Whites of Grimsby - Triumph car dealer 66

The feature business in this post is Whites of Grimsby Ltd who were a Standard Triumph car dealer based in Grimsby.

Whites after the 1959 alterations

Long term distributors

Whites were distributors for Standard Triumph cars for a long time. I believe they first held the franchise in 1922.  Frank White entered the motor trade after leaving the Royal Flying Corps in 1919. Later joined by Tony White who had completed his apprenticeship with the Standard Motor Co Ltd and served in the Army.

Whites before the 1959 alterations

The business initially started in a building later used by Richard Carr.  They then moved to another site which were continually developed and extended reaching approx 20,000 sq ft by 1959.

Whites after the 1959 alterations at night

The company was dissolved in 1990.

Some adverts

Triumph 1300 advert by Whites of Grimsby Ltd

Triumph Spitfire Mark 3 advert by Whites of Grimsby Ltd

Triumph 1300 advert by Whites of Grimsby Ltd

Triumph 1300TC advert by Whites of Grimsby Ltd

Triumph Vitesse Mk2 advert by Whites of Grimsby Ltd

Driving schools supplier

Whites of Grimsby supplied a fleet of Heralds to Lindsay Driving School as can be seen in this photo taken at Whites service station at Toothill..

Triumph dealers in Grimsby

April 1951:
Roland C Bellamy Ltd, St Mary's Gate
Fred W Wood Ltd, 24a Bull Ring

October 1955:
Whites Garage Ltd, St Mary's Gate        Distributor
Dolans Garage Ltd, 33 Louth Road, Sharthoe
M H Wyatt & Son, New Central Garage, Convamore Road

1959, August 1961, Feb 1965:
Whites Garage Ltd, St Mary's Gate        Distributor
Whites Garage Ltd, Convamore Road

September 1968:
Whites Garage Ltd, St Mary's Gate        Distributor
Roland A Bellamy Ltd, Doughty Road
J R J Mansbridge (G Y) Ltd t/a D H Bloomer Ltd, Eleanor Street

Roland A Bellamy Ltd, Doughty Road
Jaguar Distributors for Northern Lincolnshire, following on from Roland C Bellamy Ltd, Morris Distributors from 1920 and Jaguar from 1934.

The firm converted their demonstration Jaguars to run on Autogas (propane in the UK) in 1974 for cleaner burning, as the fuel is over 100 octane they went very well with only water vapour coming out of the exhaust! Installed the first self service Autogas stations on petrol forecourts for Total and BP 1980's. They went on to put Autogas on all their petrol forecourts and had a fleet of LPG road tankers to supply throughout the north of England.

The business of Roland A Bellamy Ltd was sold in 1982?

March 1970, March 1972, March 1974:
Whites Garage Ltd, 95 Eleanor Street        Distributor
Roland A Bellamy Ltd, Doughty Road

May 1975:
Whites Garage Ltd, 95 Eleanor Street, DN32 8AG        Distributor Rover, Land Rover and Triumph
Roland A Bellamy Ltd, Doughty Road, DN32 0LS        Dealer Triumph

June 1984, March 1988:
Grimsby Motors, 415 Victoria Street

Grimsby Motors was a part of the Marshall Group of garages.  Marshalls had branches in Bedford and Cambridge.

Marshall Group advert from March 1979

May 1994:
Dixon, 415 Victoria Street, DN31 1PE

Plea for information

If you have any more information or recollections about Whites of Grimsby, 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 a post about Grimsby Motors

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

Picture credits: The showroom images are from the Standard Triumph Review April 1959. The Triumph 1300 advert by Whites of Grimsby Ltd and the other colour adverts were all posted to Flickr; Marshall Group advert from March 1979 posted by Martin Spivey to facebook.