The Financial Times has shone a light on the important work being done by StarterMotor to preserve both the present and future of the classic car industry, profiling the charity as part of its HTSI section.
Strikingly, the charity’s general manager Steve Cootes admitted that the industry is at a critical juncture. “The sector is ageing,” he said, “[and] if we don’t do something about this, it’s going to fade away.”
The 17 Ambassadors who give up their time for the charity at events such as the Scramble, and those farther afield from its Bicester Motion base, are therefore instrumental. To qualify as an Ambassadors, candidates must be 15-25 with an interest in old cars. They don’t have to be mechanically minded – though the article points out that almost half of the UK’s specialist employees are aged 45 or older.
One of those to have benefited from StarterMotor’s wider careers scope is Gracie Haddon, the charity’s marketing and events specialist who began as an Ambassador and took on a full-time job after university. “I knew about this sector, but I didn’t know there were young people like me,” she said.
Since joining the charity, and having driven plenty of its fleet of classics, she now drives a Mazda MX-5 Mk2 every day, helping to lower the average age of classic ownership in the UK. The Financial Times referenced the National Historic Vehicle Survey 2025 by the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs, which found that to be 66 years of age.
Underlining Steve Cootes’ immediate concerns.
Read the full story at ft.com