Exmoor Trim

Exmoor Trim's lineage runs through three generations of one family at Land Rover. Bert Gostling joined the Rover Company at Solihull in the late 1940s, working on the first Land Rovers, and rose to senior design engineer; his son Lew started in Land Rover trim development and became head of experimental trim. Lew's hand-drawn 1950s specifications for Land Rover canvas hoods and trim are framed in the company's showroom and still consulted to keep its products faithful to the originals.

As he approached retirement Lew set up Trakkers to manufacture the canvas hoods he had designed; his son Julian took the business over, moved it to Exmoor, and it became Exmoor Trim. The present company, Exmoor Trim Limited, was incorporated on 14 January 2002 and manufactures from a purpose-built factory at Trakkers House, Roughmoor Industrial Estate, Williton, near Taunton in West Somerset, just below the Quantock Hills. A sister company, Trakkers UK Limited, was registered at the same address and dissolved in 2021; Exmoor Trim Holdings Ltd was formed in August 2021 and Exmoor Trim Trustees Limited in August 2022.

The range covers canvas tops for a 1948 Series I through full-length, three-quarter and bikini hoods for Series 88 and 109 and Defender models, replacement seats and interior sets, steering wheels and custom leather and tweed interiors, sold direct and through Land Rover parts dealers such as Paddock Spares. A journalist touring the works in 2019 described traditional and modern machinery working side by side, with owner Julian Gostling inspecting each product, and reported the opening of a dedicated showroom in which Land Rovers of different generations display the products.

The company remains privately owned and family run, its directors including John Clarke (from 2008), Andrew Horton (2017), John Pettinger (2018) and Samantha Tipper; it files accounts as a manufacturer of transport equipment under SIC 30990.