CHARLIE

A true son of the soil, Charlie was born on the farm that’s now become the centre of operations for The Hairpin Company.

As far back as he can recall he has been surrounded by cars, bikes, tractors and cows.

As a young rural delinquent and displaying an early disregard for The Department of Transport, Charlie taught himself to drive at the tender age of 11.

His vehicle of choice? A Series I Land Rover.

Years of scrimping pocket money ensued and it wasn’t long before he had his hands on his first ‘real’ car - a dashing Austin A35.

Last we heard, he still has it - or rather what’s left of it.

In his later teens his attention turned to motorbikes and an early passion for restoration was born that exists to this day.

Straight after school it was up to bright lights of London to join a renowned car auction house. There he specialised in his first love – pre-war cars.

During this period Charlie ‘shot the breeze’ in a 1929 super-charged front-wheel drive Alvis which he campaigned in VSCC events with, by his own admission, ‘varying degrees of success’.

Pin him down sometime about the ‘Milk float incident’ that occurred around this time. Driving a Truimph TR6 unfeasibly early around 6am (or was that late, m’lud?) he managed to career into the pride of the local Dairy Express fleet. The car was henceforth christened the ‘Milk float’.

For Charlie old school is best.

Modernity is all well and good, but he keeps his keenest eye on the romance of the past, drawn back those decades of motoring excitement and revolutionary change.

After taking time out from the hallowed environment of the auction house he went on to work in Zimbabwe where he learnt to fly and gained his pilot’s licence at the first attempt.

Around 1995 Charlie returned to run the family farm in Wiltshire. Fine as it went, but something was missing – cars, basically.

Staring out at the silhouetted barns early one evening a spark of inspiration arrived.

That night the idea of The Hairpin Company was born.


NEIL

The roots of Neil’s passion for cars can be traced back up through the branches of his extensive family tree.

In 1947, immediately after the war, his grandfather used his demob money to set up a landmark familiar to the good denizens of North London – Highbury Corner Motors.

Somehow from here the oil and grease seeped its way into his blood.

After gaining his degree at Exeter University Neil set course for an ill-starred career in Advertising (he hated it– not enough cars apparently).

The next direction was altogether more successful. A spell in one of the country’s leading car auction houses. Here he spent the next 6 years learning on the job and striking up the start of a life-long friendship with Charlie.

The free spirit in Neil, however, proved persistently restless and another calling soon beckoned. That of a self-employed consultant. Work ensued for an impressive list of specialist dealers and auction houses.

To coin a well-worn phrase, what Neil doesn’t know about Prestige modern cars is probably ‘not worth knowing’.

Neil’s relationship with post-war classics is nothing less than an affair.

Nobody at The Hairpin Company believes they can truly define what the essence of the perfect car is.

Ask Neil after a few glasses of Chateau Potensac, however, and he’s up for the challenge.

‘The best I can say is that, the perfect car makes you smile when you look at it and grin when you drive it’.

That’s good enough for us, Neil.


01249 760686 | enquiries@thehairpincompany.co.uk