Eastern Automobile Ltd - Triumph Car dealers 102

This post is about Eastern Automobile Ltd who had garages in several towns including Chelmsford, Colchester, Bishop Stortford and Southend.

A history

Eastern Automobile Ltd, of Chelmsford started selling Standard cars in 1914. After 45 years trading the company held a celebration dinner and invited over 200 employees, wives and friends.

Mr C J Flower started the business with 6 employees in 1913.  As of 1959 the firm employed 122 and had 5 depots in Chelmsford, Bishops' Stortford, Colchester and Southend.  

Luxury Motor Caravan

A two-berth conversion of the Leyland 20 cwt to a Caravan was on shown during summer 1967 at the Essex Agricultural Show where it attracted a great deal of interest. Displayed by Eastern Automobiles of Chelmsford, Triumph Distributors, the Caravan was the result of cooperation and consultation between Mr J D Copsey, of Eastern Automobiles, and Martin Walter who produce the conversion. Mr. Copsey's vehicle pictured was finished in lime green and embodied a degree of luxury unsurpassed and including a refrigerator, cooker and separate toilet facilities. When the conversion was in production later 1967, both two and four berth models were available. Mr Copsey took his Caravan on a 3,000 mile trip through the Continent.

London Road Eastern Automobile Ltd development

It was reported in the Standard Triumph Review February 1967:

Towards the end of last year, Sir Donald Stokes, Chairman of Standard Triumph International Ltd., and Deputy Chairman of the Leyland Group, officially opened the new Triumph Showroom of Eastern Automobiles Ltd., at Chelmsford. 

The new showroom is part of an extensive development of the London Road premises as a whole; a scheme which has already seen the completion of a modern Service Department with equipment to ensure the latest and fastest service and provision for the best possible staff working conditions. Future forecourt development will include blender pumps, the first installation of this type in Essex.

In speeches at a luncheon following the opening, both Sir Donald and Mr J D Copsey, Managing Director of Eastern Automobiles Ltd, refused to be pessimistic about the future of the Motor
Industry.

'The motor industry in this country is alright. Don't let us get despondent,' said Sir Donald, and Mr. Copsey remarked that at a time when the Motor Trade was faced with many problems, 'we accept
the exciting challenge that there is for efficient business today. It is a time of self-appraisal- a time not for despair, but an opportunity for an efficient business to lead'.

Eastern Automobile Ltd in Bishops Stortford

The garage premises were at 123 South Street, Bishop Stortford. Here are a pair of photographs showing the site before and after.

Eastern Automobiles Ltd, 123 South Street, Bishop Stortford

Site of Eastern Automobiles Ltd, Bishop Stortford

Triumph car dealers in Colchester

April 1938 Triumph
Eastern Automobiles Ltd, St John's Avenue

April 1951 Triumph:
P G Page, 38 Crouch Street

1955, 1959, August 1961:
Distributor
Eastern Automobiles (Colchester) Ltd, St John's Avenue + Elmstead Road
Dealer
Seaborn Bros, Mile End,

Feb 1965:
Distributor
Eastern Automobiles (Colchester) Ltd, St John's Avenue + Elmstead Road
Dealer
Seaborn Bros, Mile End,
Roy H G Tolley, Colne Garage, Butt Road

September 1968, March 1970:
Distributor
Eastern Automobiles (Colchester) Ltd, Elmstead Road
Dealer
Roy H G Tolley, Colne Garage, Butt Road

March 1972:
Distributor
Mann Egerton & Co Ltd, T/A Eastern Automobiles (Colchester) Ltd, Elmstead Road
Dealer
Roy H G Tolley, Colne Garage, Butt Road

March 1974:
Distributor
Mann Egerton & Co Ltd, Elmstead Road, CO4 3AE
Dealer
Roy H G Tolley, Colne Garage, Butt Road

April 1979:

Distributor
Mann Egerton & Co Ltd, Elmstead Road, CO4 3AE
Dealer

Kennings Ltd, Cowdray Avenue CO1 1DP

 

March 1988
Cowies, Elmstead Road, CO4 3AE + 13 Moorside, East Gate CO1 2TY

 

May 1991:
Lancastetr Rover, Wyncolls Road, CO4 4HT

Triumph car dealers in Chelmsford

October 1955:
Distributor
Eastern Automobiles Ltd, London Road
Dealer
W A Waskett & Son, Galleywood Garage, near Chelmford

1959:
Distributor
Eastern Automobiles Ltd, London Road
Dealer
J Day (Chelmsford) Ltd, Broomfield - Standard only

August 1961:
Distributor
Eastern Automobiles Ltd, London Road + Widford Industrial Estate

February 1965:
Distributor
Eastern Automobiles (Distributors) Ltd, Widford Industrial Estate, Robjohns Road
Dealer
Eastern Autos Ltd 103 London Road

September 1968:
Distributor
Eastern Automobiles (Distributors) Ltd, New London Road
Dealer
Eastern Autos Ltd 103 London Road

March 1970:
Distributor
Eastern Automobiles (Distributors) Ltd, New London Road

March 1972, March 1972:
Distributor
Mann Egerton & Co Ltd, T/A Eastern Automobiles Ltd, New London Road

March 1974:
Distributor

Mann Egerton & Co Ltd, 103 New London Road, CM2 0DJ

April 1979:

Distributor

Mann Egerton & Co Ltd, 103 New London Road, CM2 0DJ +Robjohns Road, Widford Industrial Estate, CM1 3AU

Dealer

Lex Motor Co Chelmsford, Victoria Road South, CM1 1NA + Robjohns Road, Widford Industrial Estate, CM1 3AQ

 

March 1988:

J Day (Chelmsford) Ltd, Days Garage, 74 Main Street, Broomfield, CM1 5DH

Lex Motor Co Chelmsford, Victoria Road South, CM1 1NA + Robjohns Road, Widford Industrial Estate, CM1 3AQ

 

May 1991:

J Day (Chelmsford) Ltd, Days Garage, 74 Main Street, Broomfield, CM1 5DH

Lex Rover, Victoria Road South, CM1 1NA + Robjohns Road, Widford Industrial Estate, CM1 3AQ

Triumph car dealers in Bishops Stortford

October 1955:
Distributor
H R Moore Ltd, Standard House, Northgate End phone 1140

1959, August 1961:
Area Dealer
Eastern Automobiles Ltd, 123 South Street phone 2266/7

February 1965:
Dealer
Eastern Automobiles Ltd, 123 South Street phone 2266/7

September 1968, March 1970:
Distributor
Eastern Automobiles Ltd, 123 South Street phone 2266/7

March 1972:
Distributor
Mann Egerton & Co Ltd T/A
Eastern Automobiles Ltd, 123 South Street, CM23 3AS phone 2266

March 1974, May 1975, April 1979, March 1988, May 1991:
Distributor

Mann Egerton & Co Ltd, 123 South Street, CM23 3AS phone 2266 

 

 

Plea for information

If you have any more information or recollections about Eastern Automobile Ltd Standard Triumph dealer 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 a post about Roy H G Tolley of Colne Garage, Butt Road Colchester.

Link to a post about  Cyril J Deal Ltd of Kelvedon near Colchester.

Link to the other articles in this series.

Link to 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 credits:

College Motors Ltd Wiltshire Special - Triumph Car dealers 11 part2

The building of the Wiltshire Special for a director of College Motors Ltd of Bristol was described in the Standard Triumph Review November1964

Ingenuity, skill and the quality of Triumph workmanship and design have produced a vehicle the likes of which can be seen at only one place in the British Isles - at Timsbury, near Bath. Here, at Kingwell Hall, the beautiful home of Mr A V T Wiltshire, is the Wiltshire Special, but a useful "special" built to
earn its keep and perhaps more accurately described as a refinement
of the go-kart design.

The story of the Wiltshire Special is one of reincarnation, for its "life" began after two crashed Triumph Heralds had been written-off by the assessors.

Mr. Wiltshire is Managing Director of Standard-Triumph distributors, College Motors Limited, Bristol, and following a spell of particularly bad weather - fog, ice and snow conditions he and his service manager and co-director, were faced with the problem of finding more space at their Bristol premises.

Much of it seemed to be monopolised by, as Mr Wiltshire described them, "a couple of dozen assorted makes of badly battered cars in the process of being written off".

However, it was obvious that the Heralds had fared much better than other vehicles without a chassis. 

This gave me an idea", says Mr. Wiltshire. "Why not an estate 'special'? Although I keep a Ferguson 35 at home it has to have working tyres and not lawn tyres to do the rough work, and although used with a set of gang mowers on the lawn, in damp conditions the tyres badly marked the grass surfaces".

During the winter the best parts of the two smashed Heralds were sorted out, and, adds Mr. Wiltshire, "the components were so good that they were in a suitable condition to be used again". 

 

End product was the Wiltshire Special, a most useful run-about which now adequately copes with a 10 foot lawn roller, a trailer or a set of gang mowers, in spite of the gradients it has often to negotiate.

Cutting the 3t acres of lawns takes roughly an hour with the gang mowers in tow, and the Special has carried heavy loads of soil around the 19 acre estate as well as doing yeoman service in carting away heaps of autumn leaves deposited on the 550 yard drive to the house. 

It was found necessary to get the front lyres skimmed as though ready for re-treading, following which the outstanding steering lock of the Herald has proved invaluable in making it possible to negotiate various corners without marking the lawns. 

There is no springing at the rear end of the Special, but it is equipped with a set of over-sized van tyres and wheels. The hydraulic brakes and handbrake are retained, and the only modification which has been made is the scrapping of the ordinary push-and-pull ignition switch and the provision of a key. The
reason? The ability to hide the key to prevent joy-riding around the lawns and up and down the drive by visitors of every age group. 

So it is that two Heralds, which seemed destined to end their days on the scrap heap, have found a new purpose in the midst of the beautiful Somerset countryside.

Further information and sources

Link to the other articles in this series.

Read more about College Motors Ltd in my earlier blog post.

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: