Established in 1932, we have grown to become one of the most successful Honda dealers in the country.From modest beginnings we now have five dealerships throughout Devon and Cornwall, from Hayle in the west to Plymstock in the east.

The Cornish Commercial

The Rowe Hillmaster lorries and buses were made in Cornwall from 1954 to 1962. They were custom built vehicles, produced specifically for use in the West Country. Being very adaptable, however, they soon became a fairly common sight on British Roads, whilst a number were exported to Spain, Canada and New Zealand.

The Hillmaster Ideal

Cornwall's roads are different from most of the other roads in Britain, brought about by the very nature of the County. It’s only just over 40 miles across at its widest, on the eastern 'frontier' with the rest of England. In West Cornwall, you could just about throw a stone from the North coast to the South coast. In such a confined place, the roads tend to be very narrow and also very hilly. The good thing is that the hills tend to be fairly short. The nature of these roads meant that to get the optimum performance from any vehicle it needed to have the right specification. It was with this in mind that the Rowe Hillmaster vehicles were built.They were narrower than most commercial vehicles, they weighed less, and had the correct gearing to enable them to be at home on West Country roads. The lorries and buses were built to suit the customers' needs, in other words, they were custom-built. This was at the time when you bought what was available, it was a seller's market, but Rowe's were in the forefront of providing what the customer wanted.

The Vehicles

The first vehicles to come out of the Dobwalls workshop featured the relatively new 4 cylinder 5.4l Meadows engine, but it was founder Maurice Rowe, together with his engineer, Wilfred Yeo who managed to modify the engine to run sideways, thus fitting under the floor. Although Meadows insisted that it could not be done, after seeing the working example in the Dobwalls workshop, they were so impressed that following further collaboration the horizontal engine went into production, with the designation 4HDC. The Rowe Hillmaster coach was the first application of a Meadows engine in a chassis design right from the outset. A source of pride to both sides.In August 1954 the first coach was registered TAF 587, a two-tone, turquoise and cream 38 seater. This vehicle was shown and exhibited at various locations throughout the country to unreserved acclaim, not only for its performance by also its economy. Unfortunately after being withdrawn from service in June 1973, it was eventually scrapped in 1977. Many more coaches followed, along with a large array of lorries to all specifications, shipped worldwide.Production finally stopped in the early sixties, but the tour business continued until it was sold and the garage continues to this day as a successful Honda dealership.

Where are we now

We now employ 100 staff in 7 branches spread across two counties, selling over 1000 new and used vehicles a year, servicing 22,000 customer's cars each and every year. Changing 30,000 litres of engine oil! We have a dedicated Customer relationship management department based at our Weston Mill dealership whose aim is to contact each and every Rowes customer to ensure they are completely satisfied. Contact Our Team