QUICKFIT SBS HAS just moved into huge new premises in High Wycombe, employs 12 staff, is the number one supplier of classic car seatbelts and currently fits out around five cars on-site every week - yet it all started on my dad's Edgware driveway in 1962. After leaving the Navy, Bill (his real name was Cornelius, which he hated, and he was known to the family as Conny, which he hated even more) was a sales engineer for Delaney Gallay and they knew seatbelt legislation was on the horizon so saw it as a potential opportunity.
When dad looked into it for them, he discovered loads of people were starting to offer belts, but no-one knew how to fit them to cars that didn't have anchorage points. So he started doing it and ended up running a team of 30 mobile guys fitting belts. They would even fit them to imported cars at the docks before they were transported on to dealerships.
His first workshop was in Kenton and, having read Business at Westminster University, I joined the family firm in 1982. The 1980s were an amazing decade for us. First of all rear belts became compulsory in 1987, which led to the same retrofitting frenzy as front belts had in 1965. The other big breakthrough was that people started taking baby seats seriously, largely thanks to the television programme That's Life! Britax made one, but it was £39 and no-one wanted to pay that so we started renting them out and at our peak had 1000 out there.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September 2023-Ausgabe von Octane.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September 2023-Ausgabe von Octane.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Will China Change Everything? - China is tearing up modern motor manufacture but is yet to make more than a ripple in the classic car world. That could be about to change dramatically
China now dominates the automotive world in a way even Detroit in its heyday would have struggled to comprehend.Helped by Government incentives, the new car world is dominated by China's industries: whether full cars that undercut Western models by huge amounts, ownership of storied European brands such as Lotus and Volvo, or ownership and access to the vast majority of raw materials that go into EV cars, its influence is far-reaching and deep. However, this automotive enlightenment hasn't manifested itself in the classic world in any meaningful way - until now.
Jem Marsh
The hard-bitten Marcos boss was driven like few others and never knew when he was beaten. Thankfully
Vandamm House
A Mid-Century Modernist masterpiece that was immortalised on celluloid - despite never actually existing
Making light
Alfa Romeo's post-war renaissance began with the 1900 saloon - and matured with Zagato's featherweight coupé version, as Jay Harvey discovers
FULL OF EASTERN PROMISE
Is burgeoning classic car interest in the Middle East good for the global classic market? Nathan Chadwick investigates
Before the beginning
This rare Amazon Green pre-production Range Rover is Velar chassis number 4. James Elliott charts its historically revealing factory restoration
Ben Cussons
As the outgoing chairman of the Royal Automobile Club hands on to his successor, Robert Coucher quizzes him about the evolution of this great British institution
BULLDOG & THE PUPPIES
We gather five motoring masterpieces by avant-garde designer William Towns - and drive all of them
Below the tip of the Audrain iceberg
As the Audrain organisation grows, we take a look behind the scenes at the huge car collection that feeds it
Flying the Scottish flag
Young Ecurie Ecosse driver Chloe Grant gets to grips with the Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar C-type at Goodwood. Matthew Hayward is Octane's witness
