Spadge Hopkins
Discussion
g15wiz said:
I have some knowledge, but will leave it to others.....
OK, it seems "others" do not wish to inform us.I do not have a hidden agenda or a gripe, far from it.
I first met Spadge in the early nineties when he had just set up his business in some dilapidated barns near Chelmsford, at that time he had the ex Motor Show G15 for sale which I wanted for my wife, the sale fell through only because by the time we had sold her XR2 he had sold the G15. I caught up with him again when he moved to Framlingham (which is about thirty miles from us), again he was very helpful over the years and was never too busy to stop and have a chat even if we turned up unannounced and his long suffering wife was always handy with the teapot.
I always speak as I find and Spadge always treated me right,after many years of TVR ownership and as I am possibly in the market for another Ginetta, I thought about looking him up again.
ok....
AFAIK, Spadge 'joined forces' with Ginetta Cars [LJT] to form Ginetta Heritage.
After a couple of years things appear to have gone a bit sour [?] ending up with Ginetta Cars taking all old moulds, jigs etc. to Leeds.
Spadge left the motor trade behind and has apparently 'disappeared'..
others may know more?
AFAIK, Spadge 'joined forces' with Ginetta Cars [LJT] to form Ginetta Heritage.
After a couple of years things appear to have gone a bit sour [?] ending up with Ginetta Cars taking all old moulds, jigs etc. to Leeds.
Spadge left the motor trade behind and has apparently 'disappeared'..
others may know more?
g15wiz said:
ok....
AFAIK, Spadge 'joined forces' with Ginetta Cars [LJT] to form Ginetta Heritage.
After a couple of years things appear to have gone a bit sour [?] ending up with Ginetta Cars taking all old moulds, jigs etc. to Leeds.
Spadge left the motor trade behind and has apparently 'disappeared'..
others may know more?
Well that is a shame, I can only speculate but know from personal experience that when two factions join together each principal has his own ideas on how things should be run, and this can cause considerable friction.AFAIK, Spadge 'joined forces' with Ginetta Cars [LJT] to form Ginetta Heritage.
After a couple of years things appear to have gone a bit sour [?] ending up with Ginetta Cars taking all old moulds, jigs etc. to Leeds.
Spadge left the motor trade behind and has apparently 'disappeared'..
others may know more?
When I first met him at his Chelmsford premises he also owned another business which I believe was something to do with the electronics industry, I think this was sold as things got going with the Ginetta side of things, perhaps he has gone back to that.
Anyway he is a sad loss to Ginetta enthusiasts and am sure is sorely missed, I certainly used to enjoy keeping up to date via his newsletter.
one of the last things spadge was doing before he "disappeared" was refurbishung a G4/S4 where he installed an oldschool G4 looking bonnet to the G4/S4...he made a mould, sold quite a few bonnets, as for those models spare bonnets did not exist anymore....and people had been very interested in this re-make bonnets....also G27 owners.
suddenly the freshly restored G4/S4 was sold for cheapish money and spadge disappeared.
i know that he also made some money in selling G15 V5c´s to ginetta owners who wanted to avoid SVA . there are running some Dare G4 and G12´s with a G15 chassisnumbers..even some G27 models.
maybe this altogether (moulds, competition to dare, illegal v5c deals) ended his business?
suddenly the freshly restored G4/S4 was sold for cheapish money and spadge disappeared.
i know that he also made some money in selling G15 V5c´s to ginetta owners who wanted to avoid SVA . there are running some Dare G4 and G12´s with a G15 chassisnumbers..even some G27 models.
maybe this altogether (moulds, competition to dare, illegal v5c deals) ended his business?
I have lived a reasonable few years to date, but apart from Richard John Bingham I have never known anyone disappear totally from a scene in such a radical way.
I always got on ok with Spadge. As long as you knew what (or who!) you were dealing with, it was fine. For chrise sake, he's not a murderer! Well, not to my knowledge.
I always got on ok with Spadge. As long as you knew what (or who!) you were dealing with, it was fine. For chrise sake, he's not a murderer! Well, not to my knowledge.
h4887 said:
A few days ago I spoke to someone who lives near him. He's alive and well but has nothing to do with cars. Seems he is involved with several voluntary organisations.
Geoff
Good to hear that Geoff. If anybody can, give him our good wishes. Regardless of what you think of him, he became a real contibutor to keeping Ginettas on the road. Look at the problem some have now when bodywork gets damaged.Geoff
I wouldn't have got a replacement screen so easily for my G11 without him. And neither would the red/black G10 have had a new front screen. The Ginetta world is far, far duller without him involved.
I just told Denise what you posted Geoff, and she suddenly recalls one of the Essex Ginetta weekend 'do's' organised by Ivor (or was it his daughter?) at a hotel, when Spadge was locked out of his room by his Mrs and he sat in the corridor with his head in his hands, feeling the pain in more ways than one!
Those were the days!
GinG15 said:
h4887 said:
........ Seems he is involved with several voluntary organisations.
Geoff
Geoff
kind of Damascene conversion
;);)
There are some charities and voluntary organisations I wouldn't trust with my late granma's sixpence I found in her chris'mas pud sixty years ago.
not sure if this should have a giggle. Oh so what.If you are interested, you can search on google and come up with this:
http://www.framlingham.com/councillors_detail.php?...
http://www.framlingham.com/councillors_detail.php?...
cjb44 said:
Hi
Does anyone know what happened to Spadge Hopkins. A few years ago I found him very helpful and a great bloke to talk to.
Utterly charming ex army chap.Does anyone know what happened to Spadge Hopkins. A few years ago I found him very helpful and a great bloke to talk to.
Unfortunately had a habit of ripping off customers and owners. He sold me a car fraudulently and after several years of prevarication, I went after him legally, so he put Cottage Classics through the hoop. Within days he had re-invented himself as Ginetta Heritage. A couple of years later Lawrence Tomlinson found he could not be trusted either and left Lawrence holding the baby.
Has now re-invented himself again as a respectable member of the town council in Framlingham; I guess they do not know his history.
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