27-05-2022, 10:40 AM
Tony, that's my understanding of how it worked. The customer would order his new car from his local garage, who would then order it from the area distributor (Tom Norton in this case). I believe that the distributor would typically keep some cars in stock for immediate delivery; if they were not to the ordered colour/spec, then they in turn would order it from the Longbridge factory. The factory, in turn, kept popular colours in stock, whilst less-popular or non-standard colours might take some time before they were available.
Where a suitable service was available, cars would be shipped to the distributor by rail, but then in all probability the car would then be delivered by road to the local dealer - in these cases, as with my car, the distributor would register the car and fit the number plates, leaving the dealer to fix his own supplier's plate.
Where a suitable service was available, cars would be shipped to the distributor by rail, but then in all probability the car would then be delivered by road to the local dealer - in these cases, as with my car, the distributor would register the car and fit the number plates, leaving the dealer to fix his own supplier's plate.