| Admin History | Vincents of Reading began trading in 1805 and spent over a century building stage coaches and early railway carriages. In 1912 the firm built the first ever motor horse-box (for the Edwardian millionaire racehorse owner, Sol Joel). Due to its pioneering work and consistently high levels of craftsmanship, Vincents remained the leading light in the construction of horse-boxes for many years, manufacturing horse-boxes for amongst others, two British monarchs and members of the Royal Family, the British Government, Indian Maharajahs, several British railway companies and numerous members of the racing and hunting fraternities.
The firm was also well-known for its excellence in coachbuilding luxury cars, and additionally was a dealership for Austin and Rolls Royce. Vincents occupied various sites around central Reading, most notably from the 1920s Station Square [the site today utilised by the main Foster Wheeler building and a development of shops and offices]. The firm left this site about 1971 and moved to premises on the Oxford Road. By the time Vincents had become a BMW dealership and had amalgamated with the Penta Group of car dealers. Vincents produced its last horse-box around 1981. |