Luxury car king Clive Sutton flies around the world to source motors for
wealthy clients and has been to Oklahoma to oversee the building of a
customised Mustang as used by Steve McQueen in the film Bullitt.
“A factory in Oklahoma is now building the car for one of my clients. It’s for
a businessman who has got bored with Ferraris and Porsches, loves the look
of the green Bullitt Mustang, but wants something more comfortable, with
better suspension, and air conditioning. For £100,000 it will look exactly
like the car in the film but will handle like a more modern car.”
Sutton, 48, has been involved in the luxury car industry for over 25 years. He
founded one of the UK’s leading car dealerships in north London, named after
himself, before selling up in 2004. Now, he has a showroom with a wide range
of luxury cars and sources unusual and bespoke vehicles for wealthy clients,
such as the Blairs, Premiership footballers and pop stars. He travels
frequently, to source cars from all over the world and attend motor shows.
What else are you getting built in Oklahoma?
We had another Mustang built there, for one of my clients, a premiership
footballer. He wanted one of the cars used in the film Gone in 60 Seconds.
It is fitted with a ‘Go Baby Go’ button and when you press it, gas is
injected into the cylinder heads and all hell breaks loose. That cost
£200,000.
What other big deals stand out?
I had a Russian client who wanted a certain type of Ferrari, which had to be
left hand drive, sent to Moscow. I talked to my contacts and found one in
Germany. I had to fly to Frankfurt to do the deal to buy the car. Then the
guy who bought it sent his own plane to pick it up. It cost 320,000 euro. In
this business, you have to see it and touch it to make sure it really exists.
What is the most someone has spent on a car?
Around £400,000 and that was on a Rolls Royce convertible but others have come
close to that. We supply a heavily modernised version of the Ford GT, which
competes with Ferrari, and a certain member of a Middle Eastern royal family
wanted a particular colour scheme. It was an unusual shade of yellow to
match another car and it cost £30,000 extra. The same client wanted an
extremely customised Porsche. He spent £120,000 on a Porsche Turbo and
£200,000 on the conversion to make it into a 650 horsepower vehicle. I had
to project manage that.
What was Tony Blair like to deal with?
The Blairs were very nice and straightforward. I wouldn’t usually talk about
them openly but it is common knowledge, and has been in the papers, that I
supply cars for them. They have had four or five Chrysler Voyagers and we
still maintain cars for them.
Can you tell us about any other wealthy clients?
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