Triumph Car dealers 6 - L F Dove of Wimbledon, Croydon and Woking

L F Dove Ltd is the subject of this the 6th article in my series about Triumph car dealers.

L F Dove Ltd Croydon, Wimbledon and Woking St Christoper badge

The Dove Group was established by Mr L F Dove in 1925, initially in Wimbledon and then extended into Croydon in 1927. The Austin Rover Group dealerships were sold in the 1990s - for more about the Dove group: http://www.cambriaautomobilesplc.com/our_brands .  Mr L F Dove started his career at the Austin Motor Co Ltd. The death of Mr L F Dove at age 57 was reported in Autocar on 5 January 1958. At the time of his death Mr L F Dove was Chairman and Managing Director of the L F Dove group.

L F Dove Ltd, Wimbledon advert Norwood News 29 May 1936

The Dove GTR4A

L F Dove Ltd is known for selling the GTR4 a special bodied TR4 converted for them by coachbuilder Thomas Harrington and Company of Hove. The car was sold in the UK and abroad with sales in Australia, Japan and the USA.

Dove GTR4A advert

Triumph GTR4

Distinctive Charm of the Dove GTR4A

The photo above shows Miss Motor Show 1965, seated on the wing of a Dove G.T.R. 4A. The young lady is Miss Angela Martin, of Whyteleafe, Surrey, Secretary to Mr. J. Godfrey, of L. F. Dove Ltd., Croydon, makers of the Dove.

The TR Centre

L F Dove Ltd was involved with selling the first TR sports cars from their UK launch in 1953. The business proved very successful and so it was in May 1955 that the official TR. Centre was duly opened, the only one of its kind having full manufacturer's approval.

TR Service Bay at L F Dove Wimbledon 1965

Part of the Wimbledon premises was set aside for servicing, tuning, etc. and rapidly became a place where T.R. enthusiasts could call for advice and suggestions on preparing their particular cars for rallying, racing or just normal use. All staff from the works foreman downwards were sent to the factory for special TR. instruction and the Service Bay was laid out to tackle anything from a wash and grease to rebuilding a near write-off.

The special Service Department was backed up with the appropriate stores. A section of the Stores Department introduced racks and bins to take nothing but T.R. spares.

With all this T.R. interest surrounding this branch of L. F. Dove it soon became obvious that a T.R. Club was called for, so with the blessing of the Standard Motor Company an inaugural meeting was held at Dove's showroom and the Club formed known as the Triumph Sports Owners Association, London Section. The Club started with treasure hunts, etc., but it was not long before more ambitious events were called for and by 1962 included in the fixture list were day and night rallies, hill climbs, speed trials, driving tests, social side film shows, monthly noggin and natter meetings and a annual dinner and dance. The Club was very soon approved by the R.A.C. so in addition to the Club's own activities, invitations are received from a large number of other clubs giving the real enthusiast at least one event each week throughout the whole year. As of 1962 the Club had over 100 members.

Rover SD1 7 seater

Rover SD1 conversion by the Dove Group

I wonder how many of these Rover SD1 conversions the Dove Group sold in 1980.  Original scan posted to flickr by Triggers Retro Road Tests.

The text under the photo read as follows:

A front-runner in the ugly-duckling of-the-year-contest. This conversion is to be marketed by the Dove Group from January to convert the Rover into a sevenseater.  The conversion kit, price £475 inc VAT, consists of a roof rack, an extension pod with vinyl on the outside and upholstery inside, seats on a frame, and step for the back bumper. The pod is fitted in the rear window frame after the glass has been removed, and the whole conversion takes about two hours.

Miss Greyhound Racing 1968 area finalists

Miss Greyhound Racing 1968 as driven by L F Dove

'The TR People', L. F. Dove of Wimbledon, helped to solve the problem of transporting the seven area
finalists of the 'Miss Greyhound Racing 1968' Competition before the assembled racegoers at the 40th anniversary of greyhound racing at the Wimbledon Stadium. Nearly 7,000 spectators admired a display of pretty girls and cars: a TR5 PI, Herald 13/60 and 1200 convertibles, and a Vitesse 2-Litre convertible. To display the complete range of Triumph cars, Wimbledon Stadium provided facilities outside the main Grandstand entrance.

The Dove Group

The Dove Group Motor 16 October 1963

The Dove Group had branches in Croydon, Wimbledon and Woking.  They sold Austin, Vanden Plas and Riley + Standard Triumph + Vauxhall, Rover and Rootes.

Dove Group key fob

Dove Group Jeep key fob

Dealer address and photos

In 1936:
L F Dove Ltd, 33/7 Russell Road, Wimbledon, S.W.19

In 1955:
L F Dove Ltd, 33/7 Russell Road, Wimbledon, S.W.19. (Official T.R.2 Centre.)
Works at: 3/7 Palmerston Road. S.W.19.

By 1959 the address had changed to 44/48 Kingston Road. Wimbledon, S.W.19 with the works as before.

In 1965 and 1968 dealer directory
L F Dove Ltd.• 44/48 Kingston Road. Wimbledon, S.W.19. (Official T.R. Centre)
Works at 3/7 Palmerston Road. S.W.19.

By 1972 the works is no longer listed.

Woking branch  L F Dove Ltd., Guildford Road, Woking Surrey are listed in all the directories I have from 1955 until 1974..

L F Dove, Kingston Road, Wimbledon 1965

L F Dove Croydon as was

Doves garage Croydon October 2015

Doves, Green Lane, Morden

The Dove Group Woking 1973-74

Site of Dove Group Woking - googleStreetView May2019

Memories of a mechanic

Paul De Kock contacted me to say:

I started my time as an apprentice mechanic in 1977 at LF Dove in Woking and their workshop was in White Rose Lane (which is now a Travel lodge next to the Royal Mail sorting office). The time was very much B.L. with the range of cars covering Jaguar, Rover, Triumph, Austin Morris etc. My main source of work was notably on the Rover P6 and Dolomite which used to be most popular of the era, closely followed by the TR7.

 

It's good to see that you have done this blog about Doves and I wish you all the best. I could tell you stories about Danny Boothman who signed out 14 cans .. yes 14 cans of Easystart after doing a head gasket on a P6 2000 and proceeded to spray it in every orifice he could find, causing all of the rest of us to duck behind cars waiting for the big bang when it fired up, to the brand new P6 3500 that came in with all 4 wings rusted through like it was a 40 year old car, re registered and new wings fitted, then sold back out as a brand new car. but those type of stories are "trade secrets" haha.

Adverts and key fobs

An old advert found on the Pinterest account of David Nicoll.

Key fob for the Croydon branch of L F Dove

Key fob for the Wimbledon branch of L F Dove

Dove Group window sticker

Dove Group advert in What Car magazine July 1977 for the TR7

Plea for more information

If you have any more information or recollections about L F Dove or the Dove Group, photos of window stickers, dealer badges or sill plates etc please let me know. I can be contacted via the comments to this post or on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/stephen.weblin

Sources and links

Link to the other articles in this series.

Link to face book page: Triumph Car Dealers.

Link to my Triumph Car Dealers Flickr group which includes many photos of Standard Triumph garages etc from my collection and many other contributors .

I have a collection of Standard Triumph car dealer directories: http://vitessesteve.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/triumph-car-dealer-directories.html

You can download a copy of the Triumph Sales and Service Directory 1968-69 which started me off on the search for info about Triumph car dealers.

Picture credits:L F Dove Ltd, Wimbledon advert Norwood News 29 May 1936 - trinity-mirror-image-created-courtesy-of-the-british-library-board1; Christoper Henry Perkins for the Croydon key fob; GTR4  photo me;