Merv Hannam Specialist Cars have been buying and selling luxury cars for nearly 60 years. During this time we have developed an unrivalled reputation for excellent customer care, which has always been the company ethos since its humble beginnings back in 1966.
Merv Hannam was born in Poole in 1931, and after completing his National Service became a well-known speedway rider, representing both his town and country for many years.
His car business started from home in the late fifties before moving to its present site on the corner of Wallisdown roundabout, Bournemouth in 1966. During the seventies the Merv Hannam brand acquired its first new car franchise, Polski Fiat. These turned out to be very popular with the car buying public as we became the largest Polski Fiat dealership in the South of England for the rest of this decade.
The eighties saw the franchise change to the Japanese brand Colt (later Mitsubishi). These were booming years with the introduction of the first turbo cars including the Mitsubishi Lancer Turbo, the world’s fastest 2.0 production car at the time and the Mitsubishi Shogun which went on to become one of the world’s best selling 4×4’s.
The early nineties saw the company specialising more in the luxury prestige end of the market with BMW, Audi, Porsche and Mercedes becoming the top sellers. This coincided with the day to day running of the company being taken over by Merv’s son, Ashley, allowing Merv to retire at the age of 70.
Over the next 30 years Ashley began to specialise in the luxury 4×4 market, with his extreme passion for ensuring that each car we offered was of the highest specification possible with the right options in the right colour! This ‘look’ has made the company well-known for its impressive array of Range Rovers in particular, with the largest independent selection on the South coast.
Over the last few years we have focused on supplying the very best stock, pricing it correctly and making sure that customers have a really great experience. This is reflected in the great reviews we receive, and has been instrumental in giving customers the confidence to buy online and over the phone without even ever visiting the dealership.
The models and brands may change but the company ethos of excellent customer care remains.
