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PROFILE Autofarm 20<br />
Purely<br />
PORSCHE<br />
at Autofarm<br />
Richard Barnett visits<br />
Oxfordshire-based<br />
Porsche specialists<br />
Autofarm. For Porsche<br />
owners your car couldn’t<br />
be in any safer hands!<br />
THE UK has always<br />
been an important<br />
market for Porsche –<br />
from the mid-1950s<br />
on British enthusiasts<br />
took a shine to the manufacturer’s<br />
sports cars and that<br />
relationship has continued to<br />
this day.<br />
Down the years many independent<br />
Porsche specialists<br />
have sprung up, but there<br />
can’t be another that matches<br />
the history and today enjoys<br />
the same reputation as<br />
Oxfordshire-based Autofarm.<br />
<strong>The</strong> business was founded in<br />
1973 by Josh Sadler and Steve<br />
Barr, who saw an opening for<br />
a Porsche specialist to cater<br />
for that expanding enthusiast<br />
base.<br />
Originally based in Iver,<br />
Buckinghamshire, a year later<br />
Autofarm took on Jack Philips<br />
as a technician and Josh<br />
Sadler’s wife, Sue came on<br />
board in 1975, initially to run<br />
the stores.<br />
In 1977 Autofarm upped<br />
sticks and moved a few miles<br />
to Amersham-on-the Hill where<br />
there was not only a workshop<br />
and offices but a small showroom<br />
as well, and by the mid-<br />
1980s the business was strong<br />
enough to employs 20 people.<br />
Several initiatives were introduced,<br />
including replacement<br />
exhaust systems and glassfibre<br />
body panels.<br />
Business grew thanks to<br />
Josh Sadler and Steve Barr<br />
running Porsches in numerous<br />
club events and they helped<br />
create a production Porsche<br />
race series, and if that wasn’t<br />
enough to keep them occupied<br />
the business moved from<br />
Amersham to Tring where Autofarm<br />
held main dealer franchises<br />
for Suzuki and Saab, a<br />
short-lived move that didn’t<br />
work as planned but prompted<br />
the business to deal solely<br />
20, 21 News Analysis.indd 1 19/10/2017 09:18