old Bond dealership

[Barry]

Had a play with the B&W photos

[wilksie]

thanks - much better lets see what dating clues we can see now then 

Ok - I'll start: 1965 or later.

[richard]

reasons ? why so late ?

[wilksie]

The Singer Gazelle is C reg = 1965. The other cars don't add much info: Countryman 1961 - 1969. Minicar Mark F (?) 1958 - 1963. BTW Green Shield stamps were offered 1958 - 1991, and the first MOT test was introduced in 1960. (Of course I looked it up).

[richard]

i also looked it all up and came to exactly the same conclusion . Whats BTW ? albeit with slightly different info. singer gazelle 55/67 - c reg '65 .austin countryman/morris traveller march '60 on. green shield 58-91.Regent petrol pre re branding to texaco in  67-69. Bond scooters '58 on . MOT station '60 on. Bond E/F cant tell which wheel size so '58 on . Both the Singer and the mini are brand new cars - spotless wheelarches . with research could pin down that singers reg. no. a bit
great fun - next photo please  

[Barry]

You are just talking about the colour photo?
B&W is earlier with different petrol pumps and no MOT sign.

[richard]

yes wilksie and I are on the colour photo now

[wilksie]

Sorry - BTW as in 'by the way'. Shouldn't be using silly text language. The colour photo states ... Distributors Bond Minicars. The last one was produced in 1966. After that date the garage sign would have been redundant but it's quite possible that they didn't take the sign down for a while. It's tempting to date the pic 1965 - 1966 but not entirely certain.

[richard]

ditto with STD codes 63/79 but signs were not updated for years . loads of clues there in one small picture arent there

[wilksie]

The Gazelle's registration AHF 853C is a Wallasey issued number from January 1965 onwards, which presumably is consistent with the phone number Wall 1384. One could speculate that it was the garage owner's car. Interestingly in the colour photograph the garage sign reads Bond Minicars and the car on the drive is a Singer, whilst the sign in the B&W photographs says Singer Main Dealer but the cars on the drive are Bonds. So many details indeed.

[Big Al]

A good garage dropping a Singer dealership is going to still have all the Singer owners coming for work on their cars. I find it surprising as a business decision to go to Bonds though. A Singer owner is not going to buy a Bond so it means finding a new customer base unless there is more to the Robbs Garage business than we see in these pictures. My only thought is perhaps the Singer dealers at some point had to encompass the Rootes range which Robbs could not do due to the size of their premises. Thus the garage would have become an independent Singer / Rootes service and acquisition contact but needed a smaller manufacturer to be an agent for to keep the business healthy. What better than the relatively local Preston based Bond marque?

A similar thing happened here to Anne's Garage' which was Hillman I think. That become Rootes and they linked and then took over one of the other garage premises which did Standard? up till then to have the area to fill the contract. Later Rootes got into trouble and got evolved with a string of manuvers. The upshot is today what was Anne's garage is now part of Faringdon Garages trading in Peugeot off two sites having seen off all but two independent garage workshops, selling two other sites for redevelopment and another as a shop. I know one was Ford and the Enterprise was BMC as we have some of the old signage. This is how all the little garages and local trade was rolled up.

[richard]

Robbs did have another shop in nearby Birkenhead specialising in three wheelers and scooters so that explains the shift i think . Grahams dad sold Gordons as well , although " only three or four " yet Graham doesnt remember the factory anly three miles away . The Bond factory , 60 miles away by train , and many of the staff are well remembered . They surprisingly used to get quite a few crash damaged cars and often had to rebuild entire front ends . The sturdy mark A/B aluminium engine cradles would be smashed and the new ones were supplied ex-factory undrilled so they were drilled at the repair depot - quite a job !
i suppose engine maintenance was within the scope of most ex-motorcycle owners so only body repairs needed help. accidents possibly more common as being driven on a motorcycle licence no car driving lessons would have been taken ?

attached pic of crash damaged engine mount , Bond A/B , and factory replacement supplied undrilled

[Rusty Chrome (Malcolm Parker)]

i suppose engine maintenance was within the scope of most ex-motorcycle owners so only body repairs needed help. accidents possibly more common as being driven on a motorcycle licence no car driving lessons would have been taken ?

It might also have had something to do with their - even for the time - notable lack of braking ability. - 67ft at 30mph in the test they did on the Mark A in "The Motor"

[Bob Purton]

I think Rustry chrome is right, even the mkC and D I owned were deficient in the braking department. If you wanted to stop you had to inform the brakes in writing and wait for a response by second class post! I loved the cars all the same though and would like another if one came my way.

[NickPoll]

The Bond D is a brilliant little car. It's got the style of the C, but vastly improved mechanics: 12volts, Siba dynastart, 4 gears, stronger rear syspension, you can fit a 250cc top end on a D motor, but not a C.  I own a D 2-seater and it's totally reliable, comfy and will maintain about 50mph ( it's got the 250cc conversion ). I love it.