The Rootes Group: Humber, Hillman, Sunbeam, Singer, Commer, Karrier, Paperback

The history of the Rootes Group (1913-1978) and its subsidiaries - Hillman, Humber, Singer, Sunbeam, Karrier, and Commer.

This is the story of the Rootes Group which was both an important British car manufacturer, and a significant contributor to the war effort in 1939-45, as it made large numbers of military aircraft and vehicles. The company was started by William and Reginald Rootes in Maidstone from a background of building and selling bicycles and was originally concerned with new car sales, but the brothers soon realized that there were additional benefits in making cars rather than from just selling them. The Rootes Group grew largely by taking over existing companies and rationalizing and developing their ranges of cars and commercial vehicles. Many famous names became part of the Group: among the best known were Humber, Hillman, Sunbeam, Singer, Commer, and Karrier. Fully illustrated throughout, this is a fascinating introduction to one of Britain's oldest car makers.

Richard Loveys started his career as a graduate trainee with the Rootes Group in 1963 and stayed with the company in various positions for some seven years. During that time he owned several of the Group's cars. After a short spell in the computer industry he returned to the automobile world and worked for the UK importer and distributor of Fiat cars. Finally he became a management consultant/lecturer at a university. He has been an active member of the Aston Martin Owners Club for many years and wrote the Shire book Aston Martin, which was published in 2015.