“My daily car is a secondhand Range Rover,” says Rodger Dudding as he climbs out of a Rolls-Royce Phantom Silver – one of just three in existence in the UK. “But I thought this would be a bit of fun.”
The £320,000 classic would make a statement anywhere – not least in the car park of Potters Bar train station in Hertfordshire, where the 75-year-old King of Lugs (or lock-up garages) is waiting with his “very expensive mini cab” ahead of his first profile interview in 15 years.
Worth £155m, Dudding – or RD as he is known to his colleagues – is an Estates Gazette Rich List regular, owns the largest portfolio of lock-up garages in the UK through his property company Dudrich – ?“I own 12,000 of them. My closest competitors own about 900 and 800 each,” – and is obsessed with classic cars.
Next on his agenda is a plan to create a £10m classic car emporium comprising museum, car storage and apprenticeship programme in north London. Dudding is now on the hunt for the right site ?on which to build his super project.
Mr Ticket
The Kent-born naval engineer has spent nearly 40 years building up his garage portfolio acquiring “ticky tacky graffiti-ridden yucky lock-up garages” and usually buys two new blocks a month.
He also owns several hundred retail units, more than 700 flats and a range of commercial mews properties, all contributing to a property portfolio which makes up 70% of his fortune. “My strategy is to buy for long-term investment or rental income,” he says. “Then look at that block of garages for development opportunities down the line, whether it’s a pair of semi-detached houses, a small block of flats or a mews-style development.”
Dudding’s other company produces queuing ticket systems, the type in use at deli counters, post offices and supermarkets around the country. Lonsto (which stands for London Stockholm, the Scandinavian city where he first saw a queuing system in place) was founded in 1970 after he gave up a business development role with equipment company American Machine and Foundry.
His queuing products have since become so ubiquitous they have earned him another moniker – Mr Ticket.
Dudding says his contemporaries think he is “bonkers” because he will always offer a fair price and isn’t interested in negotiating. He won’t even be offended if people go away and try to find a buyer willing to write a larger cheque before coming back to his original offer.
John Barnett, auctioneer at Barnett Ross, has known Dudding for more than 30 years and says he is “an honourable man” in an industry driven by bottom lines. “Rodger is very honourable when it comes to buying property,” says Barnett.
“He has bought property from us over the years, but these days he is also a successful developer of ?back-land for housing.”
Dudding no longer goes to the auction room, preferring the anonymity of telephone bidding. And unusually, he has been known to run a block of lock-up garages he wants to purchase through auction to prove to the vendor that he has not offered to pay too much for them. He insists he believes it is “terribly immoral” to offer below market value just because he can.
Toy cupboard
Dudding is now searching for a 1,000 ft deep strip of land on which to build his 100,000 sq ft car museum, a separate 100,000 sq ft storage facility and at least five other buildings of about 50,000 sq ft each providing vehicle repairs, servicing, engineering and upholstery.
He hopes the venture could break even in three to five years. No bad thing considering he estimates his car obsession costs him around £300,000 a year.
The storage facility, with room for 500 high-net-worth classic cars and repair and maintenance services, will essentially exist to support the museum. The idea is to charge £35-£40 per car per week, potentially an income of more than £900,000 a year.
“I see the museum as my legacy, it’s for posterity’s sake: The idea is these cars will be around long after I’m gone,” he muses, pausing to point out photographs dotted around the walls of celebrities driving his cars – Boris Johnson at the wheel of a 1966 Citroen DS21 Decapotable, actress Ruth Wilson lounging on the bonnet of a 1968 Jensen Interceptor FF, the title character’s car in the new series of BBC1’s Luther. He is in early stage talks with Enfield council over the plan, which he is willing to fund to the tune of £10m if the council can provide the land, ideally “a strip running adjacent to the M25 from one junction to the other.
“One of the joys of these things is sharing them with other people,” Dudding says. “I am not looking for a government subsidy, all I am looking for is the land.”
The museum would be stacked with his personal collection kept in Studio 434 or “Rodger’s toy cupboard” as it is affectionately known.
This 35,000 sq ft warehouse is where he keeps the majority of his £10m of classic cars and motorcycles – including the Rolls-Royce Phantom Silver – which together with 170 cars and 60 motorcycles make up the UK’s largest privately owned collection.
The collection would be supplemented by clients’ vehicles – rotated from the adjacent storage facility: “This is the way to ensure a changing exhibition and returning visitors,” he explains.
“Who wouldn’t want the opportunity to see a £1.5m Enzo Ferrari on display for a short period of time?”
Classic car owners would also be able to bring their vehicles to “Dudding’s emporium” to work on them in situ, where there will be experts on hand if required. A central part of the plan is an apprenticeship scheme. Dudding is already involved with the engineering department of Barnet and Southgate College to which he provides cars and parts for students to develop their mechanical skills.
“As an apprenticeship-trained engineer myself, I believe passionately in apprenticeships,” he says.
“Take the average 16- or 17-year-old, put them in an apprenticeship environment and it can inculcate to them a different viewpoint.”
Seven days a week
Undeterred by his 76th birthday in December, Dudding continues to work seven days a week “unless I have a classic car function on”.
He doesn’t use a computer, preferring to dictate e-mails to his loyal personal assistant or secretary, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t focused on the future. Creating his north London classic car emporium is now his priority.
And that’s Rodger Dudding. A steady long-term vision mixed in with just the right amount of “bonkers”.
Listen to a podcast of Rodger Dudding on the Estates Gazette iTunes channel or at http://estatesgazette.podomatic.com
