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| 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.
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| College Motors Bristol - dealer plaque 2 |
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.
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| College Motors Ltd Bond advert from Motor 16 October 1963 |
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| Dutton-Forshaw (Bristol) Ltd key-ring |
Fleet sale to Wills tobacco company
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.weblinSource 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.
I served my apprenticeship with college motors after leaving school.it was a four year apprenticeship working on triumph cars.I think I started there in 1971 if I can help you with any information please ask,my name is keith.
ReplyDeleteHi Keith, my dad was Ken warburton, the managing director about that time, do you remember him?
DeleteThanks for your comment. I would be happy to add a paragraph to my blog post if you like about your Dad's time at College Motors
DeleteKeith it would be great to hear about your time with College Motors.
ReplyDeleteAlthough not in garage trade found this interesting as these dealerships get forgotten thank you for postingl
ReplyDeleteHello, A long shot BUT, Where was Lex Motor Company Limited, Bristol. My MG Midget was sold from there in 1974
ReplyDeleteAn address for Lex Mead is shown in the blog post. Alternatively you can check out the various dealer directories via my blog. Details of how are included towards the end of each dealer post.
ReplyDeleteI started at College Motors Avon Street in 1971 as a 16 year old apprentice, it was my dream place of employment! I was there for 7 years. I remember many people, Keith Toutt foreman, two Ians, Les, Richards, George the other foreman, Whizz, Jeff to name but a few. They were good times! Dave Dye
ReplyDeleteI have just had a message to say that Steve Riley, Whizz, has passed away. He was at College Motors in 1971 when I started and still there in 1978, after that he worked at Ashley Autos and then had his own place, Piston Broke Engineering in Easton Bristol. His funeral is 15th Dec 2023 at Canford Crem. Dave Dyer
ReplyDelete