TREASURES FROM THE ARCHIVE
Because of its size, so much of what’s in the archive has yet to reveal itself. The depth and breadth is astonishing, almost bewildering. Two of the examples shown to CCW during our visit were a detailed drawing showing exactly how the rear badge on a Plymouth Cricket – the US version of the Hillman Avenger – should be placed, through to a 20ft-long, half-scale engineering diagram of a Hillman Imp.
That needed two people to unroll it. The subject matter is that massive and broad. The walls of the centre are decorated with rare photos and paintings of Rootes people, factories (which there are also models of), vehicles and signs such as a Thrupp and Maberley board celebrating 250 years of the coachbuilder that once built carriages for Queen Victoria. Casually propped up on a filing cabinet is a mock-up illustration of a forward control four-door Hillman Imp – effectively a compact MPV sketched decades before the concept took off in the UK.
At the centre of the main room is the large wooden table that once stood in one of the Rootes’ boardrooms, along with leather chairs from Devonshire House, the group’s main London offices.
Everywhere you look, there are intriguing snippets of Rootes’ past, along with more recent items of Simca and even Peugeot/Citroën automobilia. It’s an untapped treasure trove and a new building will allow it be accessed and shown off much more easily.