What a year in lockdown can teach us about the classic car community
No, this isn’t another lockdown recruitment blog on LinkedIn where I’m teaching you to suck eggs. However, in the last 12 months, looking at specialist automotive recruitment and the industry as a whole, I think we’ve all come a long way and learned a lot. So, as the founder of Marc Brunel Recruitment, but more so as a classic car enthusiast, please let me indulge in some musings on what I’ve seen happening in the specialist vehicle world over the past year.
Firstly, as an industry we’ve evolved more than history books and my personal knowledge suggests has been done previously. From events being cancelled to online gatherings and communities being created in their wake; to powering a new future of classic cars with alternative fuels; as well as businesses bouncing back and changing the way they operate; we’ve all come together to celebrate and retaliate against a tough time for the classic car community.
Some of my favourite online events include REVS-Limiter, the genius Classics For Carers virtual get-together for charity as well as some fantastic podcasts that have popped up and kept us going during lockdown. If you’re in the mood, the newly-renamed The Intercooler (previously DriveNation) is fantastic, Sam Moores is putting some serious effort in bringing some amazing stories and hosts into our ears, as well as podcasts by Driven Chat and journalists Alistair Charlton and George Turner with AutoChat.
The sector as a whole has also adapted, overcome and created new products as we enter a new era of what classic cars can be. A key theme is the electrification of specialist vehicles, and one company we’re delighted to be recruiting for is Lunaz Design, who has added the Range Rover Classic and Rolls-Royce Phantom to its roster of electrified classic cars. The company has expanded its premises at the heart of Silverstone in the UK, which shows the market and demand for luxury, electric-converted classic cars. Lunaz’s customers are based here in England and around the world.
It’s not just Lunaz who is reaping the rewards of electric vehicle conversions either. Many others have been working in this area, around the UK, although it’s clear that the popularity of these type of cars is only going one way. It’s electrification and updates like restomods that are opening new doors to classic car enthusiasts and petrolheads.
The new era of classic car specialists is also joined by companies that are based in the UK and have changed the way they operate for this new market and customer demand. From our client Tuthill Porsche working with Singer earlier in the year on its specialist off-road project to companies like GTO Engineering creating an entirely new car, the project Moderna, as well as a new wave of specialists in the UK and further abroad investing in their own limited-production special projects. There’s even a resurgent in previous companies like Bristol, BRM, Vanwall and others coming back to life with new owners and ideas in this brave new world too.
It would be remiss of me not to look at these companies and their working methods, adapting, changing and learning from lockdown and indeed Covid, and try and include them in my own business in classic and specialist vehicle recruitment. We have learnt to interview and screen candidates in different ways, and more efficiently, as well as really understanding how the market is operating and how our clients will need to recruit for these growing demands put on them as a business.
Trying to see the positives in sometimes dark days, we’re excited for the future, both personally as petrolheads, but also professionally as independent recruitment specialists. If you share our passion and outlook, please do not hesitate to ask how the team at Marc Brunel Recruitment may be able to assist you.
- Akash Cheeda
