Saturday, June 22, 2019

Somerset Motors of Taunton - Triumph car dealers 85

Somerset Motors of Taunton are the feature business of this article number 85 in my series about Triumph car dealers.
Somerset Motors delivery truck 1956
Somerset Motors delivery truck 1956
Somerset Motors of Taunton operated their own car transporter to fetch vehicles from the Standard Triumph factory in Coventry.

Showroom alterations

Quoting from Standard Triumph Review September 1966:
Alterations to the original showrooms of Standard-Triumph Distributors Somerset Motors Ltd, Corporation Street, Taunton, give the company the position of having the largest single covered car sales area in the territory. The new showrooms have only one central pillar so that, even with the frameless sliding glass doors closed, there is a clear, uninterrupted view of the cars on show. The fascia is finished in green Cumberland stone with the pillars of local Somerset stone. Behind the showrooms is a flight of steps leading to another showroom of 6,000 sq. ft. which has a rear entrance 60 feet wide through which customers may drive their cars.

Vitesse "Bears" Inspection

Triumph Vitesse "Bears" Inspection
Triumph Vitesse "Bears" Inspection
Quoting from Standard Triumph Review January 1965:
It proved to be no picnic when a Teddy Bear theme was chosen by Somerset Motors for a display in their Corporation Street Showrooms, Taunton, recently. The attractiveness of the display brought hundreds of children to peer through the windows, and an equally large number of grown-ups took interest in a Vitesse Convertible in which a 5ft. high Teddy Bear occupied the driving seat and a "team" of smaller Teddies carried out a thorough "examination" of engine, exhaust system, bonnet cover, speedometer, etc. The display became so much of a talking point that it is on record that holiday makers returning from Devon and Cornwall also made a point of calling at the showrooms to take a peek themselves. We thank Somerset Motors Sales staff for the headline - after all it was their idea!

First electronic tester in Somerset

April 1965 saw Somerset Motors Ltd launch a rolling road test facility.  The Crypton-Heenan equipment allowed the operator to both measure and record the cars peformance.  The indicator dials were large enough to be seen through glass screens in both the neighbouring car showroom and workshop.

Somerset Motors were the first business to install such equipment in Somerset. Mr A G Wilson, the managing director,  introduced the equipment to guests.  Mr J Bushnell, managing director, of Crypton Equipment was also present.

A demonstration of the test bed by Mr A Turnbull, sales director of Crypton, showed how cars were driven onto the set of rollers and the engine was connected to the brain of the equipment.  While the car is driven by remote control the operator could apply a water brake to the rollers to simulate the extra load of driving up hill.  Dials showed both speed and power.  The test rig included a fault reporting facility.

Not just Taunton

The company had premises in several towns.  In March 1972 they operated Triumph garages:
Somerset Motors Ltd, Sandpits Hill, Langport
Somerset Motors Ltd, Fore Street, Williton
Somerset Motors (Yeovil) Ltd, Osborne Garage, Sherbourne Road, Yeovil which was also listed in March 1974 and May 1975.  Were a BMW dealer in 1979.

Somerset Motors (Yeovil) Ltd was incorporated 7 February 1952 under the name W Sparrow & Sons Limited. The company name was formally changed 12 December 1966. However I have photos showing the company trading as Somerset Motors from as early as March 1956 The company has been dormant since 4 January 1992.

Triumph car dealers in Taunton

April 1938:
Marshalsea Bros, 1 Fore Street

April 1951:
Somerset Motors (1927) Ltd, Corporation Street

October 1955:
Distributor
Somerset Motors Ltd, Corporation Street
Dealers
County Garage (Taunton) Ltd invoice 26 November 1956
County Garage (Taunton) Ltd invoice 26 November 1956
County Garage (Taunton) Ltd, 2 Priory Avenue
J Redding & Son Ltd, T/A Pearse's Garage, Rowbarton
Silver Street Motor Works, Silver Street

1959, August 1961:
Distributor
Somerset Motors Ltd, Corporation Street  + stores at Wellington Road
Dealers
County Garage (Taunton) Ltd, 2 Priory Avenue
Rex Brothers Motors Ltd, Priory Bridge Road
Silver Street Motor Works, Silver Street

February 1965:
Distributor
Somerset Motors Ltd, Corporation Street  + stores at Wellington Road
Dealers
County Garage (Taunton) Ltd, 2 Priory Avenue

Silver Street Motor Works, Silver Street

September 1968, March 1970, March 1972, March 1974, May 1975 :
Distributor
Somerset Motors Ltd, Corporation Street

June 1984:
Wadham Stringer (Taunton) Ltd

March 1988:
Mount Street Garage, Mount Street, Bishop's Lydeard TA4 3ND
Wadham Stringer, South Street TA1 3AF

Tin plate toy

This scratch built tinplate delivery van has an electric motor and electric lights. Sign written to show Somerset Motors logo the toy is 20.5cm long.

Somerset Motors wireless manufacturer

Wireless cabinet made by Somerset Motors
Wireless cabinet made by Somerset Motors
Supplied by Somerset Motors
Supplied by Somerset Motors
It seems that Somerset Motors also sold wireless radios in wood cabinets that were made in their workshop.

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 Corporation Street premises: 12 to 16 October 1959 and 13 to 17 May 1968.

Plea for information

If you have any more information or recollections about Somerset Motors of Taunton 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 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: County Garage (Taunton) Ltd invoice 26 November 1956 image from an article: http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/county-garage.htm; All the other photos are from my collection.

3 comments:

  1. Hi, I have a 1964 Wolseley Hornet Mk2. On the heritage certificate, it says it was sold from Somerset Motors Limited, Taunton. As a Triumph dealer, would they have sold other marques of vehicle?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Somerset Motors Yeovil was in a group with associated businesses. W Sparrow in Yeovil was a part of the group. Within the group many brands were sold. I expect the Taunton branch sold none Standard Triumph products. The firm sccscerce

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  3. I live a few miles from Yeovil, so I'm interested in pin-pointing exactly where the car was first sold. At local car shows people quite often remark on the somerset registration (AYA) and that the car can't have moved too far in its life

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