Passion for Porsche since 1991: Williams Crawford

Andy and Lee are in Cornwall this week at the home of Porsche specialists Williams Crawford. Adrian Crawford and Richard Williams share stories of how they first aligned in business more than 30 years ago, Adrian carving out a reputation for bringing air-cooked Porsches to the UK from mainland Europe. Richard and Adrian share their passion for Porsche through their racing and rally exploits in classic 911s, while developing the Williams Crawford business with a reputable sales, service and special projects concern in one of the most beautiful parts of the United Kingdom.

www.williamscrawford.co.uk

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 06 (00:02):
Welcome to Nineworks Radio, welcome to Cornwall.

(00:28):
Sunny Cornwall today

Speaker 03 (00:58):
It's great to be here.
Thanks for inviting us.

Speaker 01 (01:01):
Yeah, you're welcome.
This is the second visit inquick succession, really.
It was only a couple of weeksago on a similarly sun-drenched
day.
Oh, it was, wasn't it?
Like today, driving thatbeautiful oak green metallic 911
S with cork interior.
I haven't seen that today.
Is it still here?
Yeah, it's still here.
Excellent.
You liked that, didn't you?
It was beautiful.
And I have to say, exactly asthe headline of that video, that

(01:23):
is how a G-bodied 911 drives.
It's a very good advert foryour business in terms of the
cars that are in the showroom, Ihave to say, because we've seen
a lot of impact bumper carsover the years.
And Adrian, you and I werediscussing, I think, last time
about, you know, it's very easyto chuck big money at a rubbish
car when it comes to that era.
And what we try to do atNineworks is implore people to

(01:47):
do your diligence and spend themoney on the right car.
Yeah, well,

Speaker 03 (01:51):
that's always the important thing, I think, is
that matching the people to thecar.
So some people don't mindhaving a little bit of a rolling
project, you know, and there'sa pleasure in that.
But making sure that peopleunderstand whether that's
actually what they're buying orif they've got the wherewithal

(02:12):
and they fancy having somethingthat's really, really nice in
the beginning.
But those cars are increasinglyrare, you know.
I've been dealing with them for30 odd years.
Richard's been supporting mewith that for probably over 20
years.
And to us, these cars stillseem modern because they were

(02:32):
quite modern back then.
So our standards are what theywere 20 and 30 years ago.
And it's sometimes difficult toget our heads around that,
isn't it, Richard?

Speaker 02 (02:42):
Yeah, very much so.
And I think selling themopenly, honestly, and matching
customer to car.
What they expect, what theirusage, is it going to be a
museum piece, which they end upnot using, or something that
they're going to be out enjoyingand hopefully letting
themselves down in?

Speaker 01 (03:01):
Yeah, yeah.
Just having a wander around theshowroom just now, Andy and I,
we're impressed with the varietyin there.
And then there really is a goodmix of air and water in there.
some transaxle cars, somemid-engines.
Even a mini-moke.
I was going to say, you hadyour eye on a mini-moke out of
everything in there.
There's the Cosworth in there,appeal to my Essex charm as

(03:23):
well.
But I guess, and we'll diveinto this throughout the
podcast, but yeah, that kind ofprocurement of quality, classic
Porsche, that's really whereyour expertise, from the outside
anyway, kind of, I think, comesto the fore.
I think the business is...
30-odd years old now, foundedin 91.
And again, off a previousconversation when we went for

(03:44):
that lovely lunch a couple ofweeks ago, you guys were saying
about, I particularly referenceyou, Adrian, you know, like
finding cars on the continentand bringing them back.
That was a real kind of corepart of what you were doing,
wasn't it, in the early days?
Yeah, well,

Speaker 03 (03:57):
that made all the difference.
I mean, like us all, likeeveryone, we've got our dreams.
And I can remember thinkingthat, You know, when I was
starting a business, I want tobe dealing with Porsche because
I really liked them.
And it was the only thing thatI used to drive that didn't fall
apart on me.
However, the reality of doingthat was really, really

(04:20):
difficult, especially down herein Cornwall.
But by a fluke or a chance orwhatever, I ended up tapping
into buying them in Germany andwhich is really, in a way, where
Richard came in, because whenthey came in, you had to MOT
them, you had to register them,you had to check them and change

(04:41):
your lights and do things likethat.
And Richard ran a businesswithin a mile of me.
And I remember him phoning upand saying, I'm Richard
Williams, got the garage at thetop.
If you need any help, pleaseget in touch.
And of course, that's how ourassociation really started.

(05:02):
And although I've been doing itfor 30 odd years, Richard has
been looking after them for moreor less the same amount of time
and has gone through almost asmany cars as I have.
So that's where his depth ofmechanical experience came from.

Speaker 01 (05:20):
What was your first exposure to a Porsche sports car
then that started this passion?

Speaker 02 (05:29):
Well, I mean, we met, I know Adrian, I introduced
myself to him, you know, ourbusiness was very close to where
Adrian was working from.
But I learned my trade at aLancia dealership and fell for
that product.
And alongside the Porsche, youdid bring in the odd Integrale

(05:49):
and several M3s.
And that was our firstcommunication was over an
Integrale.
Because we had a problem withit.
Somebody had informed Adrian.
that uh i might well know whati was doing on them and he
brought it to us we managed torepair it and that's where i
felt hell i don't have fancygetting involved in these fancy
porsches that he's bringing inas well and um you know just

(06:11):
seeing them going past ourgarage maybe the way he drove
them as well and i'm thinking iwant a piece of that action that
seems good to us so I wasdetermined to learn them.
And, you know, with Adrian'shelp and his generosity at the
time of allowing me to use them,drive them, experience them,
and then the passion comes, youknow, as you go along.

(06:33):
So, yeah, it was definitely offthe back of Adrian that I
managed to experience the driveof them.
My absolute first passion forthem was we ran, as a family,
traditional Essel garages.
Yeah.
And...
When you re-signed with Esso,they would come to the party and

(06:55):
say, sell our fuel for anotherfive years.
You know, what can we do foryou?
Well, this was right on thestage, especially in Cornwall,
probably a bit behind the times,of leaving attended service and
going to, you know,self-service.
And they sent down one of theirin-house design guys, and he

(07:16):
turned up in a 964.
He jumped out, he had apinstripe suit on, and there's a
lad from CallingtonComprehensive School looking at
this guy.
I thought, wow, this is thereal, what a look.
You know, good looking guy,pinstripe suit, red 964.
I thought, this is my dream.
This is where I'm heading.
This is what I want.
And unbelievably, he was alocal gent.

(07:40):
He'd lived in Bubby Tracy.
And six years ago, I had aphone call.
I picked up the phone.
Gentleman started telling meabout a 964 he'd had since new.
And I was asking him thequestion.
He said, it's done over 250,000miles.
I want to have it refurbed, butI want it to carry on being
usable.
And I said, okay.

(08:01):
I said, a lot of mileage.
What did you do?
He said, oh, I used to work forEssel.
No way.
I said, oh, my good God.
I said, okay.
I've met you.
I said, I have met you.
You came to our garage.
I can remember.
I said, you started it all.
And he came down.
He also brought an E-Type downhere as well that we worked on.
And, yeah, that was where itreally started.

(08:23):
How fantastic is that?
And to have that come backaround and him still own it.
And, yeah, it was a 250,000miles appropriate conditioned
car.
But he wanted it back allworking.
And, yeah, that was good to do.
That's amazing.
That was really

Speaker 01 (08:37):
good

Speaker 06 (08:37):
to do.
Yeah.
Love that story.
Fantastic.

Speaker 01 (08:39):
Did he still have the suit?
That's the question.
Did it still fit?
He wasn't looking quite

Speaker 02 (08:44):
as chipper as he did probably maybe 30-odd years
ago.
But yeah, he still had an edge.
He had the

Speaker 01 (08:51):
look, but he had the worn look like the 964 did.
A

Speaker 02 (08:55):
matched

Speaker 01 (08:56):
pair, as we say.
That is the very best thing.
Andy and I were having asimilar conversation on the
journey down about the beauty ofclassic cars and how they start
conversations, they startconnections.
And they literally startjourneys, you know, and that is
a real full circle moment thatyou've had there, Richard.

(09:16):
That is

Speaker 02 (09:16):
so cool.
The grounding of what myparents, how hard they made us
work and the traditional garageand how good customer service we
gave.
Our alignment of myself andAdrian, it made it easy for us,
you know, because we could,yeah, we've looked after people.
We've done

Speaker 01 (09:36):
a good job.
Love

Speaker 02 (09:37):
that

Speaker 01 (09:37):
story.
That is

Speaker 03 (09:38):
awesome.
Adrian, what about yourself?
So my father, I'm not certainI'm proud to mention this.
I usually tell people that hewas a motorcycle dealer, so I
grew up with motorcycles, but heactually sold a few
three-wheelers.
Reliant Robins.
And, of course, I was desperateto get my hands on anything

(10:04):
that actually had a wheel on it.
Each corner, you know, this wasa really important thing to
stop you tipping over, itseemed.
And I liked my driving, onething or another.
And my dad went and bought offa friend of the Porsche family a
911 Targa, a 73 car.
It would have been a 2.4e inthat sort of goldy-yellow

(10:28):
metallic colour.
And I was beside myself.
I thought, this is a properpiece of kit.
He'd had Lotus, he'd had allsorts of stuff.
But, you know, this Porsche, itturned up.

Speaker 06 (10:38):
And how old were you at that time?

Speaker 03 (10:39):
I'd have been 17.
Wow, formative.
So I was ready to get my handson it.
And then he wrote it off thesame week.
He got himself a bit out ofbalance between adventure and...
and skill level, and he wrotethis thing off.

(11:00):
And I was beside myself withanger, really.
And so that was my firstexperience of really, really
wanting one.
And then all the other stuff Iused to drive, you know, the
brakes would fail or this orthey'd wear out wheel bearings
or they'd blow up on me orwhatever.
And I started getting involvedin things like, well, the first

(11:25):
one was early 924.
which you couldn't break.
You couldn't go that fast, butyou couldn't break.
And 94 turbos and 4.4 turbosand 911s and it just sort of,
you know, those cars worked andI loved the motorsport heritage.
You know, I was alwaysinterested in motorsport.
I was always doing stuffmyself, usually rallying.

(11:48):
And, you know, that connectionwith that look through the car
where you see the driver and thelittle quarter window of a sort
of air-cooled Porsche and thebig rev counter in the middle,
you know, shooting down Le Mans,down the Mulsanne Strait at 230

(12:09):
miles an hour or something,that every time you get in the
911, you see that and I think,oh yeah, this is a proper piece
of cake.
You know, this is like beingdeveloped somewhere, probably,
you know.
It's not being developed inAmerica by Elon.
This is proper gear.

Speaker 02 (12:28):
I think maybe the original advert sort of, the
tagline should have been, Adriancan't break these.
I think he would have beenquite renowned for pushing
things to their limits, youknow, back in the day.
It's

Speaker 01 (12:45):
his testing of engineering.

Speaker 02 (12:47):
Absolutely.
It makes me smile when he talksabout his dad sold three
wheelers because although welive 10 miles apart, I was very
aware of Adrian Crawford.
And, um, i believe that most ofhis rs2000s he returned to
three wheels

Speaker 01 (13:04):
quite the reputation yeah yeah for sure what um yeah
because again you know like thethe i guess the the backbone of
like the early business daysfor you adrian especially from
like this modern perspectivereally interesting with yeah
that they import and export ofof those cars because It was so
much more difficult to do now.
And from our previousconversations you've had, you

(13:26):
were good at it and it wasprolific and far more
straightforward.
But I'd love to know how yougot into that.
And I'm sure there's some funnystories along the way as well.
Well, I

Speaker 03 (13:37):
used to always take the Sunday Times.
And the first thing I'd do isturn to the motor in pages in
the classified because you getthe odd little gem out of that.
And there's an advert in there.
And it said, I'm in Germany.
I export Integralis E30 M3s,Mercedes Evolution, Porsche 911.
And call me.

(14:00):
Thank you.
And I called and couldn't get aresponse.
And advert was out next week.
You know, not letting this die.
I'm calling again.
And it was Matt Bernard.
And I flew across and...
And I picked up, my first carwas a 190 Evolution, in a

(14:23):
Cosworth Evo.
And that was all the money Ihad in the world, and then stuff
that I'd scraped together fromother places.
And Bernard turned up in an 83911 SC cab in Nugget, Brown.
Done like 44 kilometres orsomething, you know, first

(14:43):
paint, summer use, full checkheft.
everything right about it andfell free i said bernard how
much is that you know and itworked out i think a deutschmark
was like 134 or something likethat and it worked out about 11
grand 10 grand or something andi thought i'm buying 911 scs

(15:05):
from people that have bouncedoff every curb in london you
know for like 10 or 11 grand andselling them for 12 or 13,000
or something.
And you could buy this brandnew 83 cab that looked like it
had come out of someone's sockdrawer for nothing.

(15:26):
And that was it.
So as soon as the Mercedes hadgone, then I was back to
Bernard.
And then he would be sending mestuff.
And then after a while, thebest bits were bringing them
back.
because, you know, you were onholiday.
So everything's legal onholiday.
And you were also in Germany.

(15:47):
And, you know, I'd bring themback on export plates.
So they'd have like a week ortwo weeks of export plates.
That was the first of it.
And it was just like theworld's most fantastic drive
back, you know.
Would they have all been

Speaker 06 (16:01):
left-hand drive

Speaker 03 (16:02):
at the time?
Yeah, yeah.
So that was my gig, really, isthat I would advertise them I've
got copies of the adverts evennow, but it would be something
like, you know, if you're fed uplooking at poor condition,
over-described right-handdrives, then I've got the
solution.
You know, as long as you don'tmind sitting on the other side

(16:25):
of the car, you can buy theself-same thing with less
mileage, newer models, so it'slike, you know, you've turned
off in a three-litre SC.
If that was a right-hand driveat the time, it would have been
like 12, 13 grand.
If it was a left-hand drive,you could have had maybe a G50
with 50,000 kilometres on it,first paint, summer use, you

(16:47):
know, for the same money.
And so that appealed to peoplethat were usually in London and
they'd either be Europeans orBrits that had lived overseas
or...
People like me that just gotfed up looking at rubbish.
And I hadn't I had a website in96.

(17:12):
So that was like really early.
It's taken me nearly 30 yearsto work out why I only sold to
it.
telecoms and banking becausethey were the only ones that had
a website as well so i waspeering out one window and they
looking in the same window youknow so um and i think that that

(17:33):
was um you know obviously didit with a lot of planning but um
i none at all it was puresurvival but that's that's how
it started and then we used toget You know, up at Richard's
Garage, you'd get the gent inthe house opposite, a name I
never knew, who phoned me, andsay, Adrian, your transport has

(17:58):
arrived, you know, and it'd be10 to 7 on a Tuesday night, you
know, and you'd go up there andthere'd be all these lines of...
Amazing.

Speaker 02 (18:07):
Turning up to a sleepy village in Cornwall, you
can imagine the little rumoursabout these guys bringing these
cars in and there's no numberplates on them.
You know, what is going on?
We might have played on that alittle

Speaker 01 (18:24):
bit.
It was because there'sobviously there's that slight,
these days, that slightdifferentiation between like
left and hand drive and righthand drive cars here in in the
uk has that changed or alwayslike say back in the day was it
easier to sell someone aleft-hand drive car or was it
harder

Speaker 03 (18:44):
well when i first started it they were about 30
percent cheaper so you know icould sell one to you lee and
have a better car and you'dstill be you know 20 ahead or 10
ahead um so I was selling themon quality and price.
And frankly, you know, you'reonly like a metre from where you

(19:08):
would normally criticise.
You know, if you were drivingwith your missus, you're quite
capable of sitting on theleft-hand side criticising her
driving.
You know, so you can judge howto drive a car from either side,
no problem at all.
A little bit of confidenceneeded.
As the exchange rate changedand, you know, towards the end

(19:30):
of the 90s, we had that rip-offBritain thing where everyone
realised that the Europeans weregetting things cheaper than us.
So our new car prices camedown.
I remember like a Boxster atthe time was about 44 grand.
And in Europe, it's 35 grand,you know, brand new.
So we brought all our pricesdown.
That sort of impacted the usedmarket.

(19:52):
And then the exchange ratebegan to change.
And, you know, by then we'dbeen into the Euro.
And by the time that your carcame in from Switzerland, that
was the last of it in 2000.
So nowadays, if I have a carthat turned up from Europe in,
say, 2002, I'd be like, why didthat turn up?

(20:15):
Because it was no longercommercially viable to do so.
Yeah.
So yours would have been thelast of it.
And the Swiss thing had a fewlittle wrinkles because there
might have been elements therethat those cars could have been

(20:38):
cheaper.
They had very, very nice carsand they could have been cheaper
and they were sort of a smallermarket because the Europeans or
the Germans, which was the mainbuyer of them, wouldn't really
want a Swiss one because of thelow power.

Speaker 04 (20:54):
Okay.

Speaker 03 (20:55):
Interesting.
So they would rather buy onefrom Berlin or wherever else in
Germany or even in Europe ratherthan the Swiss.
So the Swiss always had aslightly lower value.
And

Speaker 06 (21:10):
that was because they had additional emissions.

Speaker 03 (21:13):
Emissions.
So a bit like the Americancars.
Yeah, I think a 3.2 was a 217horsepower car rather than our
full-fat 232.
And the American was, I don'tknow, 220 or something like
that.
Ah, interesting.
Yeah, so that was a backgroundwith it.
So then, you know, when themarkets change like that, it

(21:34):
takes a little bit of time,but...
it flipped over then wherewe're selling them back to
Europe.
So if you've got a nice Germancar, you can sell it back to a
German and they'll be happyenough with that.
But you're selling it at adiscount to their market then.

Speaker 06 (21:53):
Yeah.
So I recently sold, well, itwas a couple of years ago now, I
sold my left-hand drive 993 andthat's gone to Spain.
And that was obviously, as yousaid, the tables had turned in
that it's more attractive overthere than it is in the UK now.
Yeah, very interesting.

Speaker 03 (22:10):
Yeah, that's how it's gone.
For me, probably Richard wouldback me up on this.
If I was buying an air-cooledcar, you know, G Series, F
Series, 993, I would prefer totake a left hand.
I'm...
Only recently I discovered thatI wasn't six foot, I was

(22:32):
actually five foot ten.
I've been telling people I'msix foot all my life, you know,
so it's like that fish story,you know.
Anyhow, I discovered I was onlyfive foot ten.
A midget.
Can you say that?

Speaker 02 (22:47):
It's not just his height

Speaker 03 (22:48):
he's

Speaker 02 (22:48):
discovered.
He's been over-exaggerating forquite some time now.
If you

Speaker 03 (22:55):
can't say midget, an MG midget, it's a little car,
you know.
And where were we?
Preferring left-hand drive.
And just like the ergonomics onthem with the offset pedals and
stuff, work better as aleft-hand drive, you know.
Totally agree with that.
So...
I would always go in thatdirection.

Speaker 02 (23:16):
Smile on our face with a left-hand drive turning
up.
You know, both our rally carsare left-hand drive, race cars
left-hand drive, you know, so,yeah, very often walk to the
wrong door, honestly.
We're more in tune with goingto the left-hand side.
I

Speaker 01 (23:32):
think particularly, like, with that era of car, and
again, we said it on the videoof the 911 S there, is your main
driver of a car has got to becondition...
You could buy a really poorright-hand drive car or you
could buy a really nice lefthooker.
The left hooker has surely gotto be the obvious choice because

(23:54):
it's a classic car.
You're not really going to beworrying about overtaking people
anyway, are you?
There's no need for it.
You can enjoy the ride as itis.

Speaker 06 (24:02):
adds to that, you know, there's something
different.
You do go to the wrong side andyou're like, oh yeah, I'm
getting in this car today.
Obviously,

Speaker 02 (24:08):
other than those Swiss ones that they're worth
next to nothing.
Now I know.

Speaker 04 (24:14):
That's where I was going with the Swiss
conversation.
I'm going to

Speaker 03 (24:17):
lever it out of you.
He's trying to buy it from me.
To me, the left-hand andright-hand thing now is almost a
sideshow because the cars havegot that much older.
In...
In broad terms, yes, you mightfind a better left hand if
you're looking at a classic.
But the market is so varied,you know?

(24:43):
And it's so difficult for thenormal man in the street to
discern what is really good andwhat is just shiny and being bid
on or something, you know?
These cars, they're so...
If I was buying a used piano,I'm going to go to a piano

(25:04):
expert because I don't knowanything about pianos other than
they make a noise and mydaughter wants one.
You know?
Such a good analogy.
Yeah.
So I have to go to a pianoexpert because otherwise I'm
just out there judging it onblokey things like how big is
it?
How shiny is it?
And, you know, I like thecolour.

(25:25):
And...
These things, there's nogetting away from it.
They are expensive to restore,to do any major works to.
And it can really contaminatethe market when people have bad
experiences.
Because you have a badexperience, you're going to tell
a few people and then that'snot helping us.

(25:49):
So if we can put people intothe right car, it doesn't have
to be a perfect one.
It could be a project, it couldbe a pile of bits it could be a
perfect one as long as it'sright for them and they know
what they're getting that's thekey do you know what you're
getting into you know any of ushere if we were offered the

(26:09):
thing that we really liked butwe know what we're into you're
home and dry you know you canmake a grown up decision that's
the main thing for me I love thepiano analogy, it's fantastic.
It's great,

Speaker 01 (26:21):
isn't it?
It is great.
I'm certain there must havebeen, Adrian, over the years and
the many kilometres done onthose cars on the European
mainland, I'm certain there'sgot to be a funny story or two
tucked away.
Surely.
I was...

Speaker 03 (26:34):
Most of it relates...
Most driving goes to theEuropean stuff.
But I had a gent in onlyyesterday with a 996 Turbo.
And I think this is aninteresting sort of little
segue, really.
996 Turbo, he's done 103,000miles with it.

(26:56):
He likes his car, but he'sfeeling a little bit tired.
So we're doing a completerefresh on the suspension,
largely.
Suspension and brakes and hisseat.
Because the seat's a bit saggy.
And...
Mechanical side of it, car'sgreat, you know, pulls strong,
gears are nice, body's lovely,interior's lovely.

(27:19):
But he just wants to refresh itand make it feel new again.
And I said to him, I said, oh,Martin, you know, he's, I said,
in my very first 996 Turbo, Isaid, I bought in Strasbourg in
December.
I remember the Christmas marketwas on.
It was in 2001, so this was areally, really new car.

(27:41):
I think it had done about 6,000clicks with a non-sunroof car,
and I bought it for a chap herein the UK.
A number of things happened.
One, I was in Strasbourg, whichI thought was in...
germany but was in france ithought i'd need my flip-flops

(28:03):
but it was actually freezingworse than that they didn't want
to release the car because theyhadn't received the money and
they wouldn't give me thepaperwork and we had this like
weekend thing and a party tothat i wanted to get to on the
way home and one thing anotherand i was going to deliver this
car off yeah it's been a Big oldhoo-ha and whatever.

(28:26):
Eventually, they let me takethe car.
Friday night, I'm driving backat, you know, terminal velocity
in this thing, which is quitequick.
And I get a phone call, andthey say, which port are you
heading to?

(28:46):
And I thought, this sounds likereally, really tricky.
I remember the name of thebusiness as well.
I'd best not give it away here.
Which port are you heading to?
I'm from Cornwall and a bitslow, but I thought, if they're
going to cause trouble, it'sgoing to be at the port I give

(29:08):
them the name to.
So I decided, yeah, that wasthe best I could come up with.
I should have said Amsterdam orsomething, but I didn't think
of it.
And I booked into this hotel,sat on the end of the bed, I
thought I really ought to crybecause I thought this is really
going to go peak-tongue.
I'm going to be in jail.
I don't have any paperwork fora car.

(29:28):
I'm driving in Europe.
I'm on trade plates.
All these things had a degreeof greyness about them.
And I also want to get thisparty as well.
And the next day, a phone callcomes from my German colleague,
and he says, oh, no, no, no,they got your money.
You're all good to go.
So anyway, another high-speedrun back home.

(29:50):
massive great boulder comingdown the motorway at me.
I saw it coming.
It pinged off the bonnet,smashed the windscreen, kept on
going, drove it straight back tomy customer.
He said, what about the dent onthe bonnet?
I said, honestly, I don't care.
I said, it's yours now.

(30:10):
Just get me to my rental carASAP.
I don't care any longer.
It's like...
It was a hell of a run, and italways reminded me, whenever I
have 996 turbos, I think, wow,those cars are good.
Gives you PTSD almost.
Yeah, they were really, reallygood.

(30:32):
Back then I was able to have,A, a really good run, and B, try
one when it was new at highspeed.
That was one of my favouriteroad trips.
I had a few like that.
Brilliant.

Speaker 01 (30:48):
So obviously we know about the phone call, Richard,
that you kind of put into Adrianthen.
When did like, was there likethe formal unification, if you
like, of the Williams Crawfordbusiness?

Speaker 02 (31:00):
Well, we, you know, become friends over the
unofficial business together ofAdrian selling and myself
prepping.
And we both decided to changeit up a little bit.
Adrian had moved away from aproperty and and was going to
slow down the operation a littlebit.
It was hugely busy, and I thinkyou were going to take up

(31:24):
sailing at the time.
You were going to learn to sailuntil you let yourself down in
front of a few people locally,but the plan was going to be
sailing.
There is truth in that.
There's still a couple ofpictures locally that we could
get up.
And I, for the traditionalgarage, my parents, Parents were

(31:46):
retiring and we had multiplesites at the time and I was
going to split up the one that Iwere running at the time and
the petrol forecourt and the carsales and the workshop.
So I was going to do more carsales, try and take it a little
bit easier and start to feel thelove for it again.
We did that separately and usedto compete a little bit about

(32:09):
car sales and bounce the balloff each other and possibly
were...
not enjoying it as much as Ithought, missed the amount of
customers, missed the amount ofexcitement, and we went for a
walk one evening, and we live inthe same village, went for a
walk one evening, there was afive-bar gate, and he was one

(32:31):
side, I was the other, and Ibelieve, to my memory, I said,
what about if we let thehandbrake off your business, and
let's give it a go together?
Why don't we And he must haveover a week moment said, go on
then.
Let's do it.
What do you remember, Adrian?

Speaker 01 (32:53):
I don't remember any of that.
A very good bottle of wine.
Beforehand, yeah.
Especially the sailing

Speaker 03 (33:00):
bit.
But yeah, it seemed like itwas, I think I was getting a bit
dull and bored because althoughit was working nicely and I
enjoyed the cars and, you know,I'm a nice life out of it and
things.
I like excitement.
I like a challenge.

(33:20):
That's why we're humans, isn'tit?
Because we want more.
We want to do more.
If we weren't like that, we'dall be living in the cave.
So bringing Richard's knowledgeabout the service side of it
into the business, moving thebusiness just down the road from

(33:43):
here, actually, into a unit, itseemed only sensible that we
might just benefit from servicecustomers buying cars and people
we sold cars to buying service.
That seemed like, you know, whydid I miss that over the years?
And the reason is I neverwanted to expand the business at

(34:06):
the time.
So we went and I remember welooked at a little unit down
here and we could get, I don'tknow, like 10 or 12 cars in it
or something.
We thought that was big enough.
And I said, well, let's justtake the other one, which was
like twice the size.
And let's see, you know, let'sdo that.

(34:28):
And that's what we did.
And that's what sort of startedthe Williams Crawford thing.
And it's...
A bit of a zigzaggy journey,you know, and there's some
little bumps in the road thatyou've got to overcome.
But the overall thing is thatwith the people we attract, we

(34:51):
get really, really good people.
You know, that 99.9% of themyou'd sit down and have a coffee
with.
They're nice people.
They...
genuinely share your passionfor it.
You know, that's, I'm sure thatyou guys find the same thing.
They share the passion.
They're willing to, they'reencouraging your success.

(35:14):
You know, they're just pleasedto find people that can talk in
their language, I suppose.
And it's hard to let go ofthat.
And You know, we've obviouslyexpanded it because Richard and
I have both got this thing wherewe keep saying yes to people.
You know, whatever you want,it's a yes.
But, yeah, that's the core ofit.

(35:39):
The people that you get in thePorsche world, I think, are
generally reasonably wellsorted, whether they've got a
Boxster or they've got somethingreally more exotic.
They're reasonably well sortedbecause otherwise the most
sensible thing is to buy a Iundie with an eight-year
warranty, isn't it?
If they want transportation,that's your good plan.

(36:02):
So, yeah, that's how it sort ofhappened.

Speaker 01 (36:07):
Awesome.
And then, like, reference theamount of variety there is in
the showroom in the present day.
Was that always a consciousdecision from the both of you
that we're going to, as long asit's got Stuttgart prancing
horse on the front, we'reinterested?
I know there's a couple ofextra...
bits and pieces down there aswell.
But yeah, how did you kind offormulate what you like to work

(36:29):
with?
I

Speaker 02 (36:30):
believe, you know, looking in when Adrian was, you
know, we were workingseparately, I always thought the
cars would be the appeal.
You know, wow, I didn't realisethat the customers were going
to be the biggest appeal becausethe people that they attract,
as Adrian rightfully says,99.9%, coffee you'd have them at

(36:53):
home they're lovely and andthey're interesting and yeah
yeah it's such good customerbase with the product um it has
to interest us and it has to fitin with our vision of the car
being able to match it to acustomer or If it's a

(37:17):
non-product, if it's a minimocha of Cosworth or, you know,
Renault Clio, it has to have aninterest to us or a story with
it for us to be interested.
And as we've brought more andmore expertise in, we've got
Graham from 356, you know,anything, if it's air-cooled, an

(37:38):
expert.
And then with the modernworkshop moving, so...
the more people you boat intoyour business and as it grows
naturally and we keepencouraging it all the time to
bring the next in, bring thenext in, our range just gets
bigger and bigger and bigger.

Speaker 03 (37:54):
We looked at, I remember having a conversation
where Richard and I were like,do we want to have such a big
business?
You know, we sort of like haveto go to the next level or maybe
we can suppress it and enjoy itthe way it was.
And I remember we had aconversation that would have
gone along the lines of, shouldwe just do service?

(38:16):
Should we just do sales?
Should we just do air-cooled?
Should we just do moderns?
And the snag with all of thatis that the customer base that
we built up, a lot of them wouldhave all of that.
They'd have your modern andyour classic, and they'd be
doing a bit of maintenance andbuying and selling.
So how can you say to someone,well, I can sell you a 997, but

(38:39):
I don't want anything to do withyour 911 2.4.
You know, you're serving thecustomer.
And so we gave up with thatidea.
I don't know how long it tookus to figure it out.
Some time probably.

Speaker 02 (38:54):
But we, with, you know, you have a customer in
America that we can restore carsfor, but we'll turn up here in
a new one.
Yeah.
And to feel we can look afterhim everything, all of his
fleet.
And also for the local manthat's got a 924 and 986

(39:15):
Boxster, we want to be able tolook after him as well.
That's really important to usthat everybody can come here.
Everyone's welcome.
Everybody's welcome andeverybody should have the same
service.
We are so proud of our staffthat...
If I walk through the showroomand there's a gent there, I'll
say, you've been looked after,sir.
He said, you're the thirdperson to ask me that.

(39:36):
You know, the girl.
That's what we love about theplace.
Really, really important to me,us, to have people looked
after, no matter what Porschethey have.

Speaker 06 (39:49):
Talking of staff, how many strong are you

Speaker 02 (39:51):
now?
Including Adrian and I, Ibelieve it's 28 now.
Wow.

Speaker 06 (39:57):
Sizeable.
Sizeable.
Packed a lot of people in thislittle spot in Cornwall.

Speaker 01 (40:02):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, you say, yeah,like little.
I think this place is like...
massive to be honest yeah ihaven't done the tour yet yeah
the the workshop i think lasttime i was here was it like it
was eight ramps i think

Speaker 02 (40:14):
um yeah there's i think it's 11 but is it okay wow
yeah you're not that good yeahyeah yeah that's right you would
clean out

Speaker 01 (40:23):
yeah yeah i mean that is yeah you know that's
that that's big and then againyou know the the showroom itself
is like a labyrinth you followand there's another little gem
over there and then there andthen obviously like at the you
follow that through to the otherside of the building.
And that's like your, I guess,special projects might be the
best way to put it.
Yeah.

(40:44):
When was that

Speaker 02 (40:45):
born?
Just you're about like, youknow, the rabbit warren of the
workshop and then up the back.
And then sometimes when you'rehere day to day, you're busy and
you're dealing with customersand you're walking around and
you've got other stuff on andyou're possibly not looking at
everything that's going on here.
Yeah.
You go home of an evening and,and you have a customer do a

(41:05):
video of the place and post iton his Facebook and I'll sit
there and watch it and Icouldn't be any prouder.
You know, when you're at homeand you're, you know, back with
the family and, you know, in agood place and you're just
watching it and think, hell,that all goes on all day, every
day and, you know, we're a bigpart of that.
We're not, it's not just Adrianand I, we're just a big part of

(41:28):
it and yeah, it makes us very,very proud.

Speaker 03 (41:32):
Do you remember that there was a Porsche advert
years and years ago, I don'tknow, probably 20 years ago, it
was a TV advert and it was aboy, it was, I always thought of
it as boy on the bike and itshowed this young lad and he's
looking in the show.

Speaker 06 (41:43):
997, wasn't it?
I can't remember.

Speaker 03 (41:45):
But you know, looking in the window and you
think, oh God, you know, andthen I was here one night You
know, it was all closed andwhatever.
I'll show him lights were on.
I was looking in the window.
I thought, I'm the boy on thebike.
You know, that's me.
You can't imagine that you endup with this scenario going on.

(42:09):
There's no, I think whateveryou're passionate about, if you
follow it, then that's the rightpath for you.

Speaker 06 (42:18):
That lives in your strapline, doesn't it?
Passion for Porsche.

Speaker 03 (42:23):
It does indeed, yeah.
Or Porsche, should I

Speaker 06 (42:25):
say.

Speaker 03 (42:26):
I don't care how you say it.
How do you say it in Cornwall?
What's your

Speaker 06 (42:30):
preference?

Speaker 01 (42:34):
Yes, so talk to us about the special projects or
special works division.
How did that come about?
Because there's loads going onat the back there.

Speaker 02 (42:42):
I think as it started to grow, we could see
that the modern servicing, andwhen I say modern, you know,
water, so that was run in aslightly different way to the
care that some of the air coolsneeded, that maybe our

(43:03):
experience, being able to engagewith the customer, really
listen to what the usage of hiscar was going to be, and then
finding out what he had, tellinghim the truth, of what he had
rather than what he thought hehad maybe bought or owned.
And then being able to walkalongside him and improve over a

(43:24):
period of time, learn hisvehicle, learn the customer,
that had to be a little bitslower than day-to-day, in and
out servicing and clutches andall the rest of it.
So that's where that side ofthe building started to take
shape that, oh, that will be onefor...
special wishes.

(43:45):
And when you start to build upthat with the customer and then
he starts to reveal his othercars in his collection, we
already knew the customer.
We just then had to learn hisnext car or if it's not Porsche,
maybe sometimes.
But that's really how thatstarted.
Then we started to have theinquiries of, well, we like the

(44:09):
we've looked up the singer youknow can you back date and agent
said earlier the answer wasalways yes and then we would
carry on and fulfill so

Speaker 03 (44:22):
well i see that i i see this thing for the future
whereby i think 997 sixes andback i think that these cars are
perfect to be revitalized,modernized, made, not

(44:42):
necessarily made new again, butmade new for the owners again.
I think that there's a growingsector of people that will like
the attributes of those oldercars that um do you know anyone
like that lee

Speaker 01 (45:00):
well i've been trying my best to fluff that one
for the last few years but yeah

Speaker 03 (45:05):
but they're smaller and more agile the roads have
got tighter and you know they'reeven more suitable for today's
motor in than they were probablyback then and so i i think that
we're seeing that and we'vejust done a safari build on a A
little 3.2 for a gentleman thatlives abroad but also has a home

(45:29):
in London.
And people said, you know,what's he going to use it for?
Is he entering the Dakar?
I said, no, he's probablyentering his local Domino's
Pizza.
But he can go over the curb andpark on the verge.
And, you know, it looks cool.
It drives great.

(45:50):
And I think Richard's gotsomeone coming in now for a
Cayenne build.
Yeah, tomorrow.
Oh, wow.
A Safari Cayenne build.
And I'm not saying Safari isthe new thing, but I think that
when people reinvest in thesecars, they can choose...
They can choose a style thatsuits them.

(46:11):
It might be a hot rod style.
It might be slightly modifiedor just modernized.
It could be all sorts ofthings.
I think

Speaker 05 (46:19):
Porsche

Speaker 03 (46:19):
are great for that.
We'd all stand here, look outthe window, and if you saw a
Boxster turn up as a something,you know, a speedster.
um, style.
We'd all be out there lookingat it thing.
And this is fantastic.
You know, you can accept itwith, with this, this, um,
brand.
And I'd love that.

Speaker 01 (46:40):
Yeah.
With, with UK cars.
Well, it's not the cars.
It's, it's the clientele, theUK enthusiast market.
We've always, we tended to be abit of a stickler for like
originality in comparison to theYanks, for example, that are
really happy to modify theircars and whatnot.
Um, Obviously, Andy and I, thetwo of us, we have modified

(47:02):
Porsches.
We see the draw to it.
Do you feel that in recentyears that is changing in the
British market and enthusiastsare a little bit more happy to
modify the cars or are you stillseeing people that want a
fastidious factory specrestoration?

Speaker 03 (47:18):
We get both and we're capable of doing both.
We're capable of doing aworld-class restoration on cars.
cars.
The guys have just come backfrom Essen and had a look
around, seeing if there's peoplethere doing something that's
significantly different to us.
And quality-wise, we can copewith that.
We've got the expertise onair-cooled, because we remember

(47:43):
how they should be and whichnuts and bolts should have gone
on to them.
We've got the expertise on the356, because you know, Graham...
can genuinely build a car outof bits that you collect off the
floor.
You know, like dust and rust.
He can make a new one out ofit.
So you get that part of it.

(48:06):
But I think that thispersonality that you can put
into a car is a really importantpart of it.
And it makes me slightly...
uncomfortable when i hear thatsomeone's taken a car for

(48:28):
restoration somewhere and theshop have said we will only do
it back to the original spec theoriginal color it's their car
they can choose we'd help themwith like choosing something
that um It's like baking a cake.
I don't do that.

(48:48):
But I'm just imagining baking acake that, you know, you need
the right ingredients for it totaste nice and look great.
And it's the same on a car.
You could have the wrongingredients and the thing just
doesn't work that well.
We're really well placed toadvise people on that.

(49:09):
And I think this feeling thatyou've got something special,
it's unique to you, you've putsome personality into it We love
that.
And the thing is, it seems tome that whatever we represent,
whether we're passionate aboutit or we like certain things,

(49:34):
you tend to get that followingback.
So we don't get so many peoplethat will count the rivets.
We'll get...
Guys like you two.
You know, that's just, thatwould be typical.

Speaker 01 (49:50):
It's like, there's three, if you can simplify it,
which is difficult because it'sa complex subject, but there's
almost like three main arterialroutes to go down when it comes
to restoration.
You've either got your exactingfactory spec, the other end of
the spectrum entirely is theall-out complete change,

(50:11):
layering, modification.
But then there's that middleground, which perhaps, you know,
like say your car, Andy, maytread down, which we've
discovered might not even be athree litre now, might be
slightly different.
But a car that, you know, hashad its engine rebuilt, it's
been given a bit of extra pep,but to look at that car is
stock.
And, you know, I mean, like the76 or the 911 S, sorry, the Oak

(50:35):
Green metallic car driven acouple of weeks ago, you know,
that again just had...
couple of really small but Ithink crucial details like the
suspension refresh the classicretrofit electric air
conditioning which like reallyenhances the the user experience
with that car yeah but but youknow there's so much about that
car that's still really faithfuland really original we have

Speaker 02 (50:58):
I've got an old motorbike of my dad's and it's
an old BSA well as a child Iremember him having it and it's
just as I remember him owningthat bike and I have customers
come in and not criticise it,but will say, oh, that
mudguard's not off a BSAsomething, something.
I said, yeah, but it was mydad's.

(51:19):
So, you know, for me, I don'tcare.
And we have customers withPorsche that say, oh, I've
strozak kits or something onthem.
And I said, oh, wow, you knowthat?
He said, yeah, but that was mydad's.
And that's how it's staying.
And like, fantastic, isn't it?
You know, they're so personalto the person.

(51:40):
And if somebody wants tolightweight it, you know, more
performance, better braking, airconditioning, power steering,
absolutely.
And I think it's the Porschetakes that.
I think the...
upgrades are genuine upgradesthey don't take anything away
from the car i think it

Speaker 01 (51:59):
only adds to it you really do definitely and it only
you know if you're paying thebills that's the opinion that
ultimately matters yeah nonobody else

Speaker 02 (52:07):
with

Speaker 01 (52:07):
advice

Speaker 02 (52:08):
because there's there's time we'll say you can
do it please you do what youlike but maybe this matches well
with that you know they get inthe balance yeah for sure so
that if you are what's yourusage What you're going to do,
sprinting hill climbs,fantastic.
You know, this class with aroad car, with a little bit of
safety and a little bit of this,you're good to go.

(52:29):
Maybe don't concentrate ongoing down that route because
that's taking it away from yourmain purpose of the car, you
know.
So it's lovely to hear theirstory and then match the car
with our input or no input,depending on, you know, how
strong the customer is.
But we enjoy that very

Speaker 01 (52:48):
much.
It seems like there's a lot ofvariety involved out the back
there again particularly likereference g-body cars and
obviously as we well know andand andy you might even be a
little bit responsible for thisbut where there's there has been
that rise in value of thosecars and certainly like more
wide interest among enthusiastsin acquiring that car over the
last couple of years.

(53:08):
Not those Swiss ones, though.
Not the underpowered Swissengines.
Sorry, I just

Speaker 02 (53:13):
want to be clear

Speaker 01 (53:15):
on Andy's.
Andy's next to worthless.
Anyway, sorry, carry on.
But, you know, yeah, when theywere...
When they were, you know, 10,20 grand cars, the people were
kind of more happy to fiddlewith them and X, Y, Z.
But where the value increasesthere, perhaps it does
encourage...

(53:35):
a slightly different viewpoint.
But again, there seems to stillnevertheless be a lot of
variety in the back where peopleare playing with those cars.
And

Speaker 02 (53:43):
also you've got the vantage here.
If you bring a little bit of ahot rod and it's coming in and
we have a chance to sell it, ourpassion for being able to, you
know, Adrian on a walk aroundWednesday will be able to pick
that car out and say, no, thisisn't for the purists.
But, brace yourself I've justbeen down it handles it breaks
it does it you know you get thatacross to somebody at home

(54:07):
that's saying hell that's what Ifancy that's my Porsche
experience I want it to be thatI don't want to find an excuse
not to use that car we havepeople want to make them perfect
but they're going essentiallyto a museum or to storage other
people want to be able to have aSunday morning say I'm off to

(54:29):
get the paper and And I'm takingmy Porsche, and I'm going to do
a 50-mile rip around and getthe paper.
And yeah, if it gets a carparked, then hey-ho.
But I'm having my experience ofthe Porsche, and that's lovely
that everybody gets thatopportunity.

Speaker 03 (54:43):
We had a 356 here that had had a full restoration,
and there was some argumentover the original colour of it.
And this goes all the way backto the fact that Porsche would
build you what you wanted ifyou'd pay for it.
So they were modifying cars,even though they, you know, that

(55:04):
word possibly wasn't in usage,but they would build you what
you wanted.
And we had this three, five,six, and there was some like
argument over whether we paintedit the right color.
And then we painted it, youknow, like off whitey color,
because that was on the originalcard X.
It's what the customer wanted.

(55:26):
But we also found evidence thatit had been delivered in a blue
colour.
And it turned out that ashipping magnate wanted it for
his wife.
Their flag was this light bluecolour.
When they bought it fromPorsche, Porsche took a white
one, they painted it blue, stuckit on the transporter, shipped

(55:49):
it to the bloke, took his money,job done.
And so what colour should thatcar be?

Unknown (55:55):
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 03 (55:56):
the car is delivered in or the color it was so i
like that i mean it it takes alittle bit of working out what
what on earth had happened tothis car but um yeah anyway it's
white now

Speaker 01 (56:15):
what um what about like the racing because
certainly like in your sparetime you guys are out racing
cars all over the place So wherewas that love for competition?
Where did that come from?
Well,

Speaker 02 (56:32):
I think from myself and my father, motorsport, but
F2 stock cars and hill climbs.
So when I was younger, I wasalways around it.
always afar you know our localWarrington Hill climb and just
seeing the modified cars and theway they were being used and

(56:53):
ever since I passed me test Imean it would be one chaos to
the next and trying to improveand trying to go faster and you
know the advantage of being inthe motor trade and working for
your parents insurance yeahwhere all my friends were having
to consider you know theirFiesta had to be a 1.1 I could
drive an RS2000 so hell It waseasy to get into motorsport

(57:17):
because you could always ensurethe kit.
It wasn't the most valuablething on the road, but it was
quick and you could let yourselfdown in it.
When we got together and we dida little bit of twin shock,
motorbike racing really didtogether and that was enjoyable
and a group of friends.
And then as we were gettingolder and we were starting to

(57:37):
cover the ground probably a bitfaster, we saw the odd person
hurting themselves.
Maybe it was time to focus backon the cars.
Adrian's Motorsport is, youknow, a proper different level
to mine, historically.
But now, to race that product,to go to these events, to share

(57:57):
with our friendship group,customers that have become
friends, friends that havebecome customers.
Wow.
You know, it's dream stuff.
And I don't forget that.
You know, anytime I look at it,even looking out the window
now, I can see Adrian's rallycar is parked opposite.
And yeah, it puts a smile on myface because I can think of
memories.
You talked earlier aboutAdrian's road trips and coming

(58:20):
back from Europe.
But we went to the ice racedown in Otenmark.
We took down an agent's 911.
We drove down together,exhausted all our conversation.
But it was actually one ofthem, I think it was my sister's
birthday.
So I was flying back.
Adrian was going to drive backfrom Otemark, Austria by

(58:40):
himself.
I think it was 1,200 miles orwhatever.
It's a two-day trip.
And after I flew into London, Ihad a fantastic night at this
party.
Woke up the next morning,looked at my phone, and I had
something like 12 missed callsfrom Adrian.
I thought, what's it doing?
I thought, this might be a bitinteresting.
How's it going, Adrian?
Not great.
It's stuck in third.

(59:02):
Oh, my God.
Oh,

Speaker 05 (59:04):
yeah.

Speaker 02 (59:04):
Well, I didn't have any gears for a while, but I've
managed to reach underneath andI've got third gear.
But you were in...
Belgium at the time in thecapital um in a car park all the
way home 20 you know my flightand a train trip home seemed a

(59:28):
hell of a lot more enjoyablethan Adrian's third year um trip
home from a motorsport event sowe very lucky to do it um very
lucky to be that it's Porscheand

Speaker 03 (59:42):
it's what we absolutely love.
We've got these, um, friendshipgroup, customers, friendship
group, um, probably half a dozenold Porsche.
And sometimes we'll all goplaces together.
We've done so many events wherewe've all driven there, done
the event, driven back, youknow, bronze, silver, gold
award, bronze is getting there,silver's doing it, gold's

(01:00:04):
getting home in one piece.
And we've, you know, we've,That's like in these ancient old
Porsche and we're travelling inminus 14 in the snow in
blizzards and stuff to do a sixand a four hour ice race on
studs that we acquire when we'redown there and then you drive

(01:00:28):
home again and we've done that afew times and we've done other
types of events like it.
It gives you a realappreciation for the car and
Just like going on to thepresent day, the car that Andy,
you're going to try later, ormaybe both of you will try
later, is my rally car.
It's just come back from CostaBrava, FIA rally over there.

(01:00:50):
The entry was unbelievable.
I've never been amongst suchhigh quality historic cars, all
doing a proper competition.
But there must have been 30 or40 Group 4 911s there.
They are a really effectivetarmac car in Europe.

(01:01:15):
And I think, I don't know howmany of them made it back onto
their wagons, but most of themdid.
And two years before I did arally in Switzerland the bloody
van broke down in Dijon and Idrove my rally car to
Switzerland did a two and a halfday tarmac round drove it back

(01:01:39):
to Dijon collected the van andcame home towed it home yeah
literally

Speaker 05 (01:01:45):
let me just say

Speaker 03 (01:01:47):
honestly you know that's to me that's good I mean
a real bigger thought is thatour preparation is good You
know, we know how to make thethings work, and we know how to
keep them working.
But come on, I mean, this is a40-, 50-year-old car, and you go

(01:02:08):
there and you thrash your lifeout of this poor little thing.
Mine's more or less a standardcar, just like yours, with
safety gear in it.
And how good is that?
That's like...
That's like real passion.
That makes me feel like I am onthe Mulsanne straight, you
know, back in 1978 or something,you know, doing 200 miles an

(01:02:29):
hour.

Speaker 01 (01:02:29):
Yeah, I think most cars of a similar age are lucky
enough to be present in aphotograph these days, you know,
let alone still out there inthe metal and being used in
historic competition.

Speaker 04 (01:02:40):
Being hammered.

Speaker 02 (01:02:42):
Well, the last time we went to Audemars for the
classic ice race, six cars.
All Porsche.
We travelled from Cornwall,went across on the tunnel, all
the way down.
We raced all week, probablythree different events, as you
said, a six-hour endurance, afour-hour, and then some
regularity stuff.

(01:03:02):
And we all drove pack.
And we had one wiper arm comeoff at Stonehenge in a huge
storm on the way home.
And that was our...
Not a car we prepared.
No, not a car we prepared.
But to drive them down and forall of them to come back, go to
ward throughout.
Yeah, that's...
What else?
Incredible.

Speaker 01 (01:03:23):
What other product would do that?
I'm sorry.
What a way, as you said, to getto know a product and
understand and appreciate it aswell, you know.
Yeah, for sure.
Just before we finish up,obviously, we mentioned at the
top of the podcast, you know,about the geographical location
of you guys.
It's quite unique, isn't it,really?
It feels like you're kind ofdown here.
I'm going to say you're on asailing career, isn't it?

(01:03:44):
We've got to be by the water.
You know, has...
I'm sure that presentsadvantages and disadvantages.
You know, how have you foundthat over the last 30 years,
really?
What's it like?

Speaker 03 (01:03:55):
Well, because originally we were doing this
thing with the left-hand driver.
I was doing this thing with theleft-hand driver.
I was actually using Richard'sfather as my delivery driver.
So he would, you know, I'dsell...
digitally, you know, becauseeven then I had digital pictures

(01:04:15):
and stuff like that.
And if it wasn't as described,when you collect or we deliver,
you can have your money back.
That was always the thing.
So we were selling stuff, orselling stuff into, you know,
all around the country.
I'd saturated this market about31 years ago, you know, in
Saltash.

(01:04:35):
And then for the Europeans thatwere coming over, we always
presented it as part of theadventure.
You know, do you want to buyyour Ferrari in Milan?
Or do you want to buy it inManchester?
I want to buy it in Milan anddrive the thing home, you know?
So we present it like that.

(01:04:58):
And I think now...
We genuinely got a nationwideand worldwide base.
For the people outside of theUK, if they've got a major
repair required, the shippingpart of it is a small part of

(01:05:20):
the cost.
The benefit is that they can doit without stress.
They know that we've got theresources to get it done.
And they've got to pay for itsomewhere along the line,
anyhow.
So it is a challenge.
We do ship cars up and down allthe time.

(01:05:43):
But, you know, with the way theworld is now, we've got the
WhatsApp, we've got live video.
You know, Richard was talkingabout in the special works, or
in the workshop, that...
we'll go down with a videocamera, show people what they're
looking at.
That clarity really helps it.

(01:06:06):
And of course, I think ingeneral, people are getting more
and more used to dealing off acomputer, aren't they?

Speaker 01 (01:06:13):
Yeah, without a doubt.
It's a changing way of howpeople are buying Porsche sports
cars or living out theirpassions, really.
And yeah, as we said, we hadthe most wonderful journey down
today, and I think building itinto the experience makes it
even more Absolutely.
Even more

Speaker 02 (01:06:29):
pleasurable.
The sun's always shining, asyou found out.
Always in Cornwall.
It is.
It is.
100% record so far.
100% record.
That's how it is.
Straight through now untilOctober.
Blue skies.
That's how it runs.

Speaker 01 (01:06:39):
I know you guys, there's going to be a couple of
changes in the showroom comingup.
It'd be lovely to visit againlater this year and just see how
that kind of develops here.
But it's such an incrediblesetup.
It's a clear credit to youboth.

Speaker 05 (01:06:54):
Thank

Speaker 01 (01:06:54):
you very much.
Thank you very much.
Yeah, thanks on that note forsharing your...
your Porsche story with thelisteners here on Nineworks
Radio.
Thank you.

Speaker 02 (01:07:03):
Cheers.

Speaker 00 (01:07:07):
This episode was brought to you by our very kind
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Speaker 05 (01:07:28):
app.

Unknown (01:07:37):
you