About Us

Canley Classics started life officially in the mid 1980s in a 500 sq. ft unit on an industrial estate in Nuneaton on the outskirts of Coventry. Really only an extension of a lifetime's hobby (obsession) on the part of the proprietor David Pearson, Triumph was well and truly in the blood.

With most of the male side of the family having worked at the Triumph (father, uncles, cousins, future father in law! etc) it seemed inevitable that's where his future employment lay. Michael Edwards (remember him) put paid to that when he sanctioned the untimely closure of Triumph's Canley factory and the end of production of real Triumphs.

There followed a 5-year sabbatical in the RAF allowing time to regroup and plan for the acquisition of the Triumph name and manufacturing rights and the glorious reintroduction of all the best Triumph models! Things didn't quite go to plan hence the 500 sq.ft unit, but from these tiny acorns etc.

In the early days Canley Classics concentrated on restoration of a broad range of Triumph models. An early association with John Kipping led to the building and maintaining of the Kipping fleet of small chassis Triumphs including Herald Coupe, Estate, Courier Vans, Saloons, GT6 and John's famous continent crushing Herald Rally Car.

This association led ultimately to a closer business link and the integration of Canley Classics with John Kipping's on a common site in Coventry (actually a village called Fillongley on the outskirts of Coventry) a site still occupied by Canley Classics to this day. There followed nearly 10 years of working together after which John and Fiona Kippings desire to retire and emigrate came to fruition with their trip south after the acquisition of the Kipping side of the business by Canley Classics in December 1999.

In the summer of 2001 we finally closed the old shop in Aldermans Green Coventry and moved the retail and mail order side of the business to our site in Fillongley where the major stores and workshops had always been based. This two acre site set in its own landscaped wood in the heart of the Warwickshire green belt continues to be developed.