The Newland Files Pt. III: entering the motor trade

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Pre-war enthusiast Geoff Newland has been kind enough to open up his photo albums. A keen car-spotter in the 1950s and '60s, he also kept his camera about him when he became apprenticed at a local garage. All the following pictures were taken on or around the premises.

Geoff’s whole working life was spent in the motor trade, in charge of various dealerships, and it all started in 1960 with a five-year apprenticeship at Burton & Deakin, an Austin dealership opposite Orpington railway station, which he extended for a year so that he remained there until 1966. Although primarily an Austin dealership, Burton & Deakin nevertheless handled all manner of cars, and Geoff was taught the ins and outs of sales, servicing the parts department, the body shop and so on. This particular chapter of his life was of considerable personal interest the editor as he used to travel past the former Burton & Deakin premises on the bus to school every day, although by that time their names were long gone, it had become a Renault dealership and there was no chance even of seeing a Renault 4, much less an Edwardian Clément-Bayard.

Vauxhall 14/6
Burton & Deakin had plenty of spare land, which they used to let parking spaces to commuters wanting to travel by rail from Orpington into London. One of Geoff’s early jobs was to move the cars so the mechanic could move onto his next car, and he well remembers that the first car he drove in his apprenticeship, aged 16, was this Vauxhall 14/6, owned by a commuter named Mr. Waters.

1913 Clément-Bayard
Horace Deakin’s son Alec was a great enthusiast for veteran cars, and was the reason why the garage kept a beautiful, highly polished 1913 Clément-Bayard, which had been imported from Ireland in 1957. Geoff was regularly asked to drive it on behalf of his employers and remembers one long drive down the A20 to Maidstone for which he was given just an hour's notice, but he found he preferred slightly more sophisticated cars.

Rover 12
This handsome Rover 12 appeared in the forecourt one day. Today, the eclectic mix of vehicles behind would be highly desirable in their own right - there's a Mini, Austin A35 Countryman, Austin 16, J4 van and Jaguar Mk. VII among them.

Triumph Gloria
A Triumph Gloria would have been a quite a dashing sight when new, but at 30 years old or thereabouts, this one was starting to look rather neglected

Singer Nine
This little Singer Nine Sports would have made a lovely little sporting PVT for use with the VSCC

Riley Kestrel
This rakish Riley 12/4 Kestrel, with its wonderfully long bonnet, was seen at Burton & Deakin’s second car park in Orpington. In addition to the Station Road garage, Burton & Deakin also had a branch on Chislehurst Road in Orpington and another in Welling.

Rolls-Royce 20hp saloon
One of the highlights of Geoff’s time at Burton & Deakin was the day this 1928 Rolls-Royce 20hp, chassis GBM35, was handed over in part-exchange for a newer car in 1962 or 1963. Originally owned by P. C. Griffith and bodied as a Weymann limousine by Hooper , it was later rebodied by the Crystal Palace coachbuilder J. Compton & Sons, which purchased it directly from Jack Barclay in 1936. These pictures were taken when it had just returned from a test drive following a cylinder head overhaul with one new valve. Burton & Deakin’s mechanic Barry Blake was in the driving seat, accompanied by his apprentice Angus Tocher.

Rolls-Royce 20hp tourer
This scruffy 1926 Rolls-Royce 20hp tourer by Thrupp & Maberly, chassis GZK81, new to Mrs. G. Hardman-Hoyle, was also a visitor to the road running alongside Burton & Deakin, where it was photographed in 1964. Geoff ambitiously tried to negotiate its purchase from the then-owner, but the £200 being asked was more than he could afford. The original tourer body has been modified with a rather home-made-looking saloon top bolted on. This car has since been restored with just its original body, and was last heard of living in Ireland.

Humber 12 Vogue
Yet another Humber 12, this is one of the rarest of them all, a Vogue pillarless saloon, marketed at the more fashion-conscious buyer. Supposedly styled by prominent fashion designer Captain Molyneux, in profile it displayed more than a passing resemblance to a Letourneur et Marchand Delage. The petrol pumps appear to say that the cost of fuel was just 4s. 6d. a gallon...

Geoff says of his time at Burton & Deakin, "You might wonder why I was able to drive or move these commuter cars, but if there were no spare parking spaces one had to park in the gangways and leave the keys inside! The car park attendant who took the parking fees in the morning was Syd, but he would be out driving for the company during the day so the cars were left unguarded. However, I never remember one being stolen. Syd, would also park cars for the commuter who was running late for his train. He always had a fag in the corner of his mouth and wore a white overall coat. He would be back on car park duty in the late afternoon in order to collect any tips from the commuters on their way home! We don’t seem to breed these Dickensian type characters in England any more - and we certainly don’t leave keys in cars nowadays."

Words: Zack Stiling; photographs: Geoff Newland

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