We opened up with just three petrol pumps, Super, Premium and Regular as well as diesel. A gallon of fuel back then was just 4 shillings and 9 pence, about 24 pence in today’s money or about 6 pence a litre!! We had a little workshop with two car bays where Nicky spent most of his time tuning up Mini-Cooper’s. Our first child Charles was born only a month after we opened, so Joyce was kept very busy doing the books, serving petrol and bringing up our new baby. It was hard graft in the early days but we stuck at it and were awarded the Mercedes-Benz Official Service and Parts Franchise in 1969. During the early seventies our second son Julian arrived, followed four years later by our daughter Tori. In the late seventies we expanded the workshop and showroom to make way for the Mitsubishi Car Franchise which we started in 1979. It was tough going in the early days with Mitsubishi but when the Shogun and the L200 Pick Up Truck arrived our sales took off.
After 37 years and over 4000 new Mitsubishi car sales, we decided to discontinue with the Mitsubishi Franchise on 9th January 2017. We found it hard with a family business like ours to compete with the larger PLC dealers. After such a long time with Mitsubishi, we have a huge wealth of experience with the marque and still continue to look after our Mitsubishi and Mercedes-Benz customers in aftersales.
Having traded for 50 years, Joyce and Nicky decided to take a back seat and semi-retire from the business and let the next generation take over led by our daughter Tori Sowden, with Kevin Barber heading up our After Sales. Our technicians have had bigger capacity ramps installed so they can service and maintain cars, the larger SUV’s and light commercial vehicles. We continue to serve the local area and run our business as before.
After over 20 years with Jet, it is good to see that the sales of our fuel continue to rise. The rebranding of the Sentinel Diesel and Super Unleaded to Jet Ultra Fuels came with a new design. We are delighted that Jet has given our forecourt a revamp to match the new Ultra colours meaning we now have a nice new canopy, price sign and modern looking pumps.
So, as you can see there have been many changes to Oakley over the years, but rest assured we will continue to be on hand to look after your needs for now and in the future.
