Born on the site of an old previously demolished garage, the original business comprised of a petrol station with a workshop and a sales office. The petrol station offered the first self-service site in Worthing but, in the earliest days, staffed petrol service was also on offer, in order to foster good relationships and to ease the public into a “new-fangled” way of delivering petrol. (It might be worth mentioning that on the day of opening the price per gallon was 28 pence!) Business flourished, mainly due to the personal attention given to customers and constant attendance by the two owners. Expansion to a second site at Shoreham Beach followed and, over the years, associations with Lada, Fiat, Lancia and Volkswagen commercial were made. Towards the end of the working life of the two main directors it was decided to concentrate on the service side of the business and Stuart Page, who had proved himself through his steady and loyal rise through the ranks of apprentice, mechanic and senior mechanic was given the responsibility of running this side of the business.
Keen and Betts opened for business on January 8th, 1972. Maurice Keen and Terry Betts had previously worked together and had totalled around 30 years experience in the motor trade but wanted to form their own company, the keynote of which would be to create a personal and caring relationship with its customers.