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Alex Eckford talks to the people’s champion about driving Ford Mustangs at the age of 11, being excommunicated by the car industry, and working on TV's most infamous motoring show.

"I drove at 140mph on my 12th birthday."

It's fair to say Quentin Willson's introduction to motoring wasn't conventional one.

“I lived near Chicago, next door to this wacko American kid called Nicky Attwood,” says Quentin. "His father had one of the biggest GM dealerships in the States.

“We used to skip school, and go to Nicky's house where his father used to take all the old part exchanges and leave them there with the keys underneath the visors.

"There was a Chevelle Nova SS with 450 cubic inch engine. At the age of 11 we'd be sitting on these cushions in the front seats wearing shoplifted sunglasses and driving through these wavering fields of corn at 135mph. It was fantastic.

"There were all kinds of cars - 1959 Cadillacs, Mustangs. We used to power slide them, so by the time I was 13 - I wasn't bad at it."

Wheeler dealer

After returning to the UK, Quentin wasted no time getting back into the world of motoring, becoming a car dealer before he'd even left school.

"Before I had a licence I was buying Austin Healeys for 50 quid and then selling them for £150," says Quentin. "I'd get my mum to drive them to and from the seller and the buyer. And then things like Maseratis and E-Types and Ferrari Daytonas before I was out of my teens.

"It was a fantastic, wonderful world of car dealing. It did it because it financed an intense nightlife and made me terribly popular with the girls.”

The road to Top Gear

Having set up his own Ferrari and Maserati dealership, Quentin's next move was to create Buying Cars magazine with the current editor of Autocar, Steve Cropley.

"It was a huge, huge risk," says Quentin. "We re-mortgaged our houses, but it went very well. The day it launched, while everyone in the industry doubted if we’d be a success Radios 1, 2, 3 and 4 were on the phone, The Mirror, The Sun, The Mail - I thought 'Hello, what's this?'.

"Within a week I got a call from the man from the BBC who said 'Would you like to do the odd spot on Top Gear?' I did a screen test on the Monday, and it was broadcast on the Thursday."

Quentin was on the show with a like-minded young car journalist, Jeremy Clarkson.

"We met in the Pebble Mill coffee bar and said right, we're going to take this programme by the scruff of the neck and turn it round," says Quentin. "We did, and it was great."

Rip-off Britain

Known as the people's champion, exposing shoddy service and bad deals at every turn, Quentin is particularly proud of one achievement on the show.

"It was a time when you went to Belgium to buy certain cars because they were so expensive in the UK," says Quentin. "I remember having drinks with a senior board member of a car company. This guy was off his face and he said to me 'Oh we love the British market – we call it Treasure Island – we take 40 per cent of our entire global profits out of the UK’.

"Up until that point they'd been blaming currency variations, and so on, and here's this guy telling me it’s a complete and utter con.

"I thought 'Right, we need to do something about this'. I went to Nigel Lawson, the retired Chancellor of the Exchequer, and said 'What would happen if I exposed this?' and he told me there would be a bit of dust kicked up, but within about a year the market would settle down - and he thought they would sell more cars. The consumers would get better value, so I did it.

"We did that landmark piece on Top Gear where we went to Amsterdam and bought a Rover 25 for £7,000 less than we would have paid in the UK, shipped the car back to the UK, filmed outside the Longbridge factory and basically said 'This is silly, we cannot possibly carry on doing this. Within six months the European Commission had said enough is enough and everything improved."

"They hated me"

Quentin's decision to expose the unfair pricing had some negative consequences.

"It was like someone had turned the lights off," says Quentin. "Up until that point people had been asking me to do bits and bobs for car companies, promotions and so on, but suddenly – nothing. It was excommunication. They hated me.

"Now things are much better. Although they'll never admit it to your face they will say that yes, this was a change which needed to happen, and it has stimulated the market and the churn of cars is better, and we have a much more sophisticated selection of cars in the UK.

"The price of second hand cars dived as well because the price of new cars fell, so the days when nothing had any catalytic converters or airbags are gone. Those cars are safer and cleaner, so I'm proud of that."

Protecting customers

Quentin's is currently flying the flag for BSI’s Kitemark for Garage Services scheme, a proposal to regulate the UK’s garages – providing better service for customers.

"I think it’s fair to say the industry, until now, has been self-regulated - and it hasn’t worked," says Quentin. "I took this idea to the BSI about creating a set of standards where garages would have to adhere to be part of the Kitemark scheme.

"There will be a website so consumers will know which garages are part of the scheme. It’s voluntary, but if there is any deviation from that high standard, the consumer will get redress and the garage might lose its licence."

Britain’s Worst...

After Top Gear Quentin moved on to Channel Five's motoring show Fifth Gear. Does he have any plans to go back to the BBC show?

"I have had these conversations with the people at Top Gear," says Quentin. "I always say, 'That was then, and this is now'. For me to come in as Captain Sensible, it would break up that magic trinity. They are so good together."

Quentin is also the owner of one of the most successful TV franchises in the world – the 'Worst' franchise, including shows such as Britain's Worst Driver, Sweden's Worst Farmer (no, really), and Canada's Worst Home Improver.

"It's great," says Quentin. "It's like a Frankenstein's monster which walks the Earth, but I'm glad because it makes money while I sleep. It allows me to live the life I want to."

Your questions

Finally a question from a reader. Ashley King asks: “When are you going to appear again on our screens doing what you do best - giving useful advice, and helping the man on the street get a great deal?”

“Well, there may be something in the pipeline at the moment,” says Quentin. ”Watch this space.”

Did you save money thanks to Quentin? Do you want to see him back on TV? Email us now at editorial@autotrader.co.uk.

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