roger.ph

One of the more colorful customers was the legendary Evel Knievel. I received a call from his agent saying he wanted to buy a new Espada for use while in the UK before his attempt to Jump 13 single deck busses at Wembly stadium in May 1976. He was staying at the Ritz practicing his golf drives out over the Thames from his balcony. It was from the Ritz he had seen an Espada driving down Haymarket and decided he wanted one and wanted it now!
This was somewhat of a problem as he also wanted to take it back with him after his triumph. America was like Europe locked in a bureaucratic nightmare to cut pollution and improve safety of a cars.
I called the factory but they had nothing available so I called the east coast dealer in New York who had one in stock, green with beige interior. I price was suggested and after insuring a healthy profit I called our shipping agents MAT Transport in Dover, my contact was somewhat bemused but promised to give me an air freight price with the hour. He called with a cost of £1600 pounds and it would be at Heathrow within 36 hours.
So after confirming with New York that the price was firm and the car was ready to be delivered to the airport, Newark, New Jersey I called Evel back. Surprisingly considering the total cost he agreed more surprisingly he agreed to have a bankers draft with us by midday the next day.