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British Pacific

British Pacific

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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.

Contacts: British Pacific is located at 26007 Huntington Lane, Unit 2, Valencia, CA. 91355. Near Los Angeles, California, USA: Just off I-5 near Magic Mountain, north of the San Fernando Valley. Call: 800 554-4133, Help line: 661 257-8634,Fax: 661 257-9765
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Posted: 05 April, 2008 07:06
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Category: Parts and Accessories
Specialized in: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - A Few Groups Of Private 'investors' Around The Country Started Importing Gray Market Range Rovers As Exclusive - British Pacific
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