Presentation and help needed

soprano54 wrote:

steve wrote:

brum wrote:

Am I right in thinking that BAOR went over to German number plates after a bunch of IRA men murdered some servicemen in Germany ?
Apparently it was decided that the BFG plate made too good a target.

A WOII was ambushed and killed in Belgium...

It was the RSM of either the RRW or RWF!

It was indeed, h was travelling back to the UK with his family when he was ambushed at a set of traffic lights just outside Zeebrugge. RIP

I must have got it wrong, I thought a couple of RMP were shot in Germany.

Philgrenoble wrote:

So, a few questions:
_ who was "Rankin's of Reydt" ? Where were they located,  UK or Reydt – Germany ?
_ in which RAF station did most of their customers come from ?
- What was the configuration of the cars sold as export cars (my MGB is right hand drive, but the manufacturer's certificate states it originally was left hand drive !!! ).
_ what were the conditions and interest for taking an exported car back to UK ?
_ Could it be JX B4 B the first registration number of my MGB?

Thank you in advance for your answers, and excuse my English which can be surprising sometimes !

I can't help with the MGB but my experience with Rankins was not a good one.
As someone else said, I had to collect my car, (an Austin Maxi),from Bremerhaven.
I had ordered one in Teal Blue but it came in Harvest Gold.
In those days a new car engine had to be "run in" and was not supposed to be driven above, (I think), 30 mph for something like 1000 miles. I defy anyone to drive a car at 30 mph on a motorway, especially in Germany !
When the car was due a service the local dealer refused to carry out any warranty work on the many faults the car had and Rankins refused to help.
Other people in my regiment had the same problem. Our Provost sergeant had an Austin 1100 from Rankins and was so annoyed with the firm he refused to let a representative, who wanted to meet a customer, into the barracks.
If I'd known what was coming I would have bought a car from a local dealer.

You were not very lucky, Brum...
I red somewere some BL cars were stamped "Military sale only" under the back seat.
>Does it mean the Quality control disqualified the car for other markets ?

Fortunately mine was "well-born" and is still on the road after 40 years (and passionate cares).
The funny thing is it was 18 months before the car was sold to its 1st owner and got its first reg. number !!!
>So, can I imagine Rankins used it as a company car before being registred by the DVLA ?

brum wrote:

I must have got it wrong, I thought a couple of RMP were shot in Germany.

Several shootings in BAOR knew this officer http://www.wcremembered.co.uk/mike_dl.html

I remember in early 1974, four of us left Berlin to catch the ferry from Bremerhaven. When we arrived at the dock, the place was flooded by extra high spring tides. We couldn't get the car on board, but they allowed us to sleep on the ferry. Looking out of the lounge windows, we could see hundreds of cars in the Rankins compound, up to their windscreens in dirty salt water. I often wondered what happened to them.

Philgrenoble wrote:

... French "scaley" ????   
perhaps I should have a few sips of Chartreuse (local brewage) to understand the dialect of this forum

May I take this opportunity to congratulate you on your command of our language, Philippe.
We have people on this site who can hardly speak English at all !

Thank you.
You make me blushing !

UncleGrumble wrote:

I remember in early 1974, four of us left Berlin to catch the ferry from Bremerhaven. When we arrived at the dock, the place was flooded by extra high spring tides. We couldn't get the car on board, but they allowed us to sleep on the ferry. Looking out of the lounge windows, we could see hundreds of cars in the Rankins compound, up to their windscreens in dirty salt water. I often wondered what happened to them.

I know quite a few lads from my own unit (3RTR) who had problems with the cars they bought from 'Rankins'! The Rover SD1 was a classic case and one lad bought a TR7 with the latest spec (or so he thought) only to find that it was a year old when he took ownership! Transpired that it had been sat in a compound/field with water halfway up it's wheels for most of that time as well!  

I recall that they got some bad press in the Sixth Sense, probably that's why they went out of business. We also had the "Art Salesmen" and the "Mortgage/Endowment Salesmen" - they went the same way!

Yes, I remember the "Art" sellers too. (I wonder if any of it ever turned out to be a good investment ?).
We had a weird one in the Hemer area. A bloke, ex squaddie I think, used to sell sets of saucepans. It was all good German stuff but fiendishly pricey.
Anyroad up, this bloke spoke with a strong Hampshire accent but when he went into his sales spiel he suddenly acquired a German accent. It was so distracting nobody listened to his patter.
I don't reckon he sold much.

It was probably Scaley Len!   

Remember the "Art" sales adverts featuring Oil Paintings with a Germanic theme which were meant to be a long term investment.

Pardon the expression, if any contributor to this site was an Agent for the owner, but a scam on the unsuspecting in my opinion.

Hello,
I am back again with my automobile-genealogy exercise.  

Some news, at first.
I came in contact with the second owner of my car: a british officer, Captain Hicks.
In fact he was not based in Germany but in UK, where he bought the car from a garage in Farnborough 6 months after the previous owner (member of BFG) got his UK registration.

So I suppose the first owner bought the car tax free in Germany from Rankin's of Rheydt, used it, took it back to UK, claimed for a DVLA registration (I have a copy of this document) and finally sold it to this garage.
Unfortunately the DVLA is not envolved in first BFG registration.

> Do you think the administration in charge of BFG registration would find this document for me ? How to ask ?
So I could known when Blue was first sold by Rankin's...

Last thing, I started to write a book about the history of my MGB, with documents, photos, testimonies and many details you gave me in the forum.
> I found on the web a copy of one of the BFG newspapers (1973) with a Rankin's advert in it:  BFG station newspaper
Enjoy !

Here is an example of the old BFG Plate

Sorry Mike, the registration was JX 134 B and not JK84 B. I mis-red the original document...

Whilst BFG Vehicle registration has been simplified - there is a registration office in each Garrison alongside the Vehicle Inspection Bay - and each office supervisor has access to a database of every BFG Registration ever issued - airplanes were also BFG registered. Would suggest that Philgrenoble writes to BFG Licensing Office, HQ BFG, Catterick Bks, BFPO 39 and explains his interest and query!

Nothing ventured, nothing gained!