Friends
It is with great sadness that I inform Rootes Group enthusiasts in
particular of the death earlier today of a remarkable man, an unsung
hero.
Fred Warren, who immediately prior to his retirement in the late
1960's
as Works Director of the Stoke and Ryton manufacturing plants in the
UK, spent almost all his working life with Humber and later the Rootes
Group of Companies.
'Freddie' was very much an Elder Statesman of the British Motor
Industry in its heyday, but like many of the true engineers that
inhabited it, he was not a public figure. An engineer in the true
sense of the word, he played a very active part in fighting vehicles
trouble-shooting during WW2 - particularly on Humbers used by the
LRDG - Long Range Desert Group of the Eighth Army in North Africa. In
peacetime, he was a leading contributor to the development and
manufacture of the Rootes Group two stroke diesel and established
vehicle manufacturing facilities in Madras in India.
He was part of the key team that set up Imp manufacture at Linwood in
Scotland and was involved in the early prototype work relating to
'Arrow' and Avenger.
Without doubt, a true English gentleman - and a most valued friend who
will be so sadly missed. He slipped gently and quietly out of this
life last night at the age of 94 in an ambulance on his way to
hospital. The last time we were together was in my own newly restored
car just two months ago. He insisted in me 'making it work' and I do
wish I'd had a photograph of the huge grin on his face as we touched
90mph on one of his old haunts - a piece of test road near his former
workplace.
John Macartney
MG 4305 DLO 1970 Triumph 2.5PI
TED 152318 1950 Ferguson TED20
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