Rogersons Kirkcudbright: How it all began....

Whilst Rogerson Motors celebrate their 30th year recently the real story began many years before that in Borgue village when the late Tommy Rogerson found himself out of work after the closure of the Galloway Motor Car Company at Tongland near Kirkcudbright. Unable to find work in 1924 and with a capital of £5 he turned to making and selling bicycles from old frames He was later to be joined by his brother in law the late Jimmy Raphael, father of Elizabeth Caig and Thomas Raphael, two of the current. Rogerson Motors directors.

The business progressed into repairing and selling cars beginning with the now legendary Model T Ford followed by the A and Y types through the years up to the very unusual Anglia, with its sloping back windscreen and on to the now famous Cortinas of the 60's and 70's.

An orientation towards after sales service, rare in these days, led to the firm introducing the first Crypton Electronic Diagnostic Tuner in the South West and at a cost of over £2000 it was a major investment considering a Ford Anglia could be purchased for a little over £500.

Rogerson quickly built up a reputation for engine tuning and were appointed Lotus service agents, which developed into building big valve cylinder heads fitting Weber carburettors, performance cam- shafts, suspension modifications and disc brake conversions for the motoring fraternity of the day.

In 1974 in succession to the short lived Moskvich agency - which the company held for 3 years Rogerson of Borgue was appointed the first Lada dealer in Scotland The agency was held continuously for 24 years until its demise in 1998 at which point they achieved the distinction of being the longest serving dealer in the U.K. During this time they sold around 1500 of these budget Russian cars and is no secret that their workshop was kept extremely busy as a result.

In 1974 it was announced by Ford that Castle Douglas was now an open point and the company were given the opportunity of opening a brand new Ford Dealership there. At that particular time a new Dealership was at best merely a dream and in fact looked more like a mission impossible. Disregarding what was reasonable advice at the time, they invested heavily and purchased the then derelict former railway station at Castle Douglas.
 
Building began in early 1975 and the garage was open for business in July. Interestingly at that time Ford enjoyed over 30% of the market, there was a waiting list for most models.The one car that the company owned was a Cortina 1200 de-lox saloon which was sold on launch night to J.J. Armstrong, Clarebrand for the princely sum of £1940. Delivery charge was £30, a years licence £40, metallic paint £13 and no discount.

In 1980 the opportunity arose to acquire Crosbies Garage, an old established family business in Gatehouse of Fleet. Built in the 1930's the building was in need of major renovation, a new showroom, office and stores were built, new MOT facilities were created and a large paintshop was added. Under the control of Thomas Raphael car sales simply grew and grew.

Business at Gatehouse continued to expand in the workshop and in the accident repair department, the bodyshop was the most modern and the only fully equipped Insurance Approved facility in the area. Lada offered the lowest cost, by far, no frills range of cars in the market and they just simply sold and sold.

In 1987 the Proton franchise was added. They sold well from the outset and were the ideal 'stepping stone' for customers wishing to move on from Lada. The companies first Proton customer was local farmer Mr. Jock Parker, MBE. Interestingly enough Jock has run Protons to this day.

In 1986 Tony Caig joined the company and spent time in the Ford Dealership at Castle Douglas with his father and at the body shop with his uncle Tom at Gatehouse. After 10 years learning the ropes from the ground up an opportunity arose at Kirkcudbright when J.J. Aitken the Ford Dealer went into receivership and after some lengthy negotiations the property was secured and with Tony in charge began trading the day of takeover in July 1996.

Since that time rationalisation of the company has led to the service provision at Kirkcudbright being greatly improved. Whilst this ultimately led to the closure of the Castle Douglas and Gatehouse of Fleet garages, we are now in a much better position to offer an extremely professional and comprehensive service to all our customers in the Kirkcudbright garage.