Tuesday 20th December 1977

British automobile executive Sir Reginald Rootes (81) died in London. His father had run a cycle shop and in 1919. Sir Reginald and his more flamboyant elder brother William began running a small car distributing business southeast of London.

During the 1920’s the Rootes brothers built up their firm into the biggest car distributing company in Britain.

By the 1930s they had expanded their operations. taking under their wing the Humber, Hillman and Commer companies and making those names synonymous with that of Rootes. During this era they produced their first Hillman Minx,

Sir Reginald gained his knighthood for his work in World War II, when the Rootes brothers converted their plants to aircraft production. His brother become a peer in 1959. In 1945‐46 Sir Reginald was president of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and, after his brother’s death in 1964, he succeeded as chairman of the Rootes Group.

His three yens as chairman saw Rootes become firmly enmeshed with Chrysler. Over the next six years, the Rootes family connection with what is now Chrysler U.K. was ended.