Meet the dealer: Charles Prince

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Charles Prince, if you've not come across him before, deals in the world's finest automobiles. Much of his stock is comprised of pre-war thoroughbreds, such as Alvises, Lagondas, Alfa Romeos and, in particular, Bentleys, but he also sells top-drawer post-war cars up to the early 1960s.

It was nothing more than a happy accident in 1976 that led to his involvement with fine motor-cars. As a young man, he was more interested in sailing. He says, "I studied law at university but didn't really feel that was the career I wanted to pursue. I ran into a friend in a pub who said, 'What are you doing?', so I said 'Not much,' and he said, 'I'm working for a Rolls-Royce and Bentley dealer called the Clarendon Carriage Company and we're looking for somebody to sweep the floor...'"

It wasn't the most auspicious entry into the motor trade, but as Charles persevered with it, opportunities presented themselves. "After six months," he recalls, "my boss said, 'Do you want to have a go at selling?' I put a suit on to go to work the next day, but he said, 'You've still got to sweep the floor...'"

Learning on the job

It took Charles eight months to sell his first car, but he managed, and stayed with the Clarendon Carriage Co. for three years. The business was run by Jeffrey Pattinson, whose brother Richard set up Paradise Garage in Parsons Green, west London, where Charles went to work. "We parked our cars all around Parsons Green. London was different in those days," he says. After four years there, he and colleague Rory Stokes bought it out. When Stokes departed to set up the Beaulieu Garage in 1995, Charles became its sole proprietor until he decided to wind it down in 2004. However, one does not simply retire from the classic-car trade; lots of his old customers kept coming back and asking him to source cars, so he embraced his fate and went to work again, this time under his own name.

Charles outlines the main difference between his own venture and Paradise Garage: "I've concentrated on cars you don't need a showroom for - the more important cars, like vintage Bentleys, which appeal to collectors." He now keeps his cars in a beautiful spot of the English countryside where his friend Bob Bentley, also a former Rolls-Royce salesman turned independent classic-car dealer, operates alongside him.

The internet, of course, has brought major changes: "Before, the showroom was the centre of the business. You opened at 9.00 a.m. and waited for customers. It could take two or three weeks to get photos of a car to someone on the other side of the world; now it takes 30 seconds! It’s now a 24-hour business, and dealers are no longer tied to a physical location. The change is really profound."

While Charles's foray into the motor trade started as a way of making a living, he has cultivated a keen appreciation for cars of a certain quality and pedigree. Nothing illustrates this better than his "pride and joy", an unrestored 1907 Diatto Tipo DAC 4X tourer, the only surviving example of its kind, which he has owned since 2014. He bought it from a family in Johannesburg which had owned it since 1937. Previously it had been bought in London in 1912 by an optometrist, Dr. Engels (or Engles), who migrated to South Africa in 1914. Apparently, the family tried to buy it from him but he would never sell it, so they had to wait until he died and then buy it from his widow. Charles is currently commissioning further research into its history.

History and rarity abounds

The Diatto is emphatically not for sale, so let's take a walk among the cars which are. The lovely 1919 Sunbeam 24hp Light Sports Tourer is a rare survivor with its original factory coachwork. When new, it was reportedly used by Louis Coatalen for a tour of the Great War battlefields before it was sold to Guillermo Errazurez Vergara, whose wife Maria was sister to Augustin Edwards, the British Ambassador in Chile. Sadly, Señor Vergara was killed in a shooting accident in 1923, but the Sunbeam remained in the family until 1964, when it was bought by an American who treated it to a light restoration. It was imported into Britain in the late 1980s, and whoever buys it now will be only its fourth owner. Charles recommends it for touring: "It's a long-legged car, like a Silver Ghost to drive."

There's an extremely rare 1938 Alvis 4.3-Litre which is one of just 13 built on a short chassis, and a beautiful thing it is with its graceful Vanden Plas coachwork. Just as impressive is a huge 1930 Bentley Speed Six bodied as an all-weather tourer by T. H. Gill of Paddington. Intriguingly, the body appears to be a copy of a Hibbard et Darrin design. The first owner was one W. J. D. Pickles, but it was later owned by the enigmatic Sajito, who famously modified his cars to suit his personal tastes and added a built-in boot to the Bentley, although it has now been restored to its original appearance.

That's just a fraction of Charles Prince's ever-changing stock. He will also arrange shipping and insurance for customers if necessary, but only as part of a sale. If you're ever on the lookout for a high-end vintage car or post-vintage thoroughbred to add to your garage, he's sure to have something to suit your tastes. Why not take a look at his stock and see if anything takes your fancy?

Words and photographs: Zack Stiling
 

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