About Us

In 1916 Arthur Kent founded Kent Engineering and Motor based in Elizabeth St Melbourne, followed 10 years later by Kent Engineering. During the 1930’s Arthur served as a board member and also president of the early VACC organisation.

Richard Kent, Arthur’s son worked as the managing director of both companies for many years. Richard liked a challenge and in 1938 along with an associate Flight Lieutenant Balmer set the record at the time for driving around Australia of, 24 days 11hrs and 58mins. This they did in a 1934 Vauxhall 30-98; they were sponsored by REPCO Pistons with the pair being presented afterwards with a trophy by Frank Beaurepaire.

After WWII and now based in Carlton with Richard being in total control, two new companies were started, Kent’s Steering & Brakes and Kent’s Hire & Drive which at the time was one of the first car hire companies based in Melbourne.

Moving forward to the mid-1950’s Richard decided to move all businesses to a small outlying suburb of Melbourne called Clayton, land was cheap with nothing but market gardens and fresh country air. A perfect place for his 3 sons to learn the business and one day takeover from him.

Tom, William and James dutifully did this in 1966 and continued on with the family tradition of high-quality specialised repairs and changeover parts.

Since then, R. Kent & Sons has remained in Clayton operating across 3 adjoining premises and with the retirement of Tom and William, James Kent along with his sons now keep the name and tradition flourishing.

R Kent & Sons continues to specialises in all aspects of mechanical smash repairs, including but not limited to: suspension, steering, engine, rear axle and 4WD chassis repairs. Of recent times 4WD coil chassis upgrades, custom tray and canopy manufacture have been added to the portfolio.

In short, we have been doing this for over 100 years, always growing with the industry. Knowledge has been accumulated and passed down over this time with our experience as automotive engineers being truly vast, our key staff easily have over a century of experience between them.