When attending the Rootes Archive Trust’s Heritage Day held at Gaydon, circumstances introduced me to Martin Woolston – the last time we had met was 60 years ago! We sat down and we chatted about the old days at the company and the people we remembered. Martin’s Rootes career and the people he met there is worth recounting, so here it is in his own words.
A Rootes apprenticeship
From age 15 I had to do a probationary year, that covered the Military Vehicle Drawing Office, under Chief Engineer Bob Murray. Also three months each in the Apprentice Training Centre (ATC), Body Shop and Print Room. My five years training commenced in 1953 and comprised working in a number of departments, concluding at Military Vehicle D.O. under ‘Bert’ Dickinson. That is where I commenced my first job after completing my apprenticeship. One of the projects I worked on was the Humber ‘Pig’ Internal Security Armoured Vehicle.
The locations I worked at were: Humber Road, Stoke, Stoke Aldermoor and Ryton on Dunsmore. The ATC. staff were – Apprentice Supervisor ‘Bert’ Sellers, Technical Lecturer, the venerable, Dr Wells, Workshop Manager Arthur Whitehead, Assistant and P.E. instructor Bob Smith and Driving Instructor Harold Nelson. The Foundry Core Shop employed rough handed women, and the apprentices gave them a wide berth to avoid debagging!
Humber Road Drawing Office
After my departure from Rootes Military Vehicle office at Ryton on Dunsmore, I think it would be early 1964, I transferred to the Engineering Department Car Chassis Design at Humber Road. The main job I did there was a redesign of the Audax [Hillman Minx and derivatives] front stub axle to accommodate the new Lockheed Swinging Calliper Brakes. On testing it was not very successful due to corrosion on the pivot pin. On the Alpine V I redesigned part of the twin carburettor throttle control to give a more progressive opening.
The people I remember on that section are – the Section Leader Harry Sutton, Brummies’ Bob Harris and Harry Worth [Harry became a checker who Nick Maltby worked with at Whitley], yourself and Michael Sootheran, with his Sahara ambitions1 I think my stint on that section was short as I transferred onto the new Arrow [codename for the Hillman Hunter] team under John Ricketts as section leader. The Hillman Hunter was launched two years later.
The cars I owned
I only ever owned three Rootes cars, none from new. The first during my apprenticeship was a scrap worthy ex war department Hillman ‘Tilly’ (Tilly slang for Utility) with an integral construction body where the front end was held onto the back end almost by the propshaft! I drove it illegally from Stratford-upon-Avon to my parents’ Coventry back garden. I wanted a sports car, at that time many ‘specials’ were based on either Austin Sevens or Ford Tens, I built one using a Hillman 12 chassis and running gear. I made a full width aerodynamic body, that’s another story – I had a lot of fun building it and driving it.
My more civilised Rootes cars were a 1960 Rapier III and a 1976 Super Imp. The latter was always fun to drive even when it was falling apart.i think a better layout would have been a compact front longitudinal mounted engine with a rear trans-axle, leaving room at the rear for a safer fuel tank and space for luggage. I don’t know about the spare wheel, perhaps it would have to be flat above the engine and lifted with the bonnet.
1 In c.1967 Malcolm and another Rootes D.O. colleague attempted to drive across the Sahara Desert in a 998cc Hillman Imp. It was an adventure that is worth a book in its own right. As many would have predicted, it ended with the Imp having to be abandoned in the desert. It may still be there, buried under the myriad of sand dunes!
This article is an abridged version of one published by the Rootes Gazette, newsletter of the Rootes Archive Trust, and is reproduced with their permission.
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