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British Pacific started in the early seventies, just before Land Rover left
the US market the first time. BP was founded by Jim Rickman with Hugh Stewart,
originally to service Land Rovers & Rolls Royce.
When the local British Leyland dealership on Colorado Blvd. (Peter Satori)
decided to close out their Land Rover inventory, they expanded BP to take up the
slack. BP was located close by the original dealership in an ancient garage
(originally used for horse drawn vehicles), in the area now known as 'Old
Pasadena', just a few blocks south of the parade route.
The 2 story brick and timber building housed service bays below, and a parts
department upstairs.
In those days Land Rovers were used primarily for hunting and camping, or
sometimes even as daily drivers, but virtually none of them were venerated as
'collector's classics'. Each truck was an expression of the owner's tastes, and
every one was different.
As the years went by and the remaining authorized BL dealerships disappeared,
Land Rover Solihull recognized the need for parts support on the remaining
vehicles. To that end, they authorized 2 companies to serve as Genuine Land
Rover Authorized Parts Distributors, one on each coast. Rovers North handled the
east out of Vermont, and British Pacific covered the west from Pasadena;
geographically a continent apart!
That's pretty much the way things remained until about 1992. In the meantime, a
few groups of private 'investors' around the country started importing gray
market Range Rovers as exclusive, up market luxury vehicles, to compete with the
Jeep Grand Wagoneer. Companies like Golden Acorn here in Beverly Hills had
permission to bring in one Range Rover, but somehow 12 were imported, all with
the same VIN number! Despite such troubles, sales started to increase, Americans
liked the vehicle, Rover took note, and in 1987 they formally created Range
Rover North America.
US spec Range Rovers were now being officially imported, but without any Land
Rover badging. To this day there are consumers who believe that Range Rover
builds Land Rover, and not vice versa!
British Pacific continued to import Series Land Rovers and 'gray' market parts
from Land Rover Solihull, and provide expert service and repair while dealers
were still few and far between; and many of those had minimal experience with
the vehicles, especially Series Land Rovers.
In 1992 there were several major changes. First, Land Rover announced that they
would be expanding the range of vehicles sold here, and relaunching the Land
Rover brand with the limited issue Defender 110. The owner of British Pacific in
the '80's, Jim Woodaman was forced to relocate BP, as the original building was
being re-zoned as part of an urban renewal project (the original British Pacific
is now an exclusive restaurant!
Jim decided to move BP to Burbank, and found an appropriate location near the
Burbank airport (Jim is a pilot and his plane was hangared there). When that
move occurred, the service end moved out under its own banner (Huntington
Service Center), and BP became parts only (in California's increasingly
restrictive legal environment, service facilities have a very high operating
expense).
This 9,000'+ sq. ft. warehouse was only a block from Burbank Airport's
commercial terminal. The sign on the building originally hung over the old
Pasadena location. Jim sold the business to Steve Hedke in 1993, a longtime
British car enthusiast and fellow pilot.
BP continued to operate as an Authorized Genuine Land Rover parts facility until
1994, when Land Rover Solihull, under a lot of pressure from its US dealerships,
revoked BP's franchise.
Far from being a crippling issue, this freed BP to pursue the late model Land
Rover parts market (we were prohibited from it under the old arrangement) and
after securing a wholesaler in Britain (Allmakes Ltd, the largest independent
Land Rover parts exporter in England), it's been nothing but huge sales
increases every year since.
Early in 2001, after an airliner went off the end of the runway 08, the City of
Burbank decided to create a new extended stay parking lot where British
Pacific's Burbank warehouse was located.This provided the excuse for British
Pacific to move into it's larger and more efficient Valencia location.
We stock Genuine, OEM and aftermarket parts & accessories for all US model
Land rovers from 1958 to current. We try to stock whatever would be required to
keep your Land Rover or Range Rover on the road, as well as all of the popular
accessories. We ship throughout the United States, APO's and FPO's . Sorry we do
not ship to Canada, Mexico, central or South America or overseas.
Our customer showroom provides a first hand look at many of the Land Rover off
road components and accessories that we stock.
British Pacific's Valencia location features increased warehouse space plus
mezzanine storage. The move to a larger warehouse came just as we needed
additional storage space for Freelander parts and accessories. The space also
accommodates our growing stock of LR3, Range Rover Sport, and LR2 parts and
accessories.
All of BP's operations are fully computerized, including shipping. Our staff has
a lot of experience with Land Rovers, and are willing to take the time needed to
make sure you get what you need. Special orders no problem.
The previous and current owners of British Pacific have been pilots. It seems as
though classic cars and classic aircraft have always gone hand in hand, so it
seems natural that we have started adding vintage aircraft related prints,
T-shirts and mugs. |
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