Ted Connolly 1949-2018

Ted Connolly 1949-2018

- Peter Simpson​​​​​​

 With considerable regret we must report that regular classic Car Buyer contributor, long-established classic car journalist and Editor of Classic Van & Pickup Ted Connolly died suddenly and unexpectedly on Thursday February 8, aged just 68.

Upon leaving school, Ted wanted to work with cars – he claimed that his ‘dream job’ would have been to join the AA as a roadside patrol. However, motor trade vacancies were scarce at the time and the motoring organisations required previous experience and a minimum age of 21 – so Ted instead entered journalism and spent 15 years working in local and national newspapers plus a bit of local radio journalism. Cars, though, were never far away, with most evenings and weekends spent fixing his own vehicles and those belonging to friends, ‘friends of friends’ and neighbours.

Then, in 1982, he became Assistant Editor of Car Mechanics – then based in South East London and a reasonable daily commute by train from his home in North Kent. Having read CM regularly since the sixties, this was a dream job for Ted. Among his regular writing responsibilities was a regular column called Cut Costs – this gradually transformed into Cut Costs with Connolly, ‘Conomy with Connolly’ and eventually simply ‘Ted Connolly’.