Webbs Garage
Many people will remember Webbs Garage as a long-standing landmark on the Bath Road, situated between the White Horse Inn and the Essoldo Cinema, but who can tell us more? When was it built? When was it Demolished? There was a story that the building was originally constructed as a hospital to house WW1 casualties. It seems unlikely, but it could be true. If you know anything about the history of the garage, please get in touch.
My great grandfather William “Bill” Edward Webb definitely owned it, but I’m not sure if he built it. He is listed on the 1939 census as a “motorcycle mechanic, business owner” with his wife Rose assisting in the business. It later passed on to my grandfather Ron and his two brothers Peter and Eric. Ron was a panelbeater/sprayer and Eric and Peter were mechanics. I have a feeling it was sold off and demolished c. 1995 (+/- 2 years).
Posted by Alan Moore – Hairbear on his FB feed:
“Ron Webb the man responsible for spraying the body panels for the Gulf GT40’s & Porsche’s amongst many others in the 60’s & 70’s sadly passed away in 2018, He was 83 and passed on the 18th May 2018 in Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, Berkshire UK from prostrate cancer.
The 2 photos are Ron as a young man scramble racing motorbikes and later in life at home.
We all know and love the Gulf GT40’s they are the iconic GT40 colour scheme, but what most people won’t know mainly because it never gets mentioned or spoken about is that the body panels were painted by Ron Webb at Webb’s Garage on the Bath Road Cippenham about 5 mins from the Factory where the cars were built on Slough Trading Estate. Anything you read about the GT40’s it’s always about JW Engineering old Ron never gets any credit even though he made the cars look so good. The whole place has long since been demolished after the land was acquired by Jaguar or Trade Sales (a secondhand car franchise in the UK) but I have a very vivid memory of the day we took my Dad’s somewhat broken Toyota Corona to Ron to be repaired, you see Ron was the cousin of my Dad’s best friend so he sent us there to get the Toyota repaired. We pulled into the yard and Ron opened the doors (behind the Orange GT40 Pic 5) to his workshop and hanging down both sides of the long unit (in Pic 3) were the GT40 panels freshly painted in the Gulf colours, that sight has stuck in my memory for over 50 years. After Webb’s had closed down I arranged a meeting with Ron at his house to see if he had any photos of the workshop showing his handywork but he didn’t, telling me at the time it was just another job, he also assembled the panels onto the chassis at the factory at which point his wife chipped in saying the dog had more dinners than Ron did as he was always late home when the cars needed working on.
I personally feel it’s sad that Ron never gets any recognition for his work, I have read many GT40 books and only seen him mentioned once in tiny words at the bottom of a road test it read…
Paint by Ron Webb.
I found these pictures of Webb’s Garage online recently and they make the story kinda real not just a bunch of words. Also he told me the ironic thing about the paint was that the blue was a British Leyland colour being used on a Ford car (British Leyland built the MG, Mini, Rover and Jaguar cars) but it was the closest match to the Gulf corporate Blue.
I have no idea of any story of the Red & Orange GT40’s in the pictures but I was told by Ron’s brother that he doesn’t recall any kitcar GT40’s being worked on only real ones. Ron also did work on Noel Edmonds (a UK DJ and TV personality) GT40 Pic 7 and he and many other “celebrities” often visited the yard with their cars.
As a little side note Frank Williams had a unit next door in the 60’s before Williams F1 team was formed. ☮️❤️🐰”