Pete Buckles, Neil recalls:
Published: 02 Feb 2024 updated: 06 Feb 2024
Pete Buckles, Neil recalls: -
Sad news recently, one of the founding fathers of the TR
Register and Cox and Buckles spares, Pete Buckles died on Christmas day. Sue
and I attended the funeral which was, not surprisingly, a packed affair. Pete
was a larger-than-life character with a phenomenal intellect. His ability to remember part numbers was
legendary, but less known was his generosity. When at Goodwood way back, John Welburn rolled his TR2, the hat was
passed around to help John with repairs. Buckles said he would match it pound
for pound to provide the spares needed. Top man.
We met in the early 70's when we both attended the London TR
meetings at the Windmill on Clapham Common. At that time Pete along with the
other Pete (Cox) formed Cox and Buckles Spares, the go to place for parts at
the time. This morphed into the Classic Car Spares group, then Moss. The photo was
as a result of the bonkers ad agency Moss were using in the 80's-90's. a strap
line 'would you buy spares from this
man' was to be used, and Pete was informed he must dress as seen and look
menacing. The ad went on to say, 'you don't need to as we have dedicated,
trained staff,....etc. etc. a mark of the man was that he had no bother making
himself look a plonker for the camera.
trailer behind my TR2 and we filled it with parts likely to
be needed by folk in the area. Sue and I put in our savings in total, and Pete
matched it. He generously gave us 120 days to pay back his part, with no
interest.
Pete , you will be missed.
