Nigel Mansell the used car dealer
Any islanders with upwards of $6,000 in their pocket can head to the historic Art Deco building in St Helier that is being renovated and from January will be home to the Mansell Collection. There, either Leo Mansell or, if they are lucky, his father, will help source their dream car, while they browse “Our Nige’s" trophies and race-winning cars in a new museum. For motorsport fans it sounds like a dream come true, but surely Nigel could find a more exhilarating pastime?
“People come and go on this planet and very few people leave legacies behind; I’m hoping this unique building and what Leo is achieving will leave a great legacy," says Nigel. “In truth we’ve been looking for a home for the memorabilia for probably 20-plus years. The biggest exciting thing is the opportunity to bring all of our future [business] interests and current interests together so that the power base comes from here. So although we’ll be trading downstairs and have the museum upstairs, there will be many other strings to the bow which people won’t see."
Selling cars is not a new venture for Mansell. In addition to having been a special constable, charity director and grand prix superstar, he owned a Ferrari dealership and several franchises of Westover Motors on the South Coast. Surely a more obvious choice would have been to go back to flogging supercars?
“We want to throw our net and have the opportunity of anyone in Jersey coming and seeing if we can be of any assistance," he explains. “Whatever the budget the customer has, that’s an important budget to them, and to us. We are going to develop a more personal way of doing business. We are not looking at quantity, we are looking at quality and that makes a big difference in how you trade. With the experience we have and with the enthusiasm that the Mansell team have, and our history in motorsport and the car industry, we are looking at doing things a little bit differently." More at The Telegraph