STEPHEN ‘STEVE’ CARR
7/12/1943 – 20/4/2024
A gentle man, an ideas man, a team player.
Steve’s love of motoring started with rallying, his first rally car a Hillman Imp in the late ‘60’s/early ‘70’s.
Through his rallying contacts he got a job as Test Engineer with Glacier Bearings, where he met fellow employee Josh Sadler. Together, with help from their respective wives Pauline and Sue, they went on to establish Autofarm Porsche Specialists in early 1973.
Whilst developing Autofarm as a business was very labour intensive, it did enable Steve to get back into rallying, this time with a competitive Porsche 911. The Irish Tarmac rallies proved the most attractive route, and in the late ‘70’s Steve competed in several events in Ireland, with a couple of top ten finishes in the major Internationals.
In 1978 Steve met and later married Gina, with two sons, Dan and Ben, arriving in the early ‘80’s. International rallying became a luxury too far, but Steve had already become interested in flying, obtaining his Private Pilot’s Licence some years earlier. He acquired a single engine Piper Cherokee – a previous insurance write-off of course – and took to the air. The Piper was soon traded in for a twin-engine Partenavia, which was hired out whenever possible to cover costs. Steve also upgraded his PPL to a full Commercial Pilot’s licence with instrument rating, which enabled many continental ‘shopping trips’ in the ‘80’s for Porsche parts. He would also go on to achieve his full hot air balloon Pilot’s Licence.
In 1987 Autofarm moved premises from Amersham, to a new facility near Tring, a very labour intensive challenge which included taking on Saab and Suzuki franchises. This provided Steve with another new challenge, as he took over the sales side of the growing business. Sadly this didn’t last long, following a financial recession 1990 the original Autofarm would close in 1991, a difficult time. Ever resourceful, Steve carried on with second-hand Porsche sales, operating from home, although in a very difficult market place.
In 2007 Steve became the MG Car Club’s Competition Secretary, responsible for the club’s motor racing activities, working with and alongside the MGCC race committee for just over seven years until his retirement in 2014. During his time he produced some great and memorable race meetings, not least the MGB50 at Silverstone as part of MGLive! 2012.
Sadly in 2014 Steve was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers, and slowly he drifted away from us. At the age of 80, on April 20 2024 he was released from a tragically difficult time and passed away in his sleep.