A visit to Tom Hardman Limited: Racing cars, family ties and a special Humber

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In surroundings made for open-top motoring, we follow narrow lanes through the English countryside, winding between hedgerows until we arrive at a farm near Clitheroe. After a little searching, we spot a large enclosed trailer – and beside it, the man we have come to meet: Tom Hardman.

With evident pride, Tom opens the trailer to reveal Joséphine, a Humber 12/45. It is not necessarily the sort of car one immediately associates with him; Tom Hardman Limited is better known for sporting pre-war machinery, racing cars and automobiles from the upper end of the market. This Humber, however, has a deeply personal story.

Tom was just eight weeks old when his parents first took him to Oulton Park in the car. Now, 48 years later, Joséphine is preparing to return to the same circuit, serving as family transport to and from the event throughout the weekend and helping Tom create new memories with his own three children.

Before following his passion for historic machinery, Tom spent eleven years working as a patternmaker, followed by a period selling modern cars. Pre-war automobiles eventually proved impossible to resist and, with his wife Helen’s agreement and support, he established a business specialising in sales and brokerage – although, as we soon discover, his work encompasses rather more than that. The weekend after our visit, he is due to co-organise the Seaman Trophy races at Oulton Park with the VSCC, making this an ideal moment to catch up with him.

Tom has advertised with PreWarCar.com since 2010 and, as far as we know, always to the satisfaction of his customers. We, too, have enjoyed a warm relationship with him for many years.

Our visit begins in the storage area. Tom apologises for what he considers to be a rather untidy space, although there is little need: building work is under way to further improve the business, with a dedicated photographic studio and turntable being constructed on site.

“I like to support local businesses,” Tom explains. “Next door is about as local as I can get!”

He talks us through the process. When a car arrives for sale, it is first brought into the workshop on the left for inspection. A detailer then prepares it for presentation, after which a professional photographer comes in to capture it properly. Tom and his wife Helen write the descriptions themselves.

Helen is an essential part of this warm family business. As well as preparing the social-media content, she assists with events and the many day-to-day jobs involved in running the company. Then, of course, there are their three children, who frequently accompany them to events and travel with them in the cars. It is a family business in the truest sense.

The tour continues, and Tom proudly offers us a genuine scoop: the 1938 Alta 62IS racing car. After spending many years on display at the Brooklands Museum, it is now being offered for sale – with Tom entrusted to handle it.

“I’m a Grand Prix car racer at heart,” he tells us. It is a field in which he has considerable experience, having handled numerous important competition cars over the years, including examples from ERA, Maserati and MG.

He has stories to tell at every turn. He recalls the company’s early days in a smaller barn elsewhere on the farm, while explaining the thinking behind his showroom and office.

“It has to feel like home,” he says – an understandable requirement, considering how much time he spends here. That welcoming atmosphere is immediately apparent, with a fire roaring in the first-floor office overlooking the showroom.

Although his original speciality was pre-war machinery, Tom is keen to move with the times. Two years ago, he decided that the showroom needed a broader mixture of vintage and more modern cars. The decision appears to have paid off. His telephone rings regularly throughout our conversation.

“Always busy,” he says apologetically. First, the brakes on a Delahaye do not feel quite right, so the mechanic must dismantle and inspect them. A little later, the marquees for the Seaman Trophy have arrived at Oulton Park, but the generator is missing. Such is life at Tom Hardman Limited.

We do not mind. There is more than enough in the showroom to occupy us, including a particularly attractive light-grey 3 Litre Bentley. Apparently finished with his telephone call, Tom’s voice carries across the room: “This car is with its third owner and was originally a factory demonstrator.”

Over a cup of tea, we admire the Nuvolari poster hanging behind his desk and feel thoroughly at home. Tom’s telephone rings again. This time it is a neighbouring specialist working on a customer’s Jaguar E-type. The new bumper does not fit, and the two of them head off to find a solution.

For Tom and his family, this is far more than a business: it is a way of life. It suits the perfectionist in him – a world in which personal memories and motoring history sit comfortably alongside the practical demands of preparing cars, organising races and keeping customers happy.

Joséphine brings that story full circle. Tom was only eight weeks old when his parents first took him to Oulton Park in the Humber. Forty-eight years later, he returns to the circuit, where he will take the wheel of Ben Fidler’s ERA AJM1.

The weekend will carry an even deeper significance. On 30 August, custodianship of Joséphine has formally pass to Tom, exactly 28 years after the death of his father, Philip. Life moves on, but the memories remain – and, with Tom’s own children now sharing these experiences, a new generation of family memories is already being made.

We wish Tom every success for the race weekend, although somehow we suspect he has everything well in hand.

Tom Hardman Limited is based near Clitheroe in Lancashire, Great Britain. You can view the company’s current advertisements here.

Words and photos: Laurens Klein

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