By Charles Howard
2023 review by James Loveridge
Charles Howard, who died in August this year, was one of Britain’s, if not Europe’s, leading classic-car dealers. In 2014 he wrote and published AN AUTO BIOGRAPHY telling of his successful life as first an antique dealer specialising in Chinese porcelain but changing to car dealing in 1972 because he loved old cars.
The middle son of a not too prosperous family, his father Thomas Hulley Howard was an early Speedway rider. Charles and formal education parted ways when he was sixteen and he drifted around until after National Service and marriage – he was one of the comparatively few National Servicemen who had his own motor car so was assured of popularity. With the support of his then wife he became an antique dealer and proved to be successful, first trading in Portobello Road then from a shop in Kensington.
His career, virtually his life, is set out in this 12 inches by 9 inches, 388-page (plus 37 pages of indices) very nicely produced book – a real coffee table book. His chosen field was top-end classics, mostly pre-World War Two, so there are stories of Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Hispano-Suiza and Mercedes as well as other great makes – such as real rarities like the Bucciali, the Crane Simplex and the Waverley Electric. A few classic Americans are on the list. These are the cars with which he was involved, either buying and selling, finding and helping unite seller and buyer or actually owning. There is a useful 16-page index listing all the cars featured in the book. The vast majority are, as mentioned, pre-World War Two but an Aston Martin DB2, a couple of Bentleys, a Ferrari, a Jaguar D-Type, a Porsche, a Mercedes 600 and a handful of Rolls-Royces appear to show that he was catholic in taste – but all, inevitably, are classics in their own right.
The book is lavishly illustrated with photographs of the cars with which he was involved. Some technical information is given about them but more to indicate what is special about them rather than technical detail. Also illustrated are many of the people with whom he was involved and it is pretty clear that he liked and befriended most of them, thus making it clear who he didn’t take to. It is probably fair to say this is a very idiosyncratic sort of book. He, for want of a better description, vents his spleen on some of the auction houses and their practices – and this despite owning Coys at one time but before it became an auction house.
That he enjoyed his cars is obvious and there are stories of numerous foreign trips with like-minded people. He was very much an “old cars need to be used not stuck in museums” kind of man so his descriptions include what they were like to drive.
Mr Howard was quite clearly one of those very fortunate people who made a healthy living doing a job he loved, and that comes through in this easy-to-read, but heavy-to-carry-around, book.
Some dealers have copies and band new copies can be obtained from CharlesHowardAutobiography@gmail.com for £50 inclusive of postage.
Publisher: Piston Power Press Limited, 2014
Description: 425 pages, hardback in dust jacket, 12 inches by 9 inches.
ISBN 10: 0-99300-850-X; ISBN 13: 978-09930-085-04
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