The Early Days
According to my British Motor Industry Heritage Trust certificate, Bob was built
on the 9th July 1982 and was despatched to Caffyns Ltd, Brighton on the 14th
July 1982. However, Bob was not registered until the 14th October 1982 so he
spent three months unwanted and unloved somewhere.
The date of manufacture means that Bob was put together at Cowley, Oxford and
that he's a reasonably early series two car. The site is now owned by BMW and
they produce the new Mini cars there.
Interestingly the car was not registered by Caffyns Ltd but by Henlys (Central
London) Ltd. This suggests to me that the car was held centrally by an agent
acting for Rover and was then forwarded on to a main dealer.
Bob was sold by Henlys to Hitachi Denshi (UK) Ltd in Hendon, London. I contacted
the company but unfortunately they had no details of the car. However, the
documentation that I received from the DVLA confirms that they sold the car on
25th February 1986 to an unknown dealer. The car was then purchased by a Mr R
Howard in Letchworth in May 1986. He kept the car for four years and it was then
sold in 1990 to a Mr D Lowe in Bourne End, Bucks.
After several more owners, I acquired Bob on 15th March 1996. I've had the car
almost 11 years now.