Colourful history of 1949 car first bought by Melton dairy owner

The long-term owner of this striking Rover 75, which was first owned in 1949 by the then owner of Melton’s Tuxford and Tebbutt Creamery, has been telling us about its colourful history after selling it on last month.
The Rover 75 first owned in 1949 by the then owner of the Tuxford and Tebbutt dairy in Melton and which has recently been sold on to its latest owner EMN-210710-171538001The Rover 75 first owned in 1949 by the then owner of the Tuxford and Tebbutt dairy in Melton and which has recently been sold on to its latest owner EMN-210710-171538001
The Rover 75 first owned in 1949 by the then owner of the Tuxford and Tebbutt dairy in Melton and which has recently been sold on to its latest owner EMN-210710-171538001

David Buck, who lives in Norfolk, bought the car in 1979 and used it for exhibition rallies, including the Rover Sports Register national rallies at Belvoir Castle in the 1980s, during its 42 years in his ownership.

The car was was first registered on February 23, 1949, and was sold by Melton Car and Engineering Co. Ltd. of Burton Street, for £1,106 0s 7d, equivalent to just over £37,000 today.

Purchaser was Mr J F Crosher, of Dalby Road, Melton, who owned Tuxford and Tebbutt, the specialist cheese factory which is now part of Arla but still located in Thorpe End.

Mr Buck told the Melton Times: “Back in the 1980s, I was in contact with Mr Johnson, a former director at the garage in Melton, and he could recall the car and selling it to Mr Crosher

“Mr Crosher was quite an individualist and in May 1950 he had the lower bodywork resprayed from black to maroon, apparently to make it more easily found on car parks, as most cars were black at that time.”

Following Mr Crosher’s death the car passed to his widow in 1952 but because it was a large vehicle for her to drive and wasn’t used very often she sold it on six years later.

The Rover, which was considered a luxury car in those early post-war years, had three subsequent owners before Mr Buck bought it for £950 with 71,413 miles on the clock - he won several awards with it at exhibition rallies over the years.

He recently sold it to the owner of the service station in Little Melton, where he lives, explaining: “I haven’t used it much over recent years and decided to sell it to the local garage owner in the village here whose father did some work on it when I first bought it.”

Mr Buck added: “It was interesting to see that Mr Crosher’s old house in Dalby Road, in Melton, was put up for sale in 2019 for £1.6million and when I looked at the agent’s photos you could see the garage where the old car would have been kept.”

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