The Collector: David Clarke

In the first of a new series for K500, James Page look at the life of noted Ferrari aficionado David Clarke, seen above, right, with a youthful Stirling Moss at Monaco in 1952.

Although he was best known as a Ferrari collector and the founder of Graypaul Motors Ltd – which started as a restoration business and eventually became an official Ferrari dealership – David Clarke was a man of diverse talents. During the 1950s, he was a successful racing driver in everything from 500cc single-seaters to Bob Gerard’s Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica (below). He followed that by becoming a film-maker, and even drove buses and hearses for a local transport company.

He was also a great philanthropist, and the influence and generosity of this remarkable man went – and continue to go – far beyond the small world of classic cars.

Clarke bought his first Ferrari in 1960 – a 212 Export Vignale cabriolet (0106E) that he still owned when he died in July 2002. He was also a customer of Maranello Concessionaires in its formative years, and his early Ferraris included a 250 GT Lusso (4845 GT) and a 250 GTO (3869 GT) that confusingly – for the police – carried the registration numbers RU 5 and 5 RU respectively. RU 5 was also used on the first right-hand-drive 250 GT Short Wheelbase (1993 GT), which he had owned previously.

Clarke’s good relationship with Colonel Ronnie Hoare allowed him to acquire some even more exotic machinery over the years. In a letter to the Colonel in August 1966, he wrote that he was hoping to buy Ron Fry’s 250 LM so that he could ‘turn it into a fabulous road car’.

The Colonel replied suggesting ‘an alternative solution to the LM which would be to convert a 365 P2 into a road car. As you know, I have one of these cars at the factory which has done a comparatively small racing life, and has been completely reconditioned by the factory Racing Department and is ready to run… I leave the thought with you for what it is worth.’

Clarke subsequently acquired that 365 P2/3 (0826), which in 1965 had been driven by John Surtees and Pedro Rodriguez at Daytona, then Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart at the Nürburgring. Clarke discreetly modified it to make it road-legal, and it was joined in his stable by a model that, to many, is the epitome of the Ferrari sports racing car – the 330 P4. In this case it was 0856, in which Parkes and Scarfiotti had finished second at the 1967 Daytona 24 Hours. The pair repeated that feat in the car at Le Mans, finishing just four laps adrift of the winning Ford Mk IV.

By the time a young Bob Houghton joined Clarke to look after his cars, the small but perfectly formed collection comprised GTO, P2/3, P4, 250 GT Lusso, 212 Export, 275 GTB/4 and 196 SP. Initially they were kept at the family’s thriving box factory.

‘He was there because his father wanted his son in the business,’ recalls Houghton, ‘but every five minutes David would run down to the garage and hide behind the cars, and the secretary would be looking for him…

‘At the beginning, it was just me and David, because all I did was look after his fleet of cars. People got to know us, and then we went down to Maranello Concessionaires and bought this massive stock of parts because they just wanted to get rid of them.

‘So we had all the parts for the old cars and then we got so busy. I was working 24/7 to fix cars and we ended up opening a shop at Shepshed, behind one of his box factories. That’s where we started Graypaul.

‘We started off doing a lot of work for Anthony Bamford, and then went from there. Over the years, we built up this reputation – David was the guy on Ferraris in those days. There's no question. He always had a camera around his neck and was taking photos. We got so big that we moved again, and when I left in 1978 we had 23 mechanics.

‘Because he was reasonably well off anyway, he didn't run Graypaul to make a profit. He did it because he absolutely adored the cars.’

Clarke eventually sold Graypaul in 1985, but it was the 1989 sale of the P4 to Albert Obrist that enabled him to set up the Shuttlewood Clarke Foundation on a sound financial footing, to provide a day care home and other facilities for the elderly in his neighbourhood. It was the pinnacle of his many years of charitable work.

‘He would invite old people to come to the home,’ recalls Houghton,‘to be fed, to be entertained, and he had people go and fetch them in buses.’

Shuttlewood was his mother’s maiden name, and the charity survives to this day, still providing support both to the elderly and to disabled people of all ages.

Another of Clarke’s mechanical passions was the steam engine, and he was a director of the Great Central Railway, a preservation society that runs steam engines on a stretch of track between Loughborough and Leicester. He also owned a model railway that was so large it required a wall to be knocked down so that it could be moved during one of Graypaul’s relocations.

Those who knew Clarke remember him as being the epitome of the true gentleman – always courteous, gentle and kind, and willing to generously share his vast knowledge. Without doubt, his is a lasting legacy.

‘I think Ferrari, as a company, wouldn't have done so well in the UK if it wasn't for David Clarke,’ concludes Houghton. ‘It's not that long ago that Ferrari didn't want to know an old car. He was a pioneer.’

See shuttlewood-clarke.org and bobhoughton.com

Photos by Revs and James Brown for K500