Oh well ... funny, even my cousins (Gene's kids) don't have anything at all
from the dealership or shop ... what they gravitated to was boats, which was
Gene's pastime!
--- On Sat, 3/21/09, Robin Jackson <apexbrit2@gmail.com> wrote:
From: Robin Jackson <apexbrit2@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Nobbc] British car dealerships in the area
To: "North Bay British Car Club" <nobbc@autox.team.net>
Date: Saturday, March 21, 2009, 6:36 PM
James - at one time I had frames from your uncle's dealership. He was a
well respected businessman and Brit car guy. Maybe you remember friends of
mine who were salesmen: Mick Marston and Jack Dalton. Jack drove #40 MGA in
SCCA. Anyway, the frames had a Union Jack on the right corner; very classy!
Like so much of my "stuff" from that era, long gone.
On Sat, Mar 21, 2009 at 5:16 PM, <jamesechristian@yahoo.com> wrote:
> My uncle was Eugene F. Sweeney who had EFSweeney British on E. Fancisco in
> San Rafael. If anybody in the club has a pair of EFSweeney licence plate
> frames gathering dust, I'd love to buy 'em!
> Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Robin Jackson <apexbrit2@gmail.com>
>
> Date: Sat, 21 Mar 2009 17:10:23
> To: North Bay British Car Club<nobbc@autox.team.net>
> Subject: Re: [Nobbc] British car dealerships in the area
>
>
> E.F. Sweeney British Cars was in San Anselmo, on the hub; they moved to
San
> Rafael on the road near Bermuda Palms. Both businesses are long gone.
> There was Shamrock Motors in Mill Valley that dealt Citroen, Peugeot and
> Morgans. I was quite friendly with the Hannon brothers who ran it.
> Also in San Rafael was Bud Oden's Marin Motorsports. He was a dealer
for
> Triumph and English Ford. Frank Henry had a Morgan dealership in Berkeley
> on
> Telegraph. He kept the Mogs on an open lot as he had no showroom.
>
> Bill Breeze sold Lotus 11's from his shop in Sausaleto, near where the
> seaplanes are now. Bob Winkelmann had four Winkelmann Formula Ford
> dealerships across the country, the home one being in Sausaleto. He
> imported
> @250 of these open wheelers.
>
> Larry Albedi (some may know his voice as he still announces at Sears Point
> -
> it will always be Sears, to me) had various dealerships around the bay
> area,
> notably Vallejo British Cars. Bob Cole was down on the Peninsula with has
> dealership and there was also a Morgan dealer there, Frank Crane, who I
> raced with. We had quite a Morgan contingent in those days, late 50's
early
> 60's, who got welcome support from dealers. Rusty Hyde sold Triumphs
in San
> Fran, as I recall. Some of this is a little foggy as you have jolted
> memories of quite a long time ago. For that I thank you, Don. By the way,
> I
> bought my MGA from EF Sweeney in 1957 when I was released from active duty
> with USMC. I traded it soon therafter and bought my first Plus 4 Moggie
> from
> Frank Henry.
>
> Phil Washburn, as I recall, had a dealership on Santa Rosa Ave. where the
> motor home lot is. I remember him racing at Cotati Raceways when it was
> open. The power behind Brit Mtrs. in San Fran was Schell Quavale (I know
> my
> spelling is off, but close phonetically!) While I still had my shop in
> Santa
> Rosa he visited. Well in his 80's he still went to work. I believe
Carlson
> was exclusevely VW Porsche. Your A, Ron may have been a trade in.
>
> On Sat, Mar 21, 2009 at 4:24 PM, Ron Engelhardt <nobbc@sonic.net>
wrote:
>
> > Well, no direct memory but my car still has the original license
plate
> > frame from Carl Carlson in San Francisco. The original owner was the
fire
> > chief in Sausalito.
> >
> > Ron
> > 58 MGA
> >
> > don wrote:
> >
> > Back in the late '50s through early '70s, British car
dealerships could
> be
> >> found in most US cities of any size, especially in California.
Even
> before
> >> I got my first British car in 1965, I loved visiting the
showrooms to
> admire
> >> the MGs, Triumphs and other British cars. Of course, I would
always
> pilfer
> >> as many sales brochures as I could hoping to not upset the
salespeople
> too
> >> much.
> >>
> >> I remember the BMC/Jaguar dealer in Napa on Soscol Avenue, which
was to
> >> become Napa Valley Datsun when they dropped the British car line
around
> >> 1967. There was a BMC dealer that tried again in Napa shortly
after but
> >> didn't last long. I remember taking my MGA there for repairs
in 1968,
> but I
> >> don't remember the name of the place. I do remember that it
was very
> >> expensive to pay someone to repair my car, and after that, did
most of
> my
> >> repairs myself. The name of it might have been Washborn Imports.
> >>
> >> In Santa Rosa, there was Ralph Vesper Motors on Santa Rosa Avenue
which
> >> sold Triumphs and British Fords. I remember that dealership,
because,
> as I
> >> bought parts for my old Anglia and Zodiac (c. 1966, '67), I
was
> distracted
> >> by the siren's call of the sleek TR4s and Spitfires on
display in the
> >> showroom. I still have a few pieces of the Triumph literature I
took on
> >> visits to Vesper. Car dealers usually left their identification
by
> irubber
> >> stamping their names and addresses onto the front or back of the
sales
> >> literature. Vesper's name and address sill adorn my old
Triumph
> brochures.
> >>
> >> The most interesting dealership to visit was always British
Motors on
> Van
> >> Ness Avenue in San Francisco. They had Jaguar, Rolls Royce and
the
> whole
> >> BMC line, and the cars they had on display were always of a high
> calibre.
> >> This was such a classy place that I always felt underdressed
because I
> >> wasn't wearing a suit and tie. As an extreme British car
nut, I was
> >> thrilled just to purchase parts there. I do have several license
plate
> >> frames from there, which I think are a cool period accessory.
> >>
> >> Other dealerships that come to mind are Union Jack (BMC) in
Hayward and
> >> British Motors in San Jose.
> >>
> >> Anyone else have any recollections of the British car dealer
world in
> the
> >> area?
> >>
> >> Don Scott
> >> Calistoga
> >> 1962 MGA Mk II
> >> 1991 Miata BRG
> >> 1973 MGB GT
> >> 1962 TR4 (seeking)
> >>
> > _______________________________________________
> > Nobbc mailing list
> > Nobbc@autox.team.net
> > http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/nobbc
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