Fond farewell

‘George was motor trade through and through’

It was with enormous sadness that I attended the funeral of one of my auction marras, George, in April. While I’d never formally worked with or for George, we’d been going to auctions together for around 15 years.

George was motor trade through and through, and completed a solid 60 years of buying, selling, fixing, bodging and gossiping about all things auto-retail. There was little he didn’t know and he was always intensely keen to know more.

He was already in semi-retirement as I was starting out, so he took me under his wing over a courtesy breakfast at a Motability sale. My appetite for free food stems from this man’s brass neck to scavenge. I remember once eating a fine lunch with Kia management in a boardroom at BCA Measham, wondering “How did I get here?” I had no idea, but George knew a lot of people. And if he didn’t know them, he pretended to. His patter was like ‘watter’, as it flowed freely and cheaply. It could get you into and out of trouble all at once. It also provided reams of copy for CM, or ‘that comic’ as he referred to it.

George followed me to every franchise I worked for, most recently Nissan and VW. He’d always buy a car from there. Mind you, the sales staff I’d allocate to do the deal were intimidated by his forthright and relentless negotiating. George was loyal and trustworthy, although his business premises were literally back-street. Coming from poverty, he’d had to work hard to pull himself up and he did this by being professional. His garage was, and still is, an asset to the surrounding streets.

He never went bust, never changed premises and nobody had a bad word to say about him. How many automotive entrepreneurs, big or small, can you say that about?

Touchingly, I got a mention in the funeral service. There was also a warning to those attending the wake to “Eat everything that’s put out.” George hated waste and was incredibly frugal.

The line-up of classic cars at the funeral was a sight to behold.