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Rootes Birmingham

I have just found and uploaded this picture on my Flickr pages, although it is of a BMMO S6 on Lower Temple St, just turning into Stephenson St, there is clearly a Rootes Dealership on the corner.

Lower Temple St. Shakespeare Pub and Temple Bar In the basement. Temple Bar was a Mod hang out. I used to go in there on a regular basis. Wash my Purple Hearts or French Blues down with a Black Velvet. Alcohol and Speed not a good combination but did it give me some confidence to pull the Totty.
 
Best thing around there nowadays is Bedders Chippy Hay Mills Rd jnc Coventry Rd. New York Times came over and did a supplement about the place years ago.
 
Yes shortie is correct i know i lived across the rd from it on the cocventry rd and seen the demolition of it as well and when the car sales was reformed and set up and i seen the disapeareance of there sales fore court ; and watched the building of asda daily fom our housefront room on the coventry facing asda super store and watch the wekly or fornight robberys of there stores on a fortninghtly basis even thou they had security ;
they used to ram raid the front revolving doors and there fag counter was only a couple of feet inside the door ;
they must have spent a fortune in the early years of opening ; but eventualy they finaly got it together and changed the whol concept ;
best wishes Astonian
Hello,
I use to live opposite (nearly) the Rootes building , my bedroom was the front of the house onto Coventry Rd , at night the neon signs would light the building up advertising the different makes of cars Humber, Singer, Hillman, etc
 
Hello,
I use to live opposite (nearly) the Rootes building , my bedroom was the front of the house onto Coventry Rd , at night the neon signs would light the building up advertising the different makes of cars Humber, Singer, Hillman, etc
Bonus Bedders chip shop down the road on the corner.
 
Bonus Bedders chip shop down the road on the corner.
Yes, I remember Bill Bedder and his son John , as they would close the shop quite early on a Friday for a fish and chip shop in those days.
you would see them in the small lounge of the Hay Mills Tavern having a well deserved couple of pints on Friday.
on Friday evening the you could see the queue forming outside the shop for the 4 .30 (I think) opening time and the shop both takeaway and sit in would be rammed.
 
my dad had a fiber glass bond 875 hillman imp based car,while driving to wales the engine fell out and was nearly on the rd... no rear cross member it was just bolted into the plastic body
That's too funny! The rear engine mount on Imps was a hanger type mount bolted to the removable rear body panel that was held in place to the body with about 4 fasteners, 2 each side. So, it doesn't surprise me that the engine almost fell out on the ground on the "Plastic Fantastic", as we called the Bond Bug.

Our local Rootes dealership in Erdington, was directly across from the Yenton pub at the corner of Sutton New Road and Chester Road. My Dad being a prototype engineer often had to travel out to the Rootes factory for his employer (The Perfecta) when I was younger.

My recollection of working on Imps, Stilletos and Commer Imp vans, was that they were weird handling little things until their final days when the problems got worked out. Overheating and valve burning was a big issue, so it was good that the engine almost fell out! The "British Corvair" was what we called them, because of the copy cat "styling" and road handling.

I could have the engine out on the ground quite literally in about 15 minutes, following an almost identical routine to the VW Beetles of the day. Off came the rear bumper and back panel to the body with hanger engine mount attached, while the engine and transaxle was supported on a floor jack. Disconnect the electrics, air throttle line, choke and fuel line and a handful of bellhousing fasteners then pull the engine off the transaxle.

I serviced and repaired many Imps in the late '60s to early '70s and also some might remember that Collins TV had a fleet of Commer Imp vans trundling around, some of which I routinely worked on.

Those familiar with working on the Imps will recall the air throttle on the earliest models that was troublesome and replaced with a traditional control. The Stilletto with twin Stombergs was as good as they got, but it was too little, too late with the Minis and Anglias already out there in huge numbers and with way better reliability.

Martin
 
Yes, I remember Bill Bedder and his son John , as they would close the shop quite early on a Friday for a fish and chip shop in those days.
you would see them in the small lounge of the Hay Mills Tavern having a well deserved couple of pints on Friday.
on Friday evening the you could see the queue forming outside the shop for the 4 .30 (I think) opening time and the shop both takeaway and sit in would be rammed.
I lived in Tyseley for a while, after moving to Halesowen we still used to drive to Hay Mills for fish and Chips. Dinner time the queue used to start to form at 11.20/11.30 for 11.45 opening time.
 
Hired an Imp in 1970 and off we went to Bologna. Good small vehicle for two people to go on a camping holiday, massive "boot" at the front, lots of space on the folded rear seats. I suppose we did some 2000 miles in a fortnight without missing a beat. Picture. In Lauterbrunnen.
 

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Finally found a photo of Rootes Birmingham in Charlotte Street. The building with the Rootes sign across the windows is still there. At the time of the photo it was the entrance to the spares department.
 

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