford and Triumph.  I understand the business later dealt with Vauxhall group only.  It continued trading as a general service garage after losing the Vauxhall franchise.

Robin Hood Garage 1964

Robin Hood Garage site in 2009

Robin Hood Garage, 98 Croydon Road, Penge, London SE20.

The Robin Hood Garage survived until around 2012 after which time it was demolished.  An Aldi car park now occupies the site. The Robin Hood pub that had been next to the garage was also knocked down and the Aldi store stands on its site.

Plea for information

If you have any more information or recollections about Robin Hood Garage or any other Standard Triumph car dealers in Penge  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

Further information and sources

Link to the other articles in this series.

Link to face book 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 credits:Robin Hood Garage, Penge photo from Bromley archives; Robin Hood Garage 1964 posted to facebook by Terry Dand; Robin Hood Garage site in 2009

Triumph Stag Parts Catalogue

Thanks to Gary Felce for sharing the Triumph Stag Parts Catalogue 1978 with me recently.  I have added it to my collection that you can download from my website.  http://vitessesteve.co.uk/PartsManuals

Donations to help me with the costs of running my websites would be welcome. 

Download link  

Halls (Finchley) Limited - Triumph car dealers 95

Halls of Finchley is the feature business of this article number 95 in my series about Triumph car dealers.

Halls of Finchley advert from Autocar 30 April 1937

The Halls of Finchley business based in London UK started out as Hall's Car Sales Limited and later became Halls (Finchley) Limited.  The address was initially said to be Standard Hose, Odeon Parade, North Finchley.  Later the address was 870 High Road,  North Finchley, N12.

Halls (Finchley) Ltd rear window sticker

Finchley Coronation Brochure 1953 advert

Halls Finchley advert from Motor 29 January 1966

Halls of Finchley advert from Motor 05 May 1973

Ford dealer

When did Halls sell Ford cars?

Halls (Finchley) Ltd key fob

Peugeot dealer

After losing the Triumph franchise Halls became a Peugeot.

Frein Barnet Photo Archive advert 1979

Commercials

Halls (Finchley) Limited truck advert Commercial Motor 1954

Halls (Finchley) Limited had a truck and car servicing centre on a 11-acre site near Staples Corner, Hendon, London NW9. The premises are fully equipped to meet the requirements of heavy commercial vehicle operators.

Halls were a subsidiary of Seddon Diesel Vehicles Ltd, as well as Seddon distributor for London and Home Counties, and a wide range of parts and exchange units for Seddons were stocked in an area covering 9000 sq ft.

They also dealt with Atkinson vehicles.

New showrooms 1959

Halls (Finchley) Limited showrooms 1959

Halls of Finchley, Standard and Triumph Dealers since the early thirties, opened new showrooms in 1959. Originally Halls (Finchley) Ltd started with with one small showroom in Golders Green. In 1934 they moved to Odeon Parade, North Finchley, and subsequent extensions included all the premises on each side of the Odeon Cinema. The new showrooms, which had a depth of 80 feet, were adjacent to the Odeon Parade premises, with a spacious frontage as seen in the pictures.

Halls (Finchley) Limited illuminated showrooms

Invoices

Invoices always tell a story.  In this case I have found two Halls of Finchley invoices.  The first invoice from 1968 is for an Austin 1100 which cost £793.

Halls of Finchley invoice 28 June 1968

Halls of Finchley invoice 8 May 1979

Both these invoices are from the Friern Barnet Photo Archive website http://www.friern-barnet.com . A great resource made available by the Friern Barnet & District Local History Society.

Redevelopment

Here are a series of pictures of the Halls of Finchley site.  The first photo shows the Odeon cinema with garages premises on both sides.

Later the entire building was used by a furniture store called Furnitureland.

Halls site of  Odeon Cinema 1983

The whole building was demolished during 2013 to make way for a new building.

Demolition of Furnitureland

A new block of flats was built on the site during 2014.

Halls site Street View April 2018

Show and Service Week promotion

Staff from Standard Triumph HQ visited the business and assisted the firm with week long Show and Service promotions. These were held by the firm at their Odeon Parade premises 21 to 25 October 1963.

Plea for information

If you have any more information or recollections about Halls of Finchley 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

Further information and sources

Link to the other articles in this series.

Link to face book 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 credits: Halls (Finchley) Ltd rear window sticker photo posted to flickr by spottedlaurel; Frein Barnet Photo Archive advert 1979 from the Frein Barnet Photo Archive; Halls of Finchley invoice 28 June 1968 + Halls of Finchley invoice 8 May 1979 both from the Friern Barnet Photo Archive;

County Motors (St Albans) Ltd - Triumph car dealers 93A

County Motors (St Albans) Limited feature in this article number 93A in my series about Triumph car dealers.

County Motors (St Albans) Limited was built for Halls of Finchley as a Standard car dealership.  Subsequently the building was occupied by Herts Motors (St Albans) Limited.  The building and opening was written up in the Standard Car Review in October 1937. I reproduce the article here.

The new premises for County Motors (St Albans) Ltd London Road, St. Albans, were opened by Major Ronald Maude, Director of Car Mart Ltd, and "Standard Cars," London, on September 7th. The new company will form a subsidiary to Halls Car Sales, Ltd, of Finchley, London, the well-known Standard car dealers. It will, at the same time, provide for the sale of Standard cars exclusively. The directors of the new concern will be: A. J. Borkett (Managing Director), L. Hall, E.Magee, and J. Woods.

Known as Standard House, the frontage is plain
yet impressive, with ample window area

Major Maude, in declaring the premises open, and on behalf of Car Mart Ltd., congratulated all those
connected with the new company and wished them every success. He outlined that the new premises
with the facilities available would undoubtedly provide a tremendous asset to other traders in the
district.

Mr. E. W. Martin, sales manager of the Standard Motor Co Ltd, extended to the directors the best wishes of Captain J. P. Black, Managing Director of the Standard Motor Co Ltd, and announced that the Standard Company had produced more than 40,000 cars last year, a record peak production figure for any Coventry motor car manufacturer.

Prominent figures in the
motor trade attended the opening

Mr. A. J. Borkett stated that it was the wish of all the directors that all connected with the motor trade
in his locality should make every possible use of their showrooms.

The new premises will be known as Standard House.

The service methods and equipment of the service department, which offers ample light and space for
service operations, are of the most modern and efficient obtainable. Amongst equipment installed are: a Westinghouse battery charger, Tecalemit lubrication battery, a Rotax drill, Grimston grinder,
Champion sparking plug cleaner, British Oxygen plant, L.S.D. Niagara washer, Ingersol Rand air
compressor, and other useful plant.

Plea for information

If you have any more information or recollections about County Motors (St Albans) Ltd 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

Further information and sources

Link to the other articles in this series.

Link to face book 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 credits: All these images are from the Standard Car Review in October 1937.