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North Bay’s Premier British Auto Repair Facility Partners With North America’s Drivetrain “Wizard”

Rohnert Park.  British European Motors (BEM), the North Bay’s largest repair shop specializing in British automobiles, has purchased Austin, Texas-based Waterloo Drivetrain Systems, North America’s premier rebuilder and restorer of  British automobile drivetrain components.

Under terms of the purchase, John Black, Waterloo’s founder and an internationally recognized expert on automobile restoration, has relocated to Sonoma County and joined BEM’s staff in Rohnert Park

The alliance, finalized recently, gives BEM a major capability that will push its importance substantially beyond what it now enjoys among North Bay owners of British autos, says BEM managing director Mark Singleton. “The acquisition of Waterloo gives us a major national presence among British car owners,” he says. “As a group, those owners are legendary with regard to the high expectations they hold of anybody who touches their beloved automobiles.”

Those expectations are something that Black, who was born in England’s Lake District, knows well. He founded Waterloo in 1998, shortly after relocating to the U.S. “I saw that nobody in the States was specializing in Jaguar and other British vehicle transmissions,” he says. “There seemed to be a general lack of expertise nationwide that I thought I could remedy.”

Waterloo quickly grew a nationwide, Internet-based business specializing in the repair and restoration of engines, transmissions, gear boxes, overdrives and differentials. “We do business with people as far-flung as Canada, Florida and New York,” says Black.

Black, is also considered one of the world’s top experts in automotive restoration. He lectured for 10 years at England’s Colchester Institute of Technology on automotive restoration, publishing several articles in the restoration trade press and organizing classic car exhibitions in the UK and Europe. He is also the designer of two automotive repair devices that are currently being mass-produced in the UK.

Singleton, who was also born in England, grew up in Blackpool, site of the old Swallow Sidecar Co., the enterprise that later became Jaguar Cars. He acquired BEM in 1989. The shop repairs, restores and offers for sale British-made automobiles such as Jaguar, Land Rover, MG, Triumph and Austin-Healey. “When we invited John to join us,” he says, “we were looking for somebody with an established industry position who could help us cater to a sophisticated national market that is looking for the highest level of expertise and satisfaction.

“The addition of John and Waterloo to our business puts us in a position to grow substantially and further add to the growing economic importance of Sonoma County.”

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