British Leyland

Those who worked for the Rover Motor Company or Triumph-Standard found a name change on the front door and letterhead in 1967. I vaguely remember the exact date (will confirm dates asap), but I remember the day , as my father came home in a new British Racing Green Triumph TR250. My father joined the Rover Motor Company of North America Limited (located at 373 Shaw Rd, South San Francisco, CA) in February 1960, and since then British cars haven't been out of my life. At first Triumph was moved from its San Francisco location to a new building in Brisbane, where it joined the Rover staff. A few years later Jaguar, MG, and Austin would be included under the same roof.

Sometime during the Leyland days, the name would change again to British Leyland Inc. In 1981 we'd have yet another name change, Jaguar-Rover-Triumph Inc. Rover was there because of the then new 3500S (SD1), and Triumph remained due to the TR7 and TR8, both of which would vanish shortly thereafter with the Rover car, thus leaving only Jaguar. Before long the latter two names were dropped, thus changing to Jaguar Cars Inc. Note: At the end of 1989 Ford Motor Company bought Jaguar Cars. My father retired after 30 years, 3 days before the Ford take over.

As said elsewhere on this web site; Beginning in 1982 we became an authorized Parts & Service dealer for all BL vehicles... thus MG's and Triumph's became our bread & butter for some years. Today most of those cars have long vanished, but for those who still have one of these sportscars, we at West Coast British can still handle the job. Though Land Rover's are our mainstay these days, we can and do squeeze in the odd job into our schedule now and again. If you have a car needing work, Please call us with your requirements at 925-606-8301.

Here are some great old pictures and a few stories you might enjoy of the days of British cars in California.

Interested in Corgi toys of your favorite British car? Drop us a note and we'll see what we can get you.

Michael Green. January 2006

	Left: Richard Green collects the first Rover 2000 to land in America. After many miles of testing, in both hot and cold climates would the car be introduced. Later the 2000TC would arrive, followed by the 3500S in 1969. After these cars left our shores, the next time we saw a Rover V8 engine would be in the Triumph TR8 test cars that arrived in 1977. The 3500 (SD1) sedan would arrive shortly thereafter. Then we’d have to wait until ’87 and the Range Rover.

Temp link 1 Temp link 2

	Left: Spring 1970, San Simian, CA. Richard Green with "his" NADA 109" Wagon. On the way home the old 109" would have a constant misfire, Richard would make a gallant attempt to find it one night in the hotel. A burnt valve was found to be the cause. Chassis # 34300284A CA Lic# 641ATW