22/12/2023
Dear Friends, Valued Customers and Suppliers,
An new road is opening up..........
As some of you might already know, the time has come for me to leave Gumtree 4x4 and retire. What an incredible business it has been, bringing many smiles as well as some (extra) hair loss over the years! I can't quite believe this day is here but I must admit that I feel ready for it now.
Originally Gumtree Enterprises was born over 42 years ago when I was made redundant one month before we were expecting our first baby Rebecca. I started the business in the driveway of our house in Plumpton and some old farm buildings, doing car recovery and transport as well as buying and selling the odd Land Rover in my spare time. Gradually the Land Rover and 4x4 side of the business took over and after a planning battle we built a workshop in 1986. Nick Fraser, Martin Stapleton, Roger Kemp and Jason Woollven were our first employees and between us we created a busy and successful Land Rover business. In the days before eBay, internet forums and Facebook owners’ groups we used to have a late night every Wednesday with people coming to search for second hand parts, discuss the vehicles they were building and then follow us over to the Jolly Sportsman for some late cheesy chips and a beer. Our family grew from one to four children and so did the business, which desperately needed more space, so we moved to premises on Ditchling Common Industrial Estate in 2001, taking over RMV Motors, the MOT station there, from the late and much missed Kenny Hayes. I believe that over the years we have enjoyed a good reputation and did our best to look after our many customers, be they local or far afield. I have been lucky enough to enjoy my work which started by accident from a hobby. There have been many changes, challenges and difficulties but I have been lucky to enjoy huge support from you and the local community, as well as my wife Glenda and my family. All of you have been key players in the success of Gumtree 4x4.
With my great love for Africa and my enthusiasm for driving 4x4s off road, which was born on our farm and cemented by the All Wheel Drive Club, I became involved in a charitable organisation called Rhino Ark. My Rhino Charge Land Rover was built at our old workshops in Plumpton in 1997 from parts we had in the yard and we were the winners of the first UK Rhino Charge that year. We managed to have it shipped to Kenya in 2000 and it is now the veteran of over 20 Rhino Charges! Not bad for a BITSA! Over the years the team has raised over £175,000 to support the work of Rhino Ark! Again you, particularly my suppliers, have supported me in raising money for this very worthwhile cause whilst enjoying driving my Land Rover in the African bush. I rather like this quote: "Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
It's now time for me to leave the daily life of Gumtree 4x4 behind and hand over the reins to Chloe and Ben Hurd. It has been a fantastic, varied, happy, tiring and rewarding job and is very much part of me. Whilst I leave the company to others, I'll be here to help with the bits that I love or talk about all things Land Rover and African - just at a slower pace and when I choose. Do keep in touch.
I will still be around for help advice and support. Many of my valued customers and suppliers have become friends and I am still based in Plumpton. Thank you all for letting me create my own path and the part you have played in making it a wonderful one - Gumtree 4x4 would not have been the same without you!
It would be a shame not to say goodbye to people personally so we will plan a gathering at our house in the New Year and will invite as many as you as possible. This is not the end, just the beginning of another chapter!
As Robert Louis Stevenson wrote: “Little do ye know your own blessedness; for to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive”.
Stay well and keep in touch.
All the very best,
John.
