he Roadster Factory is a British Motor Heritage Approved Supplier and
Distributor of components for Triumph and MGB sports cars. British Motor
Heritage was originated in 1975 to preserve the Heritage of the British Motor
Industry. To this end, it maintains the largest museum collection of British cars in
the world at Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon, Warwickshire, and it maintains a large
archive of engineering drawings and specifications and photographs
y the late 1970's Heritage, as it has come to be known, was beginning to
approve suppliers on a worldwide basis to help individual enthusiasts with
the maintenance and restoration of British cars. The Roadster Factory
was founded in 1978 and we were approved by Heritage as a supplier of Triumph
sports car components in August of 1981. The main support that was given to us,
at that time, by Heritage was permission to use factory logos and excerpts from
factory manuals and catalogues, access to the Triumph factory engineering
drawings and components, and permission to reproduce any components which
had become unavailable from British Leyland (now Rover Group).
y the mid 1980's, it became quite clear that Rover Group, with most of its
energies and efforts aimed at production of viable products for the new car
markets, would not be able to maintain a full supply of components for even
the latest Triumphs, MG's, Austin-Healey's, and other marques in which there is
considerable enthusiast interest on a worldwide basis. Therefore, British Motor
Heritage began to concern itself, more and more with the production of components
which would meet OEM specifications and which would be marketed under the
Heritage name. To aid in this enterprise, Rover Group is generally committed to
allowing Heritage the use of any existing factory tooling for the manufacture of new
parts after they have officially discontinued offering the respective components. To
date, The Roadster Factory has received hundreds of new components that were
produced by this method on original factory tooling or on new tooling that has been
produced by British Motor heritage to produce components of OEM specification.
n the early 1980's when production of Triumph and MG models ceased, the
U.S. dealer structure of these marques began to fall in disarray. Some dealers
continued their interest in the old marques and did an excellent job of aiding
local enthusiasts in their maintenance and restoration. But, most turned their
attention to other makes and models of new cars. This led immediately to the great
success of a few enthusiast-oriented companies like the Roadster Factory. There
were literally hundreds of thousands of cars on the road in the U.S., and the
enthusiasts who owned them needed the parts required to keep them there. Over
the past several years, therefore, Rover Group decided that the best way to market
components in the U.S. for the Heritage Models was through the Heritage Approved
Suppliers rather than through their old dealer system. Therefore, The Roadster
Factory and several of the other suppliers were awarded distributor contracts by
Rover Group and Unipart
he Roadster Factory and the other Heritage Approved Suppliers in the U.S.
are now the direct link between the enthusiasts here and the MG and Triumph
factories of England. Purchasing your parts from Heritage Approved suppliers
will insure that the parts you put onto your car are made to the correct specifications
for the best possible fit, function, and appearance. Purchasing through the system
will also insure that money is available for new projects up to and including
ambitious projects such as the MGB and TR6 body shells. As long as the interest in
the cars remains strong and the demand for components is good, nearly any
component can be made available.
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