Billy Rootes
Born in Hawkhurst, KentBorn on 17th of August 1894
Died on 12th of December 1964
William Rootes was a key figure in the golden age of British car manufacture, the group he established making models like the Hillman Minx, Singer Chamois, and Sunbeam Alpine. It had factories all over Britain and developed business links across the globe. During WWII he headed the drive to produce aircraft and their engines in volume, and was knighted for that work and later made a hereditary peer. Poor design, weak supply chains, bad reliability and thus warranty problems, and inevitably strikes saw the Rootes Group business decline, and after his death Chrysler took it over.
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