The Volvo name has always meant two things to me – quality and strength. In the 70's and 80's Volvos were the first choice of car for every self-respecting university lecturer, high ranking civil servant, antique dealer or middle management family man in the country. Volvo built an enviable and [...]
I know I'm closer to meeting my old 'maker' than many people, but is it me or are those 'clever' people who are currently rushing to persuade many of the world’s car manufacturers to build 'driverless cars' not direct descendants of the designer of the 'Sinclair C5?' Now, I know [...]
The other chinless wonder lived slightly closer to home - let's call him 'Lord Edward Coates'. We used his family manor for various activities over the years, ranging from customer golf days, charity events, and ride and drive activities which took place in the estate’s glorious surroundings. In the late [...]
The story of two privileged individuals with guttersnipe tendencies… As you would expect in a large Porsche centre close to London, we had all sorts of interesting people who bought new and used Porsche cars from first of all, "Chariots", and then HR Owen Porsche and finally, Porsche Centre Hatfield. [...]
In Belfast, in the 1970's, the best operator in the motor trade, by a country mile, was the bold Herbie Malloy – always on the go, always looking for a way to make money, always spending more money than he made. To look at him if you didn't know what [...]
The staggering growth in the Chinese economy over the past 25 years has been unbelievable for many of us who can still picture Chairman Mao holding his 'little red book' – the same time as the 'Troubles' were raging in Northern Ireland. A few years before I retired, I was [...]
This week I called over to see how the new Fastlane body shop site at Elstree was progressing. Whilst the site isn't officially due to open for a couple of months, it's 'nearly there', and wow what a site and what a location - probably the finest and most advanced [...]
During my time at Porsche I met numerous fantastic customers. Some of them were 'captains of industry', brilliant entrepreneurs, and often just normal hard-working individuals who wanted a bit of therapy - in the form of a Porsche. But then there were the bankers, or "SS" as I privately called [...]
Being born into a motoring family (my father and grandfather had both been in the motor trade) I learned to drive at a very early age. When I was 8, Dad bought my brother David and I an old Austin Seven to 'play around with'. The first thing we did [...]
Rolls Royce Wraith, changing perceptions: by Perry Robb The first time I sat in a Rolls Royce was in the 1960's. It was a Silver Cloud model and even then the car exuded that old-fashioned charm and elegance that only a Rolls Royce could offer. My father had been lent the [...]
