John Dowley & Son Motor Specialists.
Astley, Shrewsbury, Shropshire.
Alas no mention is made in this receipt of which vehicle's axle was repaired by "John Dowley & Son Motor Specialists", during WW2 (February 1941). I think the customer, Mr W. Ashton of Brockhurst, Wem, Salop, was a farmer, so the axle could equally have belonged to a trailer, a commercial vehicle, a farming implement or a car.
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John Dowley's address is given as The Lilacs, Astley, Shrewsbury, so not far from the farmer's property in Wem, Shropshire. In addition to being a "Motors Specialist", and being able to supply "All leading makes of cars", tyres, and spare parts for cars, he also stocked a wide variety of metals and was contactable by telephone at Hadnall 232. As a contractor to H.M. Government at the time, it was clearly a large and well-established business. Perhaps with certain metals being in short supply during the war, he'd diversified into vehicle repairs for a time?
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Mr Dowley would continue with his metals stockholding business well into the post-war years, from a site located at nearby Upper Battlefield just down the road from Astley, Salop. Other records found online confirm that he also ran a scrap metal business as part of his overall operations.
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More old items of ephemera like this that relate to the motor industry in byegone times, can be found in the Motoring Collectables section of Old Classic Car.
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