I love cars and have had a passion for them for as long as I can remember. The only reason I ever became a car dealer was to own every car I ever wanted to own.
I can't sell cars I don't like, I think you have to be passionate about what you sell and although some of my cars are not the cheapest I really do try to offer the best.

My love of cars goes back a long way, here's a few of the cars I have personally owned over the years.

My first car 1969 VW Beetle 1500. I bought it at age 16 for £300 requiring a full re spray. I had it all repainted
then sold it before I passed my test so never legally got to drive it

My first proper car after passing my test. My Dad came home one day and said I have found you
a car a 1982 Mitsubishi Mirage 1.4 Turbo. My ears perked up it had that key word of the 1980's
"Turbo". I ran to the shed to my pile of car magazines and looked up the performance figures.
It was unusual in that it had two gear sticks for high and low ratio. I remember taking it back to
the garage after 2 days as it seemed to be using a lot of petrol. The sales man came out and
opened the door and pointed to the accelerator pedal, I got the point!

1984 MG Maestro 1600. OK so I lost the plot and was taken in by the red seatbelts and he talking computer.
Hidden underneath that body lay an Austin Maxi engine with twin weber carbs (What was I thinking!)

Now we are talking 1982 BMW 520i which I bought from my Dad this was superb but the dream only
lasted a few months as the fuel consumption was just too much for an 18 year old apprentice
draughtsman..

The car I always regretted selling 1984 VW Golf GTi 8V complete with Pirelli alloys. I really loved
this car it was so well made and had been really well cared for by the last owner. It had just 3800
miles on it when I got it.

With the 8 valve Golf being so good this really left me wanting a 16 Valve which came in the form of
a 1986 GTi 16V which had loads of extras such as headlamp washers and full leather.

I decided I wanted something more prestigious and fancied a Mercedes 190 however upon visiting
a dealership that had a 190 I spotted a real supercar 1984 Audi UR Quattro Turbo. My Dad said I would
never insure it after all a Sierra Cosworth was around £5000 year to insure at the time. My insurance
broker told me it was a safe bet as it was not on the stolen car hot list and my premium was £690 TPFT.
This was in fantastic condition but very early 80's with full chocolate brown leather interior. It was fast
and also had a talking computer which only ever seemed to say one thing "Please refuel!". The only
downside was the parts which being a rare car every part seemed to be bespoke and £1000.
Even the tyres were an odd size and £150 each!

I was sad to see the Quattro go but it's replacement came from a true British thoroughbred which
was to become one of my favourite manufacturers.
1987 Lotus Excel 2.2 N/A I collected the Lotus from a chap in Peterbough drove it home and parked
it on the driveway.
I wondered down to the pub that evening and nearly everyone who came in said "Stuart you've got a Lotus!"
That first weekend over 20 people came to visit me even friends I hadn't seen in ages just to look at the car.
It was fantastic like driving a proper sports car yet really economical as it was only a 4 cylinder engine and
as for parts all you had to do was figure out which parts bin Lotus had got them from.

At this point my career changed and after a 3 week holiday with my parents in Florida I decided
I wanted to live there and sell property. I packed up and moved to Orlando where I got my real
estate license and worked selling holiday homes mainly to British tourists.
Upon arriving in Florida I needed a car that I was familiar with and thus went back to a trusty VW
Golf GTi. But little did I know at the time that the American Golf was made in Canada and was put
together entirely differently to the European golf. 1988 VW Golf GTi !6V which in the states came
with Jetta style headlamps rather than the two round ones we were used to..

As I established myself in real estate all the other agents in my office told me I needed a car suitable
for driving customers around in and so I sold the Golf and purchased my one and only new car a 1994
Ford Explorer XLT 4.0 V6. It was a sport model so only had 3 doors and being Florida was only rear
wheel drive as it was so flat there was no requirement for four wheel drive. (Can't believe how thin I
am and how much hair I have!)

As I took a slightly different approach to property sales. Instead of pressuring the customer into
signing the second they found the right house like all the other agents then having them pull out a
week later. I found it was easier to let the customer go away and think about it. I also learnt that if
the customer drove round looking at the houses once we had seen the house they liked they would
know how to get back there again once they had dropped me off at the office. It worked brilliantly
and I found myself closing more deals as it was the customer who had sold themselves the property
and not me pressurising them into it. I also realised at this point that I didn't need a car as big as the
Explorer.
Thus a 1987 Porsche 944 2.5 Lux found it's way onto my drive way. It was a proper performance car
and I really loved it. It was typically German very reliable and very well made. It also had the engine in
the front and the gearbox over the back axle which mad the handling superb.

As my sales progressed so did my passion and there was only one car to have after the 944 and
that was a 911. I found a 1988 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2 and oh boy this was what a proper sports
cars felt like. It was so stupidly fast. I remember being stopped at the lights and a Mustang came
up in the middle lane, the driver looked across and when the light turned green we floored it. I shot
past him then pulled across to the left lane slowed down then overtook him in the right lane again
all while he had his foot flat to the floor. This really was one of the best cars I ever owned and I hope
to own another one again someday.

As time moved on the property market changed and I was now running my own office with all the
expenditure that goes with it. The markets were changing, the pound was no longer strong
against the dollar, several tourists had been shot in Miami and the Disney area was feeling
the impact. I really should have packed up at this point and gone home but decided to fight to the
end and thus downsized to a 1988 BMW M535i.

Finally having lost everything I returned home and moved back in with my parents I decided I just
wanted to work for someone else 9 to 5 and have a normal life. I took a job for a recruitment
company in Watford and needed a small fast car to get through rush hour traffic between Huntingdon
and Watford. The perfect car was a 1990 Renault 5 GT turbo which had such an impact on me that I
on the lookout for an original example to mothball away.

I enjoyed the recruitment company as everyone had a real buzz and was keen and enthusiastic like me.
It was only after about 3 weeks I realised that everyone was disappearing off into the car park to see
the local drug dealer each day which explained why they were all really subdued in the morning and
hyper in the afternoon. I resigned and left instantly then telephoned another company that had offered me a
job locally in St.Ives. It was a whizzy internet company that as it would turn out the believe in the
product would became a drug in the fact you wanted the product to really succeed. I was given an Audi
A4 company car ZZZzzzzzzzz! but within 6 months the company changed the car scheme and offered a
car allowance but paid the petrol. Porsche 928 here I come!
I found a lovely (or so I thought) 1984 Porsche 928 S2 manual. It was quiet, comfortable and wonderfully
fast but it had the same problem as the Quattro in that the parts were so specialised they cost a fortune.
The centre exhaust had been held together with jubilee clips because a new one was £450!

With a great job and some money in my pocket I decided I wanted a classic car for the weekends
and so purchased a 1971 Volvo P1800E which is 1 month younger than I am. The car was basically
sound but required a fair bit of bodywork a full re spray and an interior re trim. I restored the Volvo and
have since driven to Italy, south of France and the alps many times. I still own the P1800 and try to do
a little to it each year but I will never sell it and unfortunately I just don't get time to drive it these days.

Another classic joined the Volvo about a year later a 1973 Innocenti Mini Cooper Export which
was an original Mini Cooper S built under license for the Italian Market. It was nick named Henry
and even visited the Mini's 40th Party at Silverstone.

I also purchased a 1972 MGB which I restored. I fitted a new interior and upon removing the drivers
seat cover found a dead rat that had been festering away in it (nice!). After a summers fun in the MG I
sold it to some friends locally who still own it.

This is where my love affair with Jaguar's started!
When ever a customer would ring my mobile and start into a long conversation I would find myself
wandering out of the office and down the road (I once found myself in the middle of town and had
a mile walk back to the office). On one occasion a customer was complaining our technology
wasn't reliable (early days of the internet what did he expect) when I wondered off and into a local
garage that had this glorious old Jaguar XJ6 Series 2 4.2 in squadron blue with black everflex roof
and blue leather. I asked my complaining customer to hold for a moment while negotiated with the
salesman and found myself owning my first classic car. This killed my customers complaining instantly
as he had never had someone buy a car while he was having a rant which he found hilarious!

I ran the old Jag for a while and loved every minute but it was a bit too old for long journeys and
daily use so I decided to buy something a bit newer and came across a 1990 Jaguar XJ-S 3.6 in
Carnival red with Doeskin leather interior that was owned by a local dentist and had been serviced
by a relatively new company called Jagutek run by Kevin. I called and spoke to Kevin about the car
which he knew very well so I decided he would do all my Jaguar servicing from now on.

I had sold the Innocenti Mini and fancied a british convertible sports car so found a 1974 Triumph
TR6 which had been imported from California and converted to right hand drive. It really was a
horrid car to drive and felt too narrow so did not keep it long.

I had the XJ-S for a while then after a split from my girlfriend of the time thought I was driving an old
mans car and wanted something sportier so ran out and bought the greatest mistake ever a 1990
Nissan 300ZX twin turbo. What a heap this was everything went wrong I spent over £2000 on it in 2 months and
it still had problems. I finally gave in stuck it on Autotrader at a silly low price told the person buying it
all the problems It had and he just loved it. He even blew a turbo on the way home and I offered to
refund him but he said it was such a good price he didn't care!

After coming to my senses I bought another XJ-S 3.6 a 1989 in Ice blue metallic with blue leather
(Can't find a pic of that one). Another Jag followed the XJ-S this time a 1987 Jaguar XJ40 3.6 Auto
which I proceeded to do 88,000 miles in just 12 months!
Then in a moment of Madness I went to look at a 1986 Lotus Esprit S3 2.2 N/A that was for sale in
Cambridge. Half way there I decided I didn't need another car and that I would just look and come away.
However I turned up to find this pristine 36k miles Lotus in Calypso red with cream half leather interior
and I just couldn't help myself. This was the same car as James Bond and that was it. I had the Lotus
for many years but hardly had time to use it which was a shame as sports cars like that need to be used.
I used to try an run it every 3 weeks and would always have to tap the fuel pump with a hammer to get it to
run. I even fitted a new fuel pump and had to tap that with a hammer 3 weeks later.

I then got made redundant from the Internet company and was given a reasonable settlement. My
friends and even the directors of the internet company said I should sell cars as it's what I love.
I don't know where they got that idea from maybe it was some of the customers I had sold the internet
product to, Mercedes, Chrysler, Volkswagen, Seat, BMW, Ford, Vauxhall, RAC, Fish 4 Cars, Autotrader?

I sold the Esprit to fund the business and started SDSC (Stuart Davies Specialist Cars). the first car I
bought and sold was a 1998 Alfa Romeo Spider. I decided that I would have a go at selling cars I liked
and started to find a customer base of like minded people. As I didn't need a car for long distance driving
I bought a Wrangler Jeep 4.0 Sahara as I thought it would be a bit of fun and it had a tow bar.

I ran the Jeep for a while but the fuel consumption was really rubbish I couldn't get more than 10mpg
due to the slightly oversize tyres so hunted around for an alternative and found a 1990 Range Rover
3.9 Vogue Auto with just 75,000 miles on it. I ran this for ages and it was a really great car.

My now wife Sarah had been struggling to find work so I suggested starting a wedding hire business.
We bought a 1986 Rolls Royce Silver Spirit. My Dad has an 83 Spirit which is a fantastic car and
I am a real convert to old Rolls Royce's. You can get a stunning example for around £10k and the
servicing costs are really reasonable at around £200 year. The engineering in them is a thing to
behold with even the tiniest detail finished to perfection. Shortly after buying the Rolls my wife landed
a job with the local council and thus the wedding hire idea ended.

I sold the Range Rover to replace it with a newer P38 style Range Rover with the 4.6 petrol engine
which is surprisingly economical returning over 20mpg. The example I found had a detailed service
history with over £27k worth of receipts. The bills were amazing the Land Rover dealer had charged
£2400 for an exhaust and £75 just to fit a front number plate. That's one thing I have learnt since selling
cars a main dealer service history is a waste of money, there's nothing they do that a specialist or a
local garage can't do at a fraction of the cost. After all a car is just nuts and bolts!

As the Rolls Royce was pretty specialist I decided to put it into a classic car auction. The auction
was on a tuesday but I had to deliver the car on the Monday, I arrived and booked my car in and
just as I was walking out a gorgeous Ferrari 308 GTS pulled in, I took one look and instantly knew
I was going to own it. I got chatting to the owner who told me all about it's history and that it had been
owned by John Woodford founder of Emblem sports cars and later Nigel Mansell when they took over
Emblem sports cars. I gave the chap my number and said to call if it didn't sell. two days later he
called as the ferrari hadn't sold, we agreed a price and I met him to collect the car. I had every intention
of just putting the car on the site and selling it. I got it home and then it hit me, this was a proper Ferrari
and it was beautiful from every corner, I must have spent an hour just looking at it before driving to show
my friend Ajay at the petrol station where he came out and we spent another hour just looking at it. I had got
the Ferrari bug bad and there was no way this was going to be sold.
It isn't even nice to drive, you can't use second gear til the engine is warm and by modern standards it's
not that fast but it's a proper Ferrari a 1979 308 GTS 3.0 V8 with 4 webber carbs designed by Pininfarina,
built in Modena Italy and made famous by Tom Selleck as Magnum P.I.

.

After the Range Rover I decided I wanted something sporty and having fond memories of my Porsche
911 back in the states I decided to buy another one. 2000 Porsche 996 Carrera 2 finished in
forest green with savanah leather interior. This was a beautiful car and I the previous owner must have
worn gloves to drive it as there wasn't a mark on the interior.

I had the Porsche for a few months but it really wasn't practical but I like the performance so I hunted
for a replacement. A suitable car was found in a 2001 Mercedes C32 AMG estate. This car was a
real wolf in sheeps clothing, holy cow it was fast, the only thing that I can describe it as is the Millennium
Falcon. When you put your foot down all the scenery seems to stop and then suddenly flashes past you.
Martin who I sold the car to recently sent me a video of the car as he had driven it to 170mph at
Bruntingthorpe proving ground.

One day my wife came home from work and said "how would you like a ferrari Testarossa?" Oh like
I can afford one of those I said. She explained that someone she knew was selling one. I went to have
a look and a deal was struck. It is a 1986 Ferrari Testarossa that has been rebuilt at a cost of nearly
£80k just to win concourse competitions. However it only ever came second as the exhaust was chromed
which the original was not. It is fast and has a lovely exhaust note but to be honest it's not particularly
nice to drive as with all Ferrari's you can't locate second gear until the gearbox is warm and when you
do put your foot down it's like armageddon behind your head. I do use it occasionally but I am hoping
it will increase in value and one day be a big part of my pension.
It is surprisingly cheap to own with classic car insurance around £350 per year and t is beautiful to look
at isn't it!

I sold the Mercedes C32 from a license point of vue. Basically it was such a thrill every time you
put your foot down that you constantly wanted to overtake other cars and thus had I kept it I fear
my license would have gained a few points. With news of our first child on her way I had bought my
wife a Nissan Murano which has the same engine as the 350Z and the gearbox from the Skyline
and was so impressed with it that I wanted to try a Nissan 350Z. I found a 2006 350Z convertible
and I was not disappointed what a great car. It was fast handled superb, looked good and was
fantastic value for money. I have become a huge fan of these cars as they have all the go of a
Porsche without the repair bills and you know it will start every time you get in it.

I made the mistake of advertising the 350Z a few weeks after I got it and someone bought it so
I then hunted around for another which was just as good.

I have just sold the 350Z as I wasn't using it and have decided I need to go back to a 4 seater
family car so that I can take Olivia too. I am still on the lookout and haven't found anything suitable
yet so watch this space.......