Hedley Studios - The Little Car Company pre-pack rescue
Discussion
Sky News reports an existing investor has rescued them from administration.
https://news.sky.com/story/miniature-classic-car-m...
https://news.sky.com/story/miniature-classic-car-m...
Have just read the Statement of Administrator s Proposal: https://find-and-update.company-information.servic...
Good to see employees and suppliers made whole and the business continuing. Rare, and very welcome.
The cars are wonderful to see, so glad they remain.
Edit 120326: Some comments removed as a bit catty.
Good to see employees and suppliers made whole and the business continuing. Rare, and very welcome.
The cars are wonderful to see, so glad they remain.
Edit 120326: Some comments removed as a bit catty.
Edited by MysteryCar on Thursday 12th March 11:54
They sold 500+ cars at c 75k each, that's 37 million in sales over the last 17 months. 26m a year.
With that kind of turnover and the fact that they only make a few different types of toy cars, it should be easy enough to see if there is a profit to be made?
Hopefully there is and they continue on...
With that kind of turnover and the fact that they only make a few different types of toy cars, it should be easy enough to see if there is a profit to be made?
Hopefully there is and they continue on...
Blimey. Some images from the earliest days. I left the team around March 2019.
The picture below always remind me of Raiders of the Lost Ark, with the crate, I designed and had built on my drive, at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show. The crate was designed to mimic the original crates
Leaning on the crate is Ben Hedley and some high up in Bugatti whose name escapes me. Everyone mucked in to get it all sorted. Ben worked through the night to assemble on the stand. I, and a few others worked in my garage till daft o'clock getting everything sorted prior to leaving. The project had only begun in early 2019. The show started 7th March.
Always remember the clear stand supporting the 100% scale, to the Baby Bugatti, 75% scale to car if I recall, being a particular problem. It was so fragile. Then there was the paint that had no time to harden so the packing marked it, but at the show what can you do? We got it there.
Getting it there... I slept in the van on the way to Geneva and arrived just in time, the show is massive and you have windows of opportunity for deliveries, the afternoon before. Remember being relieved that customs looked at the packed van, sighed and allowed me through.
Sleeping in the van was not just for time. I was terrified of the BBII and the original being stolen or the van broken into. People in the Bugatti community will remember a rare car being stolen off a trailer, never to be seen again. IIRC the thieves just wanted the trailer...
A few further memories.
I don't know what happened the other day and in all honesty am not interested. I will say that Ben always paid me on time.
Then there was the second comment on PH at the time. Here. My reply seven years later! Anyone that has done rendering knows it takes time. Ben called me one morning and I was told the relevant person in Bugatti, needed to see a number of images of the BBII composited on some existing images and also some studio shots. He would be on a plane in a couple of hours and it had to be done by then to get the project signed off. Also, please remember computers were a lot slower then. Well, from memory, six or seven images were sent over as the Bugatti gentleman was waiting for take-off. The deal was done by Ben, but it was that close. Were the images good? Of course they could be much better. Did they do the job yes. Were they better than no images? They also made the Bugatti brochure for many years.
The last thing that still is a recurring nightmare. I turned up at Ben's brother house in London to collect the original Baby Bugatti. See image above. Space was tight and myself, Ben's brother and the original almost ended up in the road below the tail lift as I, yes it was my fault, lost footing whilst holding onto the car with the brother at the other end... Phew.
The picture below always remind me of Raiders of the Lost Ark, with the crate, I designed and had built on my drive, at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show. The crate was designed to mimic the original crates
Leaning on the crate is Ben Hedley and some high up in Bugatti whose name escapes me. Everyone mucked in to get it all sorted. Ben worked through the night to assemble on the stand. I, and a few others worked in my garage till daft o'clock getting everything sorted prior to leaving. The project had only begun in early 2019. The show started 7th March.
Always remember the clear stand supporting the 100% scale, to the Baby Bugatti, 75% scale to car if I recall, being a particular problem. It was so fragile. Then there was the paint that had no time to harden so the packing marked it, but at the show what can you do? We got it there.
Getting it there... I slept in the van on the way to Geneva and arrived just in time, the show is massive and you have windows of opportunity for deliveries, the afternoon before. Remember being relieved that customs looked at the packed van, sighed and allowed me through.
Sleeping in the van was not just for time. I was terrified of the BBII and the original being stolen or the van broken into. People in the Bugatti community will remember a rare car being stolen off a trailer, never to be seen again. IIRC the thieves just wanted the trailer...
A few further memories.
I don't know what happened the other day and in all honesty am not interested. I will say that Ben always paid me on time.
Then there was the second comment on PH at the time. Here. My reply seven years later! Anyone that has done rendering knows it takes time. Ben called me one morning and I was told the relevant person in Bugatti, needed to see a number of images of the BBII composited on some existing images and also some studio shots. He would be on a plane in a couple of hours and it had to be done by then to get the project signed off. Also, please remember computers were a lot slower then. Well, from memory, six or seven images were sent over as the Bugatti gentleman was waiting for take-off. The deal was done by Ben, but it was that close. Were the images good? Of course they could be much better. Did they do the job yes. Were they better than no images? They also made the Bugatti brochure for many years.
The last thing that still is a recurring nightmare. I turned up at Ben's brother house in London to collect the original Baby Bugatti. See image above. Space was tight and myself, Ben's brother and the original almost ended up in the road below the tail lift as I, yes it was my fault, lost footing whilst holding onto the car with the brother at the other end... Phew.
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