The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

VYO 372M wrote:Might be worth trying to make contact with past owners Rob, assuming they are still alive. It wouldn't surprise me that they would be all too happy to tell you a bit about the Dolly. I too have contacted previous owners of some of my Triumphs and with great success, only one former owner never responded. I think it is well worth the effort discovering more and more about a cars past.

Steve

That's the plan

I'm hoping to make contact with them within the next few days to a week (currently trying to sort out the carb and a few other little things,like employment etc).

I really hope that the first owner "marjorie" is still alive. would also like to meet the owner who owned BMX for 23 years!

rob

What an interesting thread this is !

I have a beautiful piece of engineering that was made in Beckenham, namely
a DeVere 504 (photographic) enlarger. A design that is now over 40 years old and has not be
truly rivalled in all that time. Money well spent.

just been informed by a member of Autoshite.com That yes the "langley park garage" was actually a BL dealership!- which ended in 1989 and became a rover dealership up until the late 90's when peugeot bought the garage and thats how the chinese garage stands today.

I am desperately trying to get hold of information about it being a BL dealership and hopefully get hold of a photograph of a rear window dealership sticker so I can have a copy made.

The langley park garage"a.k.a. chinese garage" sold fuel "texaco fuel station" up until the late 90's!

"My wish now... to hopefully find a photograph of my car being filled with fuel from the old style fuel pumps outside the garage!! "

I will keep you posted with more information

Rob

I have a beautiful piece of engineering that was made in Beckenham, namely
a DeVere 504 (photographic) enlarger. A design that is now over 40 years old and has not be
truly rivalled in all that time. Money well spent.

A small world Steve. The father of one of my very close friends, who I grew up with, was one of the Partners in Devere Photographic. They moved from their Beckenham premises to Caterham in Surrey and then finally sold that for redevelopment after the digital age finally did for them. Dick (my pals Dad) is retired now, but still lives in Bromley, and I still see him regularly. He is still in touch with all sorts of folk who have Devere products from across the world.

Sorry for thread hijack Rob.

That's multi-tasking for you.

Trying to speak to a Steve on the phone whilst typing was never going to have a happy outcome. Sorry Ian.

De Vere enlargers are still British owned and manufactured after being sold in 1995.
I am lead to believe that most of their business is now done in the USA.

http://www.odyssey-sales.co.uk/de-vere.htm
It is a small market today given the massive decline of professional photography in recent years.

I am also sorry Rob for going off-topic.

no problem guys nice to learn a little bit of history - I'd heard the name "de-vere" but never knew what it stood for until now

Rob

Well... I haven't yet made any contact with the previous owners (due to employment status being a higher priority at present).

However... I have located a photograph of the rear window dealership sticker!!!

I will post up a photo later this evening if possible

(next thing on the list... tax disc holder)

Rob

I was pointed to a photograph of a rover 800 coupe with the "chinese garage" rover dealership sticker placed in its back window.
So going on the very same principle of the color of the text,font and its lay out. the above is a "photoshop" of what I would like made up in the near future.
(Maybe I will find a different BL logo and tone down the text color slightly,but you get the idea.

Opinions please!

Rob

Aged affect

How about for the small text:

Bromley Motor Works (Kent) Limited, 1 Wickham Road, Beckenham.

(Note the use of punctuation.)



Would they not have had a phone number?

sprint95m wrote:How about for the small text:

Bromley Motor Works (Kent) Limited, 1 Wickham Road, Beckenham.

(Note the use of punctuation.)



Would they not have had a phone number?

Thanks Sprint

I'm not too cracking on the punctuality front when it comes to writing Thanks for helping me out there

I do believe there would have been a phone number advertised which I will add into the photoshop when I find out what the number was

Thanks

Rob

does this phone number sound familiar to anyone?

00529273 chinese garage,beckenham

Rob

The STD code is now 0208. Prior to the last change it was 0181, and prior to that 081. Before that was simply 01.

The first three digits of the number will almost certainly have been 658. This is the area code for the Park Langley area of Beckenham.

Chinese garage

I have landed here cause I’m looking for a pic [or even old work mates] from the old Saunders Abbott garage 1 wickam road, which was just along the road from the Chinese garage.

it was definitely a bmc/bl dealer in 1966 as I was a mechanic there. Owned by Harry and Richard Epps, they also started a very small garage in Albamar rd which seems to be the registered address of Saunders Abbott. At the time it just a curved tunnel that went under a new office block,[they must have added some space], it was wide enough for a car and some tools [as I recall].

It was a surprise to me to learn from this forum that Bromly motor works was at 1 Wickam road in 1967, I must left just before.

Hope some one can help as there’s no mention of Saunders Abbott, at 1 wickam rd, out there I can find. I have called the current Saunders Abbott, they deny any knowledge of of a connection

Thanks mark