Car places history in Hounslow (mainly Brentford)

If you drive or cycle along the Great West Road you might notice that there are a lot of car company installations across the East part of the Borough. It actually starts at Hogarth Roundabout where for a while there was a classic dealership there. Then it was Tesla which has now moved to pastures new (for a while it was coming to Brentford but thankfully they went to Park Royal instead). Their sales reduction of 62% in April (I am crying uncontrollably about the impact on Elon Musk) probably is not entirely a result of abandoning Chiswick.

Apparently we are getting another Electric specialist. Two brands belonging to China's answer to British Leyland, Chery. The two brands going to Chiswick are Omoda and Jaecoo. Being a bit of a petrolhead (though I suppose I should now call myself an armaturehead) I look in Autocar and find that Omoda and Jaecoo, who both offer a single model are both rated as 2.5 stars. They would be unchallenged as British Unchampion except for another Chinese offering the GWM ORA Funky Cat (no, I didn't make that up) which is the only other car rating I can find that merits less than 3 stars. Mind you, when I was young, me and my pals used to describe Japanese cars and motorcyles as Japcrap. That story didn't end well for Norton, Triumph, BSA and British Leyland, Rootes motors

Having passed Honda and Volvo just off to the north, at Chiswick Roundabout we have what is now called Stellantis, but includes all the brands owned by what is now I suppose the French version of British Leyland - Peugeot (Rover), Citroen (Morris) DS (Vanden Plas) Abarth (Austin Healey) Alfa Romeo (MG) Chrysler (Austin) Fiat (Wolseley) Jeep (Range Rover) Lancia (Triumph) Maserati (Jaguar) Vauxhall (Standard) Opel (Wolseley) RAM Trucks (Land Rover). I wish I had not started that.

Carry on along the A4 there are enormous emporiums for Kia, Volkswagen/Skoda, Mercedes and Audi and more modest ones for Renault, Mini, and BMW. We were supposed to be getting Hyundai at what used to be Alfa Laval. Before that, that building housed what Brentford is famous for and with whom we all slept in the 1970s (Brentford Nylons). But I suppose Hyundai became nervous thinking of Brentford Nylons. My flatmate when I was at University told me he was completely against nylon sheets because there was no traction. I can't imagine what he was on about.

But all that is about today, and what I really want to talk about is yesterday. So I start with Bristol. I know they had a showroom further East in Kensington - it is on the corner of Holland Road and Kensington High Street and is now a dealership for Indian Motorcycles. Of course these are not Indian at all and if they had any wokeness they would change their name to Native American Motorcycles. But frankly they have nothing to do with Native Americans and just liked the name better than the original name of Silver Queen/King. I digress (not at al like me).

Bristol latterly had a service centre in Chiswick, just west of Hogarth Roundabout in a building called Linen House. In the depths of my memory, generally sparsely inhabited, I recall a Bristol place in part of what is now B&Q on Chiswick Roundabout. But nobody else seems to remember this and it might have been a weird dream about bristols. Well, just as I had concluded I was being a tit, that fount of knowledge David Shailes filled the vacuum of knowledge. I knew about Tony Crook (I hope and believe a misnomer) the long time owner of Bristol and David told me, having found an article in one of my bibles, Motor Sport in 1968: Anthony Crook Motors Ltd. was formed to distribute and service Bristols by a partner of Bristol Cars, the company can surely be regarded as the people to see about anything concerned with this make. After being based at premises in Caterham, Esher and Walton-on-Thames, Anthony Crook Motors uprooted the whole firm five years ago and in order to centralise took premises near Olympia and along the Great West Road at Chiswick.

The staff of the Great West Road, the nucleus of whom have been with the company for 21 years, undertake to complete restoration of cars and their coachwork. From the 400 model—the first made— to the 406 all had Bristol 2.2- or 2-litre 6-cyl. overhead valve engines and a great many parts were interchangeable, although since the 407 was introduced in 1961 Chrysler engines made specially for Bristol cars have been used.

Anthony Crook Motors are Bristol people, although one of their regular customers is actor Peter Sellers, whom they supply with all his cars, no matter what make. Mr. Crook would like to take on more such customers but just do not have the time.

He retired in 2007 and after that I suppose he had plenty of time. Even more after Bristol Cars shuffled off the mortal coil in 2020 (though they follow the tradition of having a dreamer who plans to bring it back) but the great man shuffled off himself in 2014 at the age of 93. When I was younger I would have said he had a good innings but of course I now realise he was taken in the prime of his life.

Where there were once Bristols, there was a more surprising factory, Hudson.

Hudson were an upmarket maker from Detroit, apparently named after a man whose main business was a department store. Had it been properly British it perhaps would have been called a Selfridge but that comment may be silly These Hudsons were sent over from Detroit as kits and they were assembled in beautiful Brentford in what was a very modern factory on the Golden Mile. I suppose having B&Q next door would have been handy when they were looking for a left-handed screwdriver but sadly B&Q was just a gleam in the eyes of Richard Block and David Quayle when some say a nasty bomber turned the Hudson Factory to smithereens https://www.prewarcar.com/hudson-built-to-excel But I don't think that is correct. I believe it was still there until the 1950s, having been used to make Aircraft parts and perhaps naval engines and anti-aircraft guns including (apparently) 33201 Oerlikon 20mm cannons for the US Navy. The Hudson 'Invader' engine was used in many landing craft during the D-Day invasion during the war years. The bomb fell on another American factory (read on).

In case you doubt my testimony perhaps this picture of one of the brick pillars outside B&Q may convince the sceptic who compares the top of the pillar with the Hudson picture

The art was added by a modern maestro of the spray can.

This was a Hudson Terraplane built in Brentford in 1932, where they were also another brand called Essex being made there for a time. I think this must be the origin of The Only Way is Essex but that has not been confirmed.

Writing this is a fascinating exercise but it is also expensive - I just spent £7.50 buying a copy of The Automobile from April 2020 where apparently there's a lot more about Hudsons made in Brentford.

Next thing I find is about Alvis. I don't think they made cars here (sent to Coventry) but James Marshall confirms they were here and a document I have seen has a reference to an outfit called Alvis-Straussler. It seems Nicolas Straussler from Budapest opened a small factory off the GWR to make armoured cars. This one is naked (avert your eyes if you are of a prudish nature) but apparently it had 4 wheel drive, 4 wheel steering and you could steer it looking either way (as the steering wheel suggests)

This is said to be an Alvis-Straussler AC3. Whether it was made in Brentford I have no idea but it is a lovely thing even if the fake eyelashes may be slightly overdone. There are said to be 3 of these in Portugal, probably attracting people from Essex.

As far as I can tell, the Alvis factory was next to Brook Lane North, so where part of the Hyundai/Alfa Laval/Brentford Nylons building survives (just about) today.

Found this picture inside the factory

This is how it all looked like from the air in 1938. That is the stretch between Brook Lane North and Ealing Road. This is the only evidence I can find and which if any of these was Alvis I can't say.

Let's move along the Great West Road. There are at least two more American car makers there, both at the posh end of the market. I don't think either Packard or Lincoln manufactured here but they did have showrooms and maintenance facilities and may have assembled kits from across the Atlantic, as Hudson definitely did.

Lincoln had a substantial place

You can tell by the steps, this is the place where we now have the far more patrician DFS though it now needs a new coat of whitewash and a session with a strimmer.

This chap thinks his pooch is outside the Packard works but I think he is mistaken. I'm pretty sure this is outside the Lincoln place - Packard was next door. Nice dog, but it really should be a lion or something on that dais.

Here is a nice red Packard with a pleasant looking owner (though the car was being sold at auction I believe). I must warn you that if you are driving this it seem its car tax expired in 2023. I'm not sure why it has oranges attached to its bumper

This is the Packard works/showroom. It is bang next to what was then Pyrene (who made fire extinguishers) which is still there and is called Westlink House and seems to house the Scholars School System https://scholarsschool.ac.uk/

Lincoln was the next door neighbour towards Syon Lane, and I think this is where the surviving steps are.

On 21 March 1945, one of the last German V-2 rockets to be launched landed on the Packard works killing 32 people, seriously injured 100 and lightly injured 460. It is said that the factory was completely destroyed.

3 years later, it seems to have been completely rebuilt in a much less glamorous manner. This picture (and a number of others) and the story are courtesy of https://britainfromabove.org.uk/

The truth seems to be that Lincoln cars and Packard were both on the site now occupied by DFS etc.

Well, that's car places in Brentford. There was a big Fiat dealership (and maybe UK HQ when I started at Honeywell and looked down on their place) next to the Brent, and of course a lot of bits for cars came from round here: Firestone Tyres from its gorgeous factory until vandals destroyed the facade over a bank holiday weekend in 1978 when I could see it from my desk in the Honeywell tower. Likewise Trico Folberth windscreen wipers and Pyrene fire extinguishers which were for cars as well as for more complex applications. Plus important retailers like Henly's where it has recently been Dell computers and is now empty, and Performance cars on the corner of Windmill Road is now a Toyota dealership.

The 'sound' Aston Martin 1.5 litre saloon from 1934 at £95 might have been a wise investment, though the 1926 Bentley 3 litre from what I suppose were the arch rivals from 492 Chiswick High Road for £165 might have been better still.

There is a lot more about cars from Hounslow (and nearby) but that will have to wait.

I must acknowledge the excellent history work done by Janet McNamara and particularly the recently updated and republished book by James Marshall - The Great West Road, a centenary history and their erudite advice (not that I always take advice!)