Page 106 - James Caan - The Real Deal

Chapter 10

The Beginning (1985)

‘ I now understood the principles of running a business, and I

knew that if you didn’t have a unique selling point, a USP,

then you were going to be dead in the water. ’

bout three months after we moved to Mill Hill, a friend
A of mine told me about an auction for top-end cars. I thought
car auctions were all about rusty Cortinas and Austin Metros – I
had no idea you could buy Porsches and Ferraris at auction, too.
So I went along with him, just to see what kinds of bargains were
available, and, of course, when I got there I fell in love with this
Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit. It was bottle-green with a cream interior
and was probably the most beautiful car I’d ever seen. So,
inevitably, I got caught up in the bidding, and then, of course, I
ended up winning the auction.
By early 1985, the boutiques were making around £12k a
month, and that gave us a very nice lifestyle, which meant there
was enough money in the business account to pay for it. Aisha,
naturally enough, went ballistic when I confessed that I had just
spent the best part of £40k on a car, and the only way to get myself
out of the doghouse was to say ‘Why don’t we buy you one, too?’
She chose a Porsche.

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