7 replies to this topic

[Roger Clark]

In October 1952, the Rubery Owen company acquired the assets of BRM from the bankrupt Trust. After the sale, the cars were entered by the Owen Racing Organisation (I'm not sure whether that change happened immediately) and the team was operated as a subsidiary of the parent company. Rubery Owen appears to have been the major source of funds.

At the beginning of the 1970s, at the same time as the arrival of Yardley sponsorship the cars began to be entered by Team BRM. I believe the first such race was the 1970 Race of Champions. I can't recall any public association of Rubery Owen with the team from that time. By then end of its life the team was under the complete control of the Stanley family.

Is my impression correct? Did Rubery Owen hand over the team to the Stanleys in early 1970, and did a formal transfer of ownership take place? Did Rubery Owen's funding of the team cease completely, to be replaced by commercial sponsorship?

I realise that these questions will be answered in vol 4 or 5 of Doug Nye's Saga, but I've wondered about it for 30 years and I can't face waiting that long again.

[RTH]

That is a very good point. Also I wonder just who owns the rights to the BRM name and logos now ?
John Mangoletsi's team raced a BRM sports car in the early '90s in BRG in both closed and open form with Weslake V12 and Nissan V8 powertrains, in the world championship and in USA. He even produced a scale model of a most attractice road going sports car which came to nothing, then again it all faded away.

In the mid 90s The Rover Group sold a car based on their 200 model in BRG with the signiture orange nose band a modified engine and suspension, and a red quilted leather interior with engine turned aluminium detailing, under the brand name "Rover-BRM" using all the brand typeface and logos.

www.roverbrm.com

Despite everything it is still a prestige and very well respected name. I would not be the least surprised if someone tries to bring the name back yet again either as a race or road marque, but who now legally owns the name?

[ensign14]

Rubery Owen owned the name as at 1992 because Mangoletsi licensed it from them. I think RO does still own it.

[MCS]

The opening paragraph here suggests that they are still the owners ...
http://members.madas...on/brmlinks.htm

Some snippets;

...they were once Britian's largest privately held company...

...in 1981 the main Darlaston works closed down...

...Rubery Owen Holdings will hand over its building in Booth Street, Darlaston to Walsall Housing Regeneration Agency (WHRA) for the sum of £1.00...

...Rubery Owen is always at the forefront of research and design. As well as establishing ROTECH LABORATORIES another firm has been set up for the 21st Century - ROZONE, with its range of SmartWashers, a self recycling parts-cleaner for automotive and engineering operations...

...Rotech Labortaories offer a wide range of Metallurgical and Advisory Services and pride ourselves on our extensive product knowledge and long established quick turnaround laboratories...

...Rozone was established in the mid 1990's and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rubery Owen Holdings Limited. Rozone provide a comprehensive range of environmentally friendly industrial cleaning solutions and servicing equipment, all designed to provide increased efficiency and improve health and safety and environmental performance...

and so on. I agree with Richard's comment. The BRM name could easily reappear.

[mfd]

I think RO does still own it.

I understand that the Owen family, still actively persue anyone using the logo or name without permission.
I heard one story from a good source that told me an Italian model car company had produced a 1/43 die-cast models of the Graham Hill '62 car. It turned out to be Brumm. Apparently David Owen bought one of the models somewhere in the UK and then made the trip to Italy to demand an explanation from the manufacturer!
I was subsequently told permission or licencing agreements weren't necessarily a problem and would always be looked on realistically, it only became an issue when people started to take liberties ...

[Eric McLoughlin]

It's a nice little model too.

[Roger Clark]

Many thanks for the replies, but I don't know whether anybody has answered the question I asked. Ownership of a name is not necessarily the same thing as ownership of a company. An example is Rolls-Royce Motors which is owned by BMW, but the name and other trade marks are licenced from Rolls-Royce plc.

Were any material assets transferred to the Stanleys at any time or did Rubery Owen continue to own the cars and the factory and so on. Did the change of the team's name to Stanley-BRM have any significance in this respect?

[M Needforspeed]

Roger,


an info that was included in the game Guide Grand Prix Legends that at least give the answer for the LICENSE and that goes on the same way

going at the information licenses pages , here in french (french version of the game ) and then an approximate translation in english :


" BRM P 115 : nom, marques et modèles déposés par British Racing Motors.Licence d utilisation accordée par Rubery Owen Holding Ltd .Tous droits reservés "

" BRM P 115 : name, brands and model patend by BRM. License to use them as agreed from
Rubery Owen Holding Ltd .All rights reserved"

this was in 1998

Originally posted by Roger Clark
. By then end of its life the team was under the complete control of the Stanley family.

I realise that these questions will be answered in vol 4 or 5 of Doug Nye's Saga, but I've wondered about it for 30 years and I can't face waiting that long again.

and Louis Stanley was the husband of Jan Owen, but did he was a shareholder in the Rubery Owen ?? If Jan Stanley got part of the heritage as alfred Owen daughter , the team BRM could both fall in the hands of Stanley family and as well still be in the Rubery Owen group ??


michel



another good reason for DCN to release as fast as the speed of light the BRM saga Vol 3 !;)