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Our history really began with founding partner Mike Lintern's interest in hot rodding and drag racing, resulting (as with many "pioneers") from reading copies of Hot Rod Magazine in the early sixties. Visits to the '64 and '65 DragFests sealed his fate, which was for him to originate Custom Car Magazine for his employers, Link House Publications, Croydon, and later start a mail order sticker, badge and American magazine business called Action Automotive. Mike was also an active member of the original British Hot Rod Association, as Surrey rep, club magazine writer, and later a start-line crewman at Santa Pod Raceway.
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In 1973, with the opening of a corner shop in Wallington, Surrey, a hard parts section was added as American Autoparts --- established with just a large box of spares and some enthusiastic ideas. In the mid-seventies we attended many of the early custom car shows and drag race events to spread our customer base. Having outgrown our original Wallington premises, we moved in 1978 to Thornton Heath, South London, greatly expanding our stock and, importantly, acquiring our own workshops.
Our "Number One" logo first appeared in 1973 and featured a Plymouth Superbird because we felt that a Stars & Stripes version of Mopar's "winged warrier" portrayed ultimate American automotive performance. The number one figure was to show our intention to be first for parts and service. In the eighties the logo was updated slightly to give a better impression of movement
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The
early seventies saw the first issues of Custom Car Magazine. The
Acceleration Archive.com website today includes Mike Lintern's
CC feature articles on 20 of Britain's top dragsters and altereds
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In 2007, we relocated to our current purpose-designed facility in Redhill,
Surrey. And now, some 40 years on, we are one of Europe's leading suppliers
of American vehicle parts to both retail and trade customers.
Back to our roots: Partners and staff at American Autoparts are still involved in the drag racing scene, preparing Run What 'ya Brung cars and competition machines and spending time at the track. Yup, in one form or another, we're all hot rodders at heart!
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In the very early 1970s, just at the time American Autoparts opened-up their first store in Wallington, Surrey , co-founder Mike Lintern was using a (rare) RHD '56 Chevy Bel Air 'Highway Patrol' car as day-to-day transport --- to the consternation of the local traffic police. At the time Mike's day-job was with Link House Publications as assistant editor of Caravan Magazine and a regular contributor to Custom Car Magazine |
In 1978, American Autoparts moved from Wallington, Surrey, to Thornton Heath, near Croydon, where the business now had its own adjoining workshop facility. Coincidentally, our new abode also had an historic connection with American cars because in the fifties, 132 Brigstock Road was the home of Brookside Motors, the Buick, Cadillac and Chevrolet distributors for Surrey. This advertisement -- featuring a huge full-size Buick station wagon -- appeared in The Autocar Magazine in 1959, when chrome was cool and fins were in, and fuel was a little cheaper. |
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In the seventies we acquired this
Z28-Powered Chevy C20 truck which served as a logistics workhorse
for exhibitions and outside events, being capable of holding both
display units and stock. This truck also hauled our Camaro racecar,
reputedly "towing like a train" at up to 100mph! |
This is Howard "Wiffy"
Smith's '70 Chevrolet Nova SS Pro-Stocker, "Insurance in Pro-Motion"
-- a consistent low-ten-second car that ran a best of elapsed
time of 10-zero and won a number of titles including the 1976 British
Summernationals and RAC championships. Wiffy's Nova, originally
raced in the States, packed a 427-cubic-inch big block Chevy bored-out
to 439 cubes and was prepared by Steve Thompson and Tony Gransden
in the American Autoparts workshops. Unusual for the time, Wiffy's
Nova ran a magneto. The car promoted local insurance brokers Osborne
& Sons, whose bossman Roy Osborne was the previous owner/driver.
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Tony
Gransden and Alex Nicol shared the driving chores in the American
Autoparts '79 "Just a Rat" Chevy Camaro to become National
Super Gas drag racing champions in 1993 and 1995 and Super Comp
winners in 2000. Tony our chief mechanic, ran 9.46 at 142mph to
secure the '93 championship'. Sadly, he passed away in 2012 after
a long illness. |
In 1995 American
Autoparts came to the rescue of the world's biggest biplane -- the
replica Vickers Vimy that the previous year had flown from the UK
to Australia, re-tracing an epic 1914 flight. The Vimy had "gone
tech" at the Biggin Hill Air Fair and needed a replacement
Holley fuel pump for one of its big-block Chevy engines, so we "robbed"
our Camaro race car of its pump and the aircraft was able to take
to the sky again as star of the show. Today, the Vimy is displayed
at the Brooklands Museum |
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During
the 1980s managing partner Dick Gransden headed-up a project to
put a 500+bhp Chevette on the street! The car packed a 377 cubic
inch small-block Chevy, with narrowed 12-bolt rear-end and Hewland
drive shafts and was trailered to the NEC Birmingham for its debut.
Requested to demo the car for the cameras -- before suspension bugs
had been ironed-out --- Dick was able to complete only a short blast
before the beast went out of control and crashed |
The original "Shovin'
Chevvy" was used as official start / push car for the 1964
British International DragFest (see photo at the top of the
page), a series of events that put the sport on the map in the UK
when top American drivers like "Big Daddy" Don Garlits,
"TV Tommy" Ivo and Tony "The Loner" Nancy left
indelible black lines on British Tarmac around the country. Our
resident street and strip racer Dave Hughes replicated the original
push car with his '57 Chevy, displaying at Santa Pod's Dragstalgia
meet in 2010. |
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American Autoparts - First for parts, first for service
Holmethorpe Trading Estate - 74 Holmethorpe Avenue - Redhill - RH1 2NL
Telephone: 01737 780 888
We
are open 9am to 6.00 weekdays,
closing 1pm Saturdays