Roy Eaton Auto since 1910
MTA may be turning 100 next year, but there are some motor businesses that opened their doors more than a century ago.
Honouring The Past
The early years
Roy Eaton Automotive in Whanganui started out in 1910 as Eaton & Marshall. The founding partners Bill Eaton and E (Bill) Marshall had emigrated to New Zealand from England two years earlier. Mr Marshall died in the early 1920s, shortly after the workshop moved to its current site at 102 Ridgway Street.
Bill Eaton served his apprenticeship as a fitter and machinist at Vickers Ltd in England and later branched out to manufacturing and engine rebuilding. A short written family history notes: “He had a very inventive mind and with that filed many patents, some as vacuum pumps for milking machines, pulsators, etc. His patents paved the way for the milking machines as they are today.” Around 1928 he filed a patent for the ‘fluid flywheel’ but with the arrival of the Depression he didn’t have the money to pursue it. Instead, he sold many of his patents and the glory for the invention was claimed by Sinclair of Great Britain.
His grandson, Roy Eaton, remembers the family stories about how Bill Eaton put everything he had into keeping the company’s doors open during the Depression. “Then there was the war, and the government took four of his big production lathes for the war effort. My father Roy and his brother Bill also went off to the war, both of them working on aircraft maintenance. The lathes were returned and I can remember them sitting under covers for years – we never used them again because things had moved on.”
After the war, Roy Senior went back to the firm, taking it over when his father died in 1955. He stopped manufacturing and instead concentrated on general engineering and motor repairs and branched out to engine reconditioning. He installed the area’s first crankshaft grinder as well as an overhead grinder for heads and cylinder blocks. An overhead boring bar and other precision machines were also added to the inventory. Roy Junior says his father was committed to keeping as much work in Whanganui as possible rather than outsourcing to other areas. If a part was expensive to buy in, he’d make it himself if he could do it at a competitive rate. Roy Senior retired in 1979 and his son changed the name to Roy Eaton Automotive.
Over the three generations, the workshop has amassed an impressive collection of machining and engineering equipment – much of it still in use, if only occasionally. “There are some big machines there from the 1920s – that used to be driven by a gas powered system, and were later adapted to electricity. But many of them haven’t seen much use lately,” says Roy. He expects they’ll eventually be sold for scrap.
New ownership
In 2006, Roy retired and the company was sold to three of Roy’s long term staff, Matt Foster, Glenn Barnes and Brent Whitton.
“Glenn and Brett left school to work with Roy Junior and they’ve been with the company for 26 years, I’ve just been here for 21,” says Matt.
They were three of the dozens of apprentices Roy Junior took on in his time. Roy says “We usually had two or three working with us at a time during the ‘80s and ‘90s. There would be a whole list of menial jobs for them to work their way through as they learned their trades but these days, there’s not the same flow of minor technical work. Once we started getting Japanese cars in the country, it was quite noticeable they don’t wear out like the old cars did, so there’s less engine repair work. They’re cheaper and easy to get parts for”.
These days the new owners brand themselves as REA 2006 but the past is honoured. Matt says, “We feel a connection to the history of this place and we certainly don’t want to be the generation that fails. There’s a place for some of the old machining gear for our engine reconditioning work. Glenn has a reputation for finer tolerance machining and driveshaft building.
We do work for other engine rebuilders. There’s not a lot we can’t do in the way of machining.” Some of the older slotting machines are belt driven, and while not used these days to cut key-ways and internal splines, they still work.
Glenn says, “Technology has moved on – remanufacturing of engine parts is minimal these days. Although we do get a lot people coming in wanting to have a look around.” REA 2006 employs six full-time staff and a part-timer. Roy Junior says for many years during his grandfather’s time and his father’s there were around a dozen staff.
These days, as well as their general repairs, the workshop is known for its ability to recondition the engines of classic and historic cars. “There are only two businesses in Whanganui able to do this work,” says Brent. Brent and Glenn both work in the machine shop doing all the engine reconditioning and light engineering. Matt deals with the customer, parts and general management duties. “We’re pretty busy and the economy seems to be picking up. A lot of our customers have been with the business for years, and there are generations within some families who have been bringing their cars into the workshop,” says Matt.
Keeping the history
Co-owner Glenn Barnes sits at the 70 year-old slotting machine.