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De andere attractie van Weybridge: de bonte collectie van R. J. Shanks
Onze niet-Engelse lezers hebben misschien nog nooit gehoord van het forenzenstadje Weybridge in Surrey, maar al onze lezers, ongeacht hun woonplaats, kennen de beroemdste attractie, het Brooklands circuit. Zoals algemeen bekend is, werd dit circuit in 1907 geopend als het eerste speciaal gebouwde motorracecircuit van Groot-Brittannië. Tot de oorlog in 1939 de sluiting afdwong, werden hier races gehouden, maar ondertussen fungeerde het circuit als één van de belangrijkste locaties voor de ontwikkeling van de auto-industrie in Engeland.
De meeste mensen in Weybridge waren echter geen autocoureurs. Het waren gewone mannen en vrouwen die gewone auto's nodig hadden om hun werk te doen, dus naast de werkplaatsen van Malcolm Campbell, Robin Jackson, Victor Derrington en anderen op het circuit, had de stad genoeg andere garages die beter aan hun behoeften voldeden.
Eén van die garages was R.J. Shanks in Baker Street, in het centrum van de stad. Misschien vergrootte de plaatselijke associatie met Brooklands zijn prestige wel, want het leek erop dat deze garage meer opwindende auto's verkocht dan alleen tweedehands Austins en Morrisjes. Er is in het verleden veel geschreven over R.J. Shanks en het was dus niet moeilijk om informatie te vinden.
Om te beginnen kunnen we aan de foto zien dat het bedrijf in 1897 werd opgericht, toen het waarschijnlijk gewoon een algemene technische winkel was met een nevenactiviteit in de verkoop en reparatie van fietsen. Waarschijnlijk werd het bedrijf kort daarna uitgebreid met auto-reparaties, maar het vroegste bewijs dat we hebben gezien dat het als garage adverteerde was in 1911. Halverwege de jaren 1920 was het 'Sole District Agents for Humber, Hillman, Lagonda, Gwynne'. De connectie met Humber en Hillman lijkt ertoe te hebben geleid dat Shanks uiteindelijk een Rootes-garage werd, zoals het geval was aan het eind van de jaren 1940. Aan het eind van de jaren '40 was de directeur Frank Kennington, een fervent racer van MG's en een Cisitalia D46, die rond dezelfde tijd ook betrokken was bij Weybridge Motors, een volledig aparte garage. We zijn er niet achter gekomen wanneer R.J. Shanks zijn activiteiten heeft gestaakt, maar het bedrijf was nog steeds actief in de jaren 60.
Maar het hoogtepunt van zijn lange en illustere leven was misschien wel de afhandeling van een zekere Alfa Romeo, zoals Bill Boddy schreef in Motor Sport van maart 1952: "Maar nu is Brooklands niet meer en Weybridge slechts een plaats van trieste herinneringen. Bij het bezoek in kwestie werden deze herinneringen echter gesust door de werkelijk opwindendste auto die we aantroffen bij R.J. Shanks & Co. in Baker Street. Het was niets minder dan de 2,9-liter P3 Tipo B Alfa-Romeo waarmee wijlen Richard Shuttleworth voor de oorlog racete. Het ombouwen van echt krachtige G.P.-auto's voor gebruik op de weg is al enige tijd een hobby van rijke Engelsen, en auto's als Rodney Clark's 3.3 Bugatti, Crampton's 2.9 Maserati, enzovoort, schieten je te binnen. Maar een tweezits sportversie van de monoposto Alfa-Romeo...!"
Onze foto's lijken het dealerschap rond 1930 te laten zien, en Humbers en Hillmans zijn zeker aanwezig. In ieder geval kunnen we zien dat in de rij van vijf naar voren gerichte auto's, er een kleine Humber 9/20 helemaal links staat en tweede van rechts is, denken we, een Hillman 14 all-weather coupé. De auto in het midden is echter het meest interessant. Het lijkt een beetje op een Hispano-Suiza - zou het er echt een zijn? Voor de andere auto's moeten we echt jullie om hulp vragen.
Woorden: Zack Stiling; foto: Stiling Collectie
Gepubliceerd:
donderdag mei 2nd, 2024
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Reacties
Brian Spiers
21 Maart 2025, 22:24
I own a car that was sold at this in garage in1955 as a company car, my Hillman Minx. l have owned this car for 43 years and have the logbook.
Lees verder
David Grimstead
07 Mei 2024, 20:09
And it has a connection to a “Brooklands” and historic motorcycling in British Columbia… R. J. – Richard James – Shanks doesn’t seem to have been that much interested in cars outside of business, being more keenly a cyclist turned motorcyclist. Even so, he built up his Weybridge Motor Garage business until 1911 but ceased to be involved with it by 1912 when he emigrated to Canada. Mr. Harold Turner advertised himself as its proprietor in 1913.
Born in Chertsey in 1876, Richard Shanks served his apprenticeship in H. Shanks’ cycle-building business advertising from Mead-lane, Chertsey by 1883 and he was still employed by his brother, H. Shanks, in 1897 when Henry Shanks’ Steam Cycle Works occupied 45-47 London-street, Chertsey. Later, under control of H. Shanks junior (Henry junior, seemingly known as Harry), the Chertsey premises became that town’s first motor garage. It was re-sited in 1922 in a new London-road garage said to be designed by him shortly before he died.
From 1890 to 1909, Henry Shanks, with an address in London-street, was the Chertsey part-time fire-brigade’s engineer and his sons became firemen. They were all members of Chertsey Cycling Club too. Dick Shanks, as Richard was known, was an avid sportsman during the 1890s, captain of cup-winning Chertsey football team and highly competitive in athletic and cycling events in Surrey. After 1900, with Shanks’ selling motorcycles, racing them became a family sport: Harry Shanks junior was unplaced in the first ever Brooklands motorcycle race in April 1908 on his own 2.75 h.p. Chater-Lea but in May won the first 5.5-mile, 25-Sovereign Handicap. Richard entered a 2.75 h.p. Peugeot for a 1909 Brooklands’ 8-mile Motorcycle Handicap and Harry junior rode a single-cylinder Kingfisher there several times in 1911.
As to the origin of R. J. Shanks Weybridge garage: in March 1898, “H. Shanks Cycle Manufacturer, Chertsey” advertised that it had taken over the “Coventry Cycle and Repairing Works” of the recently deceased Mr. H. G. Harris, maker of Kingfisher Cycles in Baker-street, Weybridge. Richard J. Shanks probably took control of this new asset of Shanks cycle-building business, re-branded it and expanded its premises for sales and servicing of cycles, motorcycles and cars. He agreed in 1903 to cut back the frontage of his property to accommodate council road widening for £16 5s in compensation.
In 1911, facing competition in Baker-street from Woods Garage, he sold his business and moved to Vancouver for fourteen months as a garage foreman before returning to Chertsey in July 1912. Having met up with a number of other successful ex-Surrey emigrants in Canada, he emigrated permanently in October 1912, taking his wife Emily, a daughter and two sons viâ Vancouver to Victoria, British Columbia where he opened a motorcycle garage called “Brooklands.” His dealership in Victoria was praised in a 1923 edition of the Harley-Davidson Magazine. A son continued to operate it until 1986.
In a 1952 interview, Richard Shanks said he had co-founded the Victoria Motorcycle Club, which promoted competitions and events, and that he was known in Canada, with two fellow trail-riders, for being the first to ride motorcycles along the length of the Caribou trail. He declared that motorcycling was the safest form of travel and to prove it lived until aged 87 in 1963.
Lees verder
Born in Chertsey in 1876, Richard Shanks served his apprenticeship in H. Shanks’ cycle-building business advertising from Mead-lane, Chertsey by 1883 and he was still employed by his brother, H. Shanks, in 1897 when Henry Shanks’ Steam Cycle Works occupied 45-47 London-street, Chertsey. Later, under control of H. Shanks junior (Henry junior, seemingly known as Harry), the Chertsey premises became that town’s first motor garage. It was re-sited in 1922 in a new London-road garage said to be designed by him shortly before he died.
From 1890 to 1909, Henry Shanks, with an address in London-street, was the Chertsey part-time fire-brigade’s engineer and his sons became firemen. They were all members of Chertsey Cycling Club too. Dick Shanks, as Richard was known, was an avid sportsman during the 1890s, captain of cup-winning Chertsey football team and highly competitive in athletic and cycling events in Surrey. After 1900, with Shanks’ selling motorcycles, racing them became a family sport: Harry Shanks junior was unplaced in the first ever Brooklands motorcycle race in April 1908 on his own 2.75 h.p. Chater-Lea but in May won the first 5.5-mile, 25-Sovereign Handicap. Richard entered a 2.75 h.p. Peugeot for a 1909 Brooklands’ 8-mile Motorcycle Handicap and Harry junior rode a single-cylinder Kingfisher there several times in 1911.
As to the origin of R. J. Shanks Weybridge garage: in March 1898, “H. Shanks Cycle Manufacturer, Chertsey” advertised that it had taken over the “Coventry Cycle and Repairing Works” of the recently deceased Mr. H. G. Harris, maker of Kingfisher Cycles in Baker-street, Weybridge. Richard J. Shanks probably took control of this new asset of Shanks cycle-building business, re-branded it and expanded its premises for sales and servicing of cycles, motorcycles and cars. He agreed in 1903 to cut back the frontage of his property to accommodate council road widening for £16 5s in compensation.
In 1911, facing competition in Baker-street from Woods Garage, he sold his business and moved to Vancouver for fourteen months as a garage foreman before returning to Chertsey in July 1912. Having met up with a number of other successful ex-Surrey emigrants in Canada, he emigrated permanently in October 1912, taking his wife Emily, a daughter and two sons viâ Vancouver to Victoria, British Columbia where he opened a motorcycle garage called “Brooklands.” His dealership in Victoria was praised in a 1923 edition of the Harley-Davidson Magazine. A son continued to operate it until 1986.
In a 1952 interview, Richard Shanks said he had co-founded the Victoria Motorcycle Club, which promoted competitions and events, and that he was known in Canada, with two fellow trail-riders, for being the first to ride motorcycles along the length of the Caribou trail. He declared that motorcycling was the safest form of travel and to prove it lived until aged 87 in 1963.