Industry | Automotive |
---|---|
Founded | Melbourne, 1922 |
Founder | Robert Geoffrey Russell |
Headquarters | Melbourne, Australia |
Area served
|
Australia, New Zealand |
Products | Auto Parts |
Services | Auto Parts distributor |
Number of employees
|
4,000 |
Parent | Genuine Parts Company |
Website | http://www.repco.com.au/ |
Repco is an Australian automotive engineering company. Its name is an abbreviation of Replacement Parts Company and it is best known for spare parts and motor accessories.
The company gained fame for developing the engines that powered the Brabham Formula One cars in which Jack Brabham and Denny Hulme won the 1966 and 1967 World Championship of Drivers titles respectively. Brabham-Repco was awarded the International Cup for F1 Manufacturers in the same two years.
Repco currently runs a series of stores across Australia and New Zealand specialising in the sale of parts and aftermarket accessories.
The company was founded by Robert Geoffrey (Geoff) Russell in 1922 and first traded under the name Automotive Grinding Company, from premises in Collingwood, Victoria.
It currently has over 2,000 employees in almost 400 stores.
Repco was briefly a publicly traded company being first listed on the in 2003, however following acquisition of all shares by CCMP Capital Asia, Repco has been from the Australian Stock Exchange. From 1 July 2013, Repco and the entire Exego group (consisting of Ashdown-Ingram, Mcleod Accessories and Motospecs) were all acquired by GPC Asia Pacific.
As at the end of 2013 Repco Australia has 295 Stores, and Repco New Zealand has 81 Repco Stores and an additional 10 Appco (Automotive Trade Only) Stores.
In 1964 the Australian/New Zealand Tasman Series was created with a 2500cc capacity limit applied to engines. Jack Brabham approached Repco to develop a suitable engine, and together they decided to base the SOHC design on Oldsmobile Jetfire 215 ci block with six cylinder-head studs per cylinder. Combined with a short stroke flat-plane crankshaft, Repco designed cylinder heads, camshafts and two-stage chain/gear cam drive, a 2.5L engine was built in 1965 with its cylinder head cast by Commonwealth Aircraft.