Profile | Burlen Company History | S.U. History | Zenith History | AMAL History

Zenith carburetters and Solex Carburetters were the great rivals of the pre war years but finally joined forces in circa 1955 and gradually the Zenith name fell into decline. Solex UK owned all the rights to Zenith designs etc and was a subsidiary of Solex (France). By 1985 the UK company was facing losses which the French parent could not accept, the receivers were called in.

Faced with the sudden demise of Solex in 1986, plus a serious parts shortage in the aftermarket, Burlen Fuel Systems, jointly with SU Automotive, embarked in taking over the manufacture and distribution of the Stromberg and Zenith IV Carburetter Units together with a full parts support programme.

A mammoth logistics plan was implemented masterminded by Les Rock and Trevor Sutton of SU to move production lines and stock from two Solex factories and transport it via a fleet of trucks to the SU plant in Birmingham.

The whole operation took two weeks. Some machinery was commissioned and producing parts within a month. Various problems of suspect machines, lost tooling and drawings appeared, all of which were overcome and where required new tooling purchased. Within three months from the start date products were being produced 24 hours a day to fill the vacuum for spares to the vehicle manufacturers.

Since those hectic days, things have settled down and production transferred to Burlen in Salisbury.