*BIOGRAPHY AND CV* *SPOTLIGHT ON ROBERT HUGHES* *EARLY DAYS- A PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD*
PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY AND CV
At the age of 14, Robert Hughes set up a mail order business dealing in obsolete motoring literature and publicity material.
While still at school, as soon as he passed his test, Robert invested the profits to buy and sell 21 cars, even selling one to a teacher.
In 1983, Robert launched a fully-fledged car business. Underwriting part-exchanges independently at five British Leyland dealerships, he traded on volume with lean margins selling up to 12 cars a week, and quickly established in-roads to BL’s coveted Jaguar division.
He also started to restore classic Jaguars, so a niche was carved selling yester-year models alongside young. When a Hughes restored Mk11 achieved JDC concours in 1985, it set a benchmark.
Months later, he embarked on a foreign adventure, hiring a transporter jointly with another dealer to exhibit cars at Techno-Classica, Essen, and by the late 80’s had also exhibited at London Olympia, Wembley and Birmingham NEC. Cars were starting to be used in glossy editorials by Classic Cars and Classic and Sportscar magazine. As a side line, Robert loaned vehicles for film and television, occasionally supplementing his income as an extra.
Following a brief partnership at a car site in Kingston, the business diversified exporting later prestige cars to the Far East, satisfying a surge in demand ahead of the 1992 emission regulation changes. Robert secured a loyal client base in Hong Kong selling by fax and phone and also supplied a dealership in Tokyo. Closer to home Robert scooped Top Gear’s TNT Express ‘Best Dealer’ award at the NEC in 1993.
A chance opening came when a Telegraph journalist featured Robert’s operation as an ideal supplier of older prestige models qualifying for competitive company car tax. The Times picked up on story and the two articles generated over 200 enquiries.
In 1995, Robert was commissioned to write a book on the history of Jaguar, and progressed the project in Ireland whilst investigating the local sales market. In 1998 he opened a satellite branch near Dublin, staging a car display at The Keadeen Hotel, though the management complained that “too many people” turned up. Robert continued to hold regular car shows during the Celtic Tiger years at venues such as Citywest ballroom, Red Cow Exhibition Centre and the grounds of Barberstown Castle. A popular motoring fixture, they were often covered by local and national press including The Irish Times, Irish Independent and Radio Ireland.
Apart from cars, Robert’s activities diversified to local property investment and management from the mid- 90’s, incorporating farmland from 2001 and expanding to serviced apartments in Tallinn, Estonia from 2003 where he became a member of the British Estonian Chamber of Commerce. Robert is currently a Director of two property Management Companies.
In 2002, Robert took a winter sabbatical to resume public speaking courses in California and Hawaii, a passion he had first developed as a child when he won two public speaking awards. An active member of Junior Chamber of Commerce for the City of London for some years, Robert served as Business Director in 2002, Deputy President in 2003, though reluctantly turned down the opportunity to be President in 2004 owing to a family crisis. In 2007 he joined a panel of entrepreneurs to speak at the JCI National Conference in Sheffield.
In recent years, the motor business has moved to providing more personalised services for a growing number of car collectors, investors and loyal customers apart from maintaining its established trading base. Since 2009, Robert has sourced and supplied over 50 classic cars to a private museum, continues to exhibit at the NEC Classic Motor Show and is consulted by specialist magazines and journalists including ‘Honest John’. He has featured on BBC Southern Counties Radio, The Car’s The Star, The Car Show and Posh Pawn evaluating classic cars.
Robert has been a member of the Jaguar Drivers’ Club since 1983, one of the first 70 members of the Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club, and an invited member of The Jaguar Specialists’ Association. He is an associate member of The Institute of Advanced Motorists and a member of The Royal Automobile Club. Robert enjoys writing and has penned a series of motoring articles for ‘Sussex Style’ in 2016 and wrote a series of film celebrity biographies in 2020, some of which have been published by The Renown Film Club and Talking Pictures TV. In 2018 Robert received The Freedom of The City of London.
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Early Days
In 1984 an old school friend, Mark Harrison was training as a professional photographer and one of his assignments was to follow a subject in a working environment . I agreed to be shadowed by Mark’s camera for a couple of days, and these pictures now provide a fascinating insight showing how the motor trade operated all those years back.
Please click on the photographs below for further information and additional pictures.
The photographs are displayed with Mark’s kind permission www.markharrisonphotography.com