AMERICA
We checked into a motel and I contacted a few Mercedes-Benz dealers to see if I could get a job and I was able to find employment straight away to earn some money.
There was a Mercedes-Benz dealer in Kansas City who was looking for a technician.
We then rented an apartment and I put my son and daughter in school. After a while I contacted my sister Annabella in Kansas City. We hadn't seen each other for 18 years so I decided we would go down and visit her. The situation for her was terrible, she had lots of children with a 60 year old Mexican and they were all living on a small farm. Annabella told me that her mother had married her off to a yank in the UK when she was fifteen years old! The kids were not clothed properly, they all had bare feet and were playing in mud. I was not visiting long, as I did not want my two children to endure the misery.
There was a Mercedes-Benz dealer in Kansas City who was looking for a technician. I soon found employment so I could rent an apartment in Kansas City.
My daughter’s education was costing me a fortune. I couldn't put her in a US state school as they said the state school couldn't teach her anything. She was aged 15 and yet was more qualified than the teachers there which is not surprising as they are quite dumb! She got a teaching position at a private school in Kansas City which was unpaid. At eighteen Sam got a teaching position at Oxford University teaching nuclear physics. She left America, and I stayed to look after my son Philip.If I could have turned the clock back, I would.Unfortunately Philip succumbed to the American way of life: Drugs. I was beside myself, and everything I tried was to no avail. I managed to get him to join the US Marines, but after 5 years he came out worse than he went in. Drugs, alcohol and guns addiction, and no pride. He was an American in every respect. I came to the realization that I had made a terrible mistake. If I could have turned the clock back, I would.
In 1986 I went to a Mercedes-Benz training school in Florida and whilst I was there I was being courted by a Mercedes-Benz dealer in Valdosta, Georgia called Andrea. I went for an interview at that dealership and they offered me a position there. I soon built up an excellent clientele and had a considerable amount of control over the customers. The dealership was very uneasy about it and in 1988 they came to me one day and said "We can't allow you to have this amount of influence with our clientele. You're going to have to stop having any communication with them”, and I replied “That's not going to be possible”. But they said “Well then, you’re going to have to leave!”. I left that day.
I opened up a luxury auto service centre called “The Mercedes Center”. I had no funding, but within a very short space of time I had all of the customers that were previously at the dealership.The following day I contacted some of the customers and they encouraged me to open up my own repair centre in Valdosta as they would bring their cars to me, and that's what I did. I opened up a luxury auto service centre called The Mercedes Center. I had no funding, but within a very short space of time I had all of the customers that were previously at the dealership. This business was doing so well that we soon branched out to include BMW, Volvo and Jaguar.
In 1991 we moved to a bigger facility it was just work and sleep and I was getting bored with my life. My first love was motorbikes and so I decided that I needed some relaxation time and I decided I would compete in motorcycle competitions. I had done this when I was a young guy in the UK. I stopped when I got married and had children but after 20 years I decided I was going to go back to the thing I loved most of all. So I bought two Honda bikes and had them converted to race specifications and started racing. I became successful at racing all over the US and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Racing helped me in many ways, in my business and in my personal life.
I began selling motorcycle parts to help fund my racing and in 1995 the opportunity arose for me to become the importer for motorcycle Dymag wheels from the UK had very little exposure. These were lightweight specialist Wheels. I set up another company Superbike Racing Inc. specializing in motorcycle parts which later became a US importer for Dymag Wheels. This was another successful venture. We became the leading motorcycle wheels company in the US and within two years Superbike was turning over $500,000. In wheel sales
Andrea and I took on two business partners, Thomas and Carol Chambers, who invested $35.000 which Andrea and I put back into The Mercedes Centre. Carol Chambers was the mayor of Homerville and she was appointed the Financial Director of The Mercedes Centre and Superbike Racing Inc. and Thomas Chambers was a Lawyer in Homeville and be became the Legal Director of The Mercedes Centre and Superbike Racing Inc.
...to be able to go into a prestigious Italian motorcycle company, like Ducati, and sell them a Dymag product was out of this world...
In 2002 I made a contact in Italy who got me an introduction to the managing director of Ducati and I took a pair of Dymag carbon wheels to Italy to demonstrate them. I went to Italy approximately every six weeks and was able to secure a contract with Ducati for them to purchase a range of Dymag carbon and magnesium wheels. This was probably the most fantastic thing that I achieved in sales - to be able to go into a prestigious Italian motorcycle company, like Ducati, and sell them a Dymag product was out of this world. The Dymag wheels were a small regional manufacturer with little to no exposure out of the UK. They were now available to the Ducati worldwide through the Ducati dealer network. Things were going very well. I was very successful and I had built a name for myself throughout the motorcycle world. I may add that Dymag never compensated me for my out of pocket expenses to procure this deal. I never got the recognition I deserved, or was entitled to, in fact after the deal was done I was excluded from andfuture liason between Dymag and Ducati. Why did I do this? It was for personal satisfaction not financial gain. Thank you Dymag!
In 2003 I designed a digital display for the Ducati which was very advanced and this became a successful product. In 2004 Americans began contacting me asking me if I could procure some Italian motorcycles that were not available or too expensive to purchase in the US. Because of my contacts in Italy they knew I had access to these motorcycles. We were approached by two Americans that wanted to purchase a limited edition MV Agusta ORO motorcycles and they paid up front, so we agreed to import the motorcycles, we did inform them that the motorcycles would be required to be converted to DOT requirements. No one had any reservation as we were up front and honest with them.
Smuggling is bringing contraband into a Country without declaring it - this never happened.
We contacted our US brokerage firm in Atlanta to inform them that the bikes were arriving on a specified flight they would prepare the customs clearance documents as soon as the bikes entered Customs so they could be submitted to the US customs department in order for us to pay the taxes on these vehicles as soon as this was done Customs would release the bikes. This also applied to the $1,000,000 worth of Dymag wheels were imported from the UK. Any product coming from another country arriving in the US must enter Customs. THAT IS THE LAW. Smuggling is bringing contraband into a Country without declaring it - this never happened.