Number Plate Stories

Tony employed a mechanic to work on the cars he bought and began a thriving enterprise. In the course of tracking-down the cars he saw some amazing things. For instance, nearly a hundred pre-war Rolls-Royces lined up in a dusty shed. The owner actually only wanted to sell the un-restored SS DHC but he showed Tony twenty tea chests containing nearly five hundred old car mascots. They included a lovely SS Jaguar leaping Brau mascot which Tony bought immediately. This owner had a scrap yard and was very coy about his great car collection. Having observed Tony's interest in the mascots he showed him to a large walk-in safe. Inside were even more examples, including a number of glass ones, which Tony later identified as Lalique.

As he had started selling SS Jaguar cars to enthusiasts all over the country, as well as in Europe and the USA, Tony began advertising spare parts as well. He was soon doing a roaring trade in things like P100 headlamps. As the demand grew, he decided to employ specialist restorers. "I would attend the RR rally and Beaulieu Autojumble, with a a gigantic stall covered with dozens of restored lamps" Tony said. "It was then that I began to collect rare car mascots. However, because I was a first and foremost a dealer, I'd always sold the better ones, especially Lalique, since they were the most popular.

"I had never realised back then that there were at least thirty different types! When I discovered that, I felt determined to track them all down and to make my very own collection. The lamp, car sales and restoration businesses were ticking over nicely so I decided to place ‘wanted’ advertisements in all the motoring publications. This proved to be an excellent ploy and I soon began to find some beautiful examples of mascots and managed to buy some of the Lalique variations."

As Tony's interest in SS Jaguars grew he found numerous examples all over the country. Over the ten years he had purchased more than fifteen Lalique mascots and began to include them in his stock adverts. Private owners all over the world were encouraged to contact him and, one day, he received a telephone call from a foreign private collector - a call that was to change his life forever.

The person on the other end of the 'phone wanted to buy Tony's entire Lalique mascot collection! Furthermore, he then commissioned me help him build the ultimate collection. Over the years, this dream has taken him to the far corners of the globe.

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