ROOTES ARROWS
Like many famous automotive industry figures, William Rootes (senior) had an early association with bicycles. In the late 1800s he set up a general engineering business in his Kentish home town, increasingly involved with the bicycle boom. A lover of all things mechanical, pedal-powered two wheelers inevitably gave way to internal combustion four wheelers. In 1895, Rootes attended a motor show held in Tunbridge Wells and duly bought one of the new-fangled motorised contraptions.
Sons Billy and Reggie, born 1894 and 1896, were also keen to get out on the road, and in 1905 ‘borrowed’ Pater’s motor, only to crash it – not an auspicious start. Leaving school in 1909, Billy was taken on by Singer as an apprentice, but in 1913 he left to set up in the car trade, a venture in which he was joined by his brother Reggie.
The business moved out to Maidstone, principally engaged in aero engine maintenance during WW1. Diversifying increasingly into vehicle distribution after 1918, Rootes expanded rapidly. Within a few years the business had captured a major share of the car sales market, operating from plush premises in the rebuilt Devonshire House, Piccadilly. The boast was that customers could
