Recently from the various groups on Facebook where articles about our business and vans have been published, I’ve had quite a few kind remarks, about how well our vans were always turned out.
The main reason for this from mid seventies onwards was our Wilcomatic automatic vehicle wash of which I show site photo ,between the bottom building on right & trees which is the best I have. But I suppose the credit mainly should be given to Frank Morgan, shown in the photo with me , many moons ago, behind one of our vintage Bedford vans.(Which Frank also looked after & saw they were always immaculately turned out, as illustrated in the photo of the 1937 two tonner.
Frank grabbed every van as it came through our gates and put it through the wash, before he saw it was tidily parked. The advantage of the wash, which was like a giant automatic car wash going from front to back washing front, sides back and over the roofs, which ensured no dirt ran down from the roof leaving stains. It was capable of washing a complete tractor and 40ft van trailer.
However the quality of painting and signwriting was also a major factor. Up to 1966 every vehicle we had was painted by us, and even then every vehicle apart from new ones built by either Marsden or Vanplan was painted and re-painted. From the age of 12 until almost 1970 it was my dad himself who took pride in the finished product with of course the help of three excellent sign writers over the years.
The first sign writer called himself Professor Norton. My Grandfather met him in the very early 1920s when he worked as foreman painter at Motor Supplies Bishop Auckland, which over the years became Elliotts motors Ford Car & Truck dealers Bishop Auckland. My Grandfather had Motor Supplies paint most of his early vehicles.
Norton was an extremely strange and talented man, who lived in Crook. I have very vague memory of him when he sign-wrote the last van, he did for us in 1952. In fact when my dad drove him home after he finished (He didn’t drive & was collected & taken home as part of deal of working for us) he said to my dad ‘Well that’s it Harry I’m putting my brushes away for the last time. I’ll never write again’ and he died a few months later,
As I said I remember him as he was doing magic tricks entertaining me a young 4 to 5 year old as I watched him writing. As well as sign writing he did magic including a mind reading act assisted by one of his daughters and his wife was a fortune teller, and although my dad didn’t believe of such things he always wondered had Norton been told of his end of life when he told my dad he was putting his brushes away.
Before my time we had a van painted in Hardy Furnisher’s Ltd livery (Hardy’s were a company with Furniture stores throughout N E England with one in Spennymoor, crook, Bishop Auckland, Darlington, Stockton etc. My Grandfather had made friends with the owner Mr Ditchburn and been given a rather nice clock which stood on my grandparents sideboard, because he had negotiated the purchase of Hardy’s shop in Cheapside Spennymoor on their behalf. Anyway back to the van. It had a three piece suite on one side and a piano on the other, with Hardy’s one side and Northern Furniture Company on the other (Another name they traded as where they had two shops in the same town (Darlington for Example had a Hardys shop & a Northern Furniture shop and In Bishop Auckland A Hardys shop & another called Charles Hall0
The van had a small accident which had a delve through the three piece suite. Professor Norton had originally painted the van and so my dad asked him how it could be repaired. Today when we have fillers, fibreglass etc available is a completely different era from the 1940s and he was brought over to Marmaduke Street Spennymoor, where the van was parked in our garage and gave my dad a list of ingredients he had to obtain from the local chemist shop. By nightfall repair was effected & the three piece suite repainted and my dad said no-one would ever suspect any damage had occurred to the van.
As I said my dad painted all till about 1970 after he was about 12 years old and it was Professor Norton who taught him All were brush painted with originally 3 coats of what we would today call undercoat & then varnished after being written, until Dulux Coach Finnish produced an enamel finishing coat (Pale cream & mid brown) and then it was Undercoat then 50/50 undercoat & enamel & then enamel. Norton said scoup the paint o then brush & brush it in and of course finish so no brush marks show & you have a perfect finish. This wasn’t so bad when the vans were panelled as the most you had was an 8ft by 4ft panel but when fibreglass bodies came along you had a 30ft by 10ft panel and you were tired by the time you had painted one side.
I think it was perhaps because Norton lived in Crook that we used to get our paint originally from Pierce & Partners paint factory in Crook and I remember going there when I was very young, with my dad to buy the paint. When I was older at Darlington Station where at the time Locomotion Number 1 was standing I read a plaque which said Piece & Partners had sponsored building the original engine.
On one of his journeys to Crook to pick up Norton to sign write for us my dad always told the story as he was entering Crook from Willington there was a side window of a fish & chip shop which had a big fish painted on it and it looked so real, when he went to Norton’s door he said ‘I see you’ve been busy painting a fish’ ‘How did you know’ came the reply ‘Because no-one else could paint a fish so realistic,’
After Norton died we were lucky to get the services of Temp Newton a Spennymoor Decorator Sign writer and another genius with his brush who sign wrote four or five vans for us. Again his work was excellent but he was a very busy man running a very successful decorating business and I think Temp brought colour and a new modern feeling to many homes in the Spennymoor area. And over the years he became famous painting palaces for kings and Princes in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. He was famous for marbleising , gold leaf and for a time Spennymoor was very fortunate to have the opportunity of his work.
Meanwhile dad was in Adams & Gibbons the North East Vauxhall Bedford main dealers in their Clayton Street Durham Branch and he was introduced To Peter Butler who then was just a young man and my dad asked would he write a van for us. It was a start of a relationship where Peter would write near or possibly even over 200 Vans tractor units & trailers for us.
Peter was exceptional. One of our pantechnicons had a lot of writing on it and an interim painter we had used in the gap between Temp Newton & Peter Butler took 3 full days to write one. Peter did it ,to perfection in a day. The final photo shows my dad & me standing infront of a piece of Peter’s work. If you look closely you can still see Peter’s chalk lines and infact was painting the other side while we were being photographed.
Peter wasn’t the earliest of starters usually arriving about 10.00AM and often finishing well after midnight. Eventually he used to get Bob Harold another legend in Commercial Vehicle painting to come along to help by filling in some of the largest letters that he had outlined. Bob at the time was a teenager who was an apprentice painter at Anthony Carrimore (I think I got the name right) and as soon as he finished work used to dash over to our place at Spennymoor and help. It meant Peter could be finished about 10PM and I know it would be valuable experience for the then young Bob, but I don’t think he ever picked up how to sign-write, but he was an exceptional vehicle brush painter.
Sadly after we finished in 1986 Peter had a stroke and remarkably although he lost the use in his write hand taught himself to sign-write with his left hand. A remarkable example of sheer will and determination, but I understand he never did manage to regain his speed.
The final method we maintained the condition of our vehicles was ---- Flash— I suppose in the years that has passed modern paint has come on so much and one problem we had was the colour faded and also grime set in causing dullness & discolouration. When I was young I used to go round on a Saturday with a paintbrush and touch up any scuffs & scrapes but the difference in colour showed. Although people may think not much thought went into our colour scheme, perhaps more than than is realised did. For instance lettering was never too low on the bodywork where most scrapes & scratches occurred and no lettering on the cab front where chippings & stones cause problems. After about 4 years the cream tended to get a bit grimy, and so they were washed with flash by hand .The bumper wheels etc were repainted and any marks scuffs etc were touched in. We found Flash an exceptional product that tended to blend in the colour of the fresh paint but left a duller finish to the paint. We then varnished the complete vehicle which completely refreshed the paintwork and at about 7 years old they were given a re-paint.
