John Willment

John Willment ran one of the UK’s biggest Ford dealerships and his private Ford-based racing team operated as “Race-Proved by Willment” running white Ford Cortina sedans for instance with broad longitudinal red stripes edged by single red pinstripes to make three in all. Willment ran Ford Anglia, Cortina and Galaxie sedans, F1, F2 and F3 Brabham and Lotus, and the Lotus 30. They also handled a Cobra roadster. Willment also had a construction company building houses, factories, etc. They built the Cooper factory in Surbiton in 1957 for example.

He is now out of the motor trade and concentrates upon construction or rather upon spending its profits as he is now in semi-retirement. John Willment also provided much of the financial backing which permitted John Wyer to setup JW Automotive Engineering in 1966-67; the company also took over Ford GT-40 production from Ford Advanced Vehicles at Slough, England, and whose racing team subsequently won LeMans twice with Gulf oil-backed GT40’s and then in 1970-71 ran the spearhead brigade Porsche 917’s and 908/3’s. Also winning LeMans in 1970.

The title “JW” was drawn from the principals’ common initials – John Willment, as well as John Wyer. In a 1983 conversation with John, from London to his estate on Guernsey, a Channel Island off the west coast of France, he informed me that several of his employees from FAV went to what is now Oldham & Crowther, Peterborough, England. John is now retired.”

Source:

Quoted from Nye, Doug, Personal Letter, Sept.. 2, 1983.

Last Updated on February 27, 2019 by Kirk Keyes