Established on the 13th March 1993 by Tim Snowden and Mark Cuthbert at a tiny office in Ripon, North Yorks the then named northern 4x4 was born. Tim & Mark ran the business themselves for the first three years and then in 1996 took on a single warehouseman and doubled the size of the tiny office increasing the rent from a mere £27.00 per week! The office was a first floor level and goods were stored at Mark’s parents small holding a mile up the road, frequent trips were made back and forth when customers turned up to collect goods or when it came to preparing goods for the couriers collection in the afternoon. Tim reckoned he used to go up and down those stairs some days over 50 times per day. 4x4 Accessory lines stocked were varied and included Brahma trucktops canopies, spare wheel covers , pick up truck bed liners , 4x4 side steps , nudge bars and window visors deflectors. The business remained the same up until 1998 when the then Northern 4x4 partnership bought a 1 acre plot on the Leeming bar Ind.Est at Leeming Bar on the side of the A1, initially a 5,000sqft building was erected and this was thought to be large enough to last the business forever more….How wrong we were Tim comments, in 2001 another building of the same size was erected to cope with the newly aquired ARB trucktop canopy assembley line, ABS plastic truck top canopies were thermoformed and were an important core of 4x4 accessories & tyres business. ARB trucktop canopies were assembled on site and colour matched to 4x4 owners requirements. The 4x4 centre increased staff as well as products and soon offered 4x4 tyres , 4x4 alloy wheels from BK Vemiri Binno and Lenso and offered fitting of 4x4 wheels and tyres. 4x4 Tyres were sourced from General tire , BFGoodrich , Pirrelli , and Yokohama , Dunlop and Michelin. Trucktops and bed liners were fitted on site or sent by courier all-over the UK. Wheelcovers or 4x4 spare tyre / wheel covers were offered in stainless steel and colour coding. Stainless steel wheel cover for the spare tyre were supplied by the maker to OE customers such as Toyota Mitsubishi and Nissan and Ford for there range of 4x4 vehicle ranges. The SUV and pickup accessories now increased rapidly and included chequer plate aluminium alloy tonneau bed covers by the Danish Mountain top company as well as the Roll and lock roll n lock tonneau bed cover. A Uk agreement was reached that 4x4 centre at Leeming Bar would distribute both Bjerg Mountain Top chequer plate alloy bed tonneau cover and the retractable roll and lock bed tonneau cover. Bjerg being the former name of the Mountain top chequer plate tonneau bed cover . Another larger still building went up along with an extension the following year to one of the previous buildings. Within 5 years the business and its premises has increased in size by 6 fold. Staff went from two full time at Leeming Bar upto circa ten. In 1998 Northern 4x4 changed it’s name to 4x4 Accessories and Tyres purely to loose it’s regional ‘ Northern ‘ name and reflect it’s business within the name. 4x4 Accessory brands were added with EGR offering 4x4 window visors / deflectors and bonnet chip guard protectors and 4x4 roof spoiler programme. 4x4 Side steps and side bars were designed in alloy and stainless steel finishes as well as sports roll bars. Pickup roll bars / sports bars were mirror polished to a stainless steel finish and a new fitting stystem meant this could be bolted directly to the 4x4 pick up bed ensuring compatability of other accessories fitted. Bed liners were imported directly from the bed liner manufacturers in the USA and containers would be stuffed with tool boxes in both plastic and alloy in order to reduce shipping cost’s. Both aluminium alloy tool boxes and ABS plastic tool boxes are still stocked today though alloy boxes are sourced through the specialist alloy box and liner maker N&J aluminium linings / liners. N & J are 4x4 specialists within the field of alloy and manufacture liners with exacting high standards. Pickup Ladder racks accessories are manufactured for Rodeo L200 Hilux Ranger and Navara D40 4x4 The 4x4 centre at Leeming Bar in the north east has had a long association with truck top canopy manufacturer Alpha, Alpha truck top canopies often called Truckman type tops as a generic name are made in Thailand. Truckman was the first company to introduce the top pick up back. Truckman tops went in liquidation in 2008 and since Truckman Ltd have been bought by Autostyling UK. Alpha tops / Alpha canopies are meanwhile expanding and in 2008 started work on a 26 acre site outside Bangkok, the 4x4 pick up canopy supplier provides a variety of models including the Alpha GTE Alpha GTX Alpha GSE as well as Alpha SCR and Trux Fullbox. The Fullbox been supplied as official Mitsubishi L200 accessories for the latest L200 pickup accessory programme. The Trux Fullbox has also been developed for the Hilux Ranger D40 Navara and Rodeo pickup’s. Current suppliers and products are also follows: Alpha Trucktop canopies / canopy / pickup top back ARB Trucktop canopies / canopy / pickup top back Bed liners pickup bed liners EGR 4x4 window visors Bonnet guards protectors 4x4 rear spoilers Trux stainless steel spoilers bars side steps front bars Avenger 4x4 accessories / A bar accessories – now discontinued due to fitment issues and lack of warranty support Airplex bonnet guards / 4x4 window deflectors Bk racing 4x4 alloy wheels Vemiri Arnage alloy wheels Pirelli 4x4 Tyres Yokohama 4x4 Tyres General 4x4 Tyres Michelin 4x4 Tyres Dunlop 4x4 Tyres Toyo 4x4 Tyres Recip 4x4 Tyres Kingpin 4x4 Tyres 4x4 Tyres Yorkshire / 4x4 Tyres North East / 4x4 Tyres UK / Cheap 4x4 Tyres Hilux / Rodeo / Ranger / L200 / Navara D40 Roll bars / Sports bars 4x4 Side steps ML / X5 / Ranger rover / Ranger rover sport 4x4 Side bars ML / X5 / Ranger rover / Range rover sport Spare wheel covers 4x4 spare tyre covers Mountain top alloy bed cover Roll and Lock retractable roller bed deck cover