Also in my garage
A rally enthusiast whose love for cars grew from working with his uncle at Connolly
Fred Connolly was a hands-on boss. The second generation of the leather-working dynasty – and the driving force behind Connolly’s association with every desirable car – Fred liked staying close to his product. “Every couple of months, even in his 70s, he’d disappear into the warehouse and ‘sort some leather’ to keep his hand in,” says his nephew Anthony Hussey. “He’d take his warehouse coat from the peg in his office and put it on over his suit. “They were the kind of brown cotton coats everyone wore. The company bought them in bulk. When the original Connolly closed down in 2002, I grabbed it before it was chucked out. Now it hangs on a hook in my own garage.”
Hussey regularly dons the well-worn garment whenever he has odd jobs to do, even if the task involves being flat on his back below his Lancia Aurelia B24 Spider. “I had it on this morning, in fact,” he chuckles. “The Lancia has recently had a new petrol pump fitted, and I was underneath the car to check it. I don’t mind if Uncle Fred’s coat gets grubby. That’s what it’s for, and it has been washed several times.”
Connolly Brothers began as a cobbler in London’s Euston Road in 1878. John and Samuel Connolly’s little business was soon repairing belts, horse reins and harnesses, all of which they eventually manufactured. This led on to coach hoods and seats, and then car seats for coachbuilders. Thanks to Samuel’s son, Fred, the business boomed along with the motor industry in Britain and the USA.
Hussey joined the family firm as, he says: “Basically a rep, selling leather to car manufacturers. Mind you, that did include Ferrari. When Enzo Ferrari went into road cars, he wanted the same smell that you got in a Rolls-royce or a Jaguar. I suppose it helped that our Italian agent had been at school with him.”
Despite the worldwide reputation of the Connolly name, the original business closed in 2002. Hussey retired, but it was by no means the end of things. The Connolly brand was acquired by fashion house Joseph, and survives today in the hands of Isabel Ettedgui, (widow of founder Joseph Ettedgui), who has opened a swish new shop in the heart of Mayfair.
“The things in the Connolly shop today are utterly beautiful, and there’s also a corner for my cousin Jonathan, who sells our leather, including the traditional Connolly Vaumol. Ferrari got wind of that; we weren’t keen to supply the main production again, but we do Ferrari’s retrims and rebuilds.”
Restoration is something Hussey faced when he crashed his Aurelia on the Le Jog rally a few years ago: “I knew the car could be fixed, even though there was rather a lot of damage. At the same time, I fancied a change of colour from its original red to this light Aqua Verde.”
Hussey has tackled dozens of classic rallies among the 200,000 miles he’s racked up in the Lancia, on top of whatever the original Italian owner, racing driver Pietro Ferraro, put on up to the point where the engine was changed.
“It’s a bloody beautiful drive,” he enthuses. “I bought it on the advice of [motoring journalist] ‘Steady’ Barker, who told me to get this instead of a Jaguar XK140 or an AC Ace Bristol because it was so much better balanced… and so it gets you anywhere much faster!”