Mike Humble:

After a short battle with lung cancer, the legendary writer, broadcaster and public campaigner Quentin Willson passed away peacefully with the family surrounding him on Saturday the 8th of November.

A motoring mogul all of his life, Quentin moved from poacher to gamekeeper by becoming a media and TV star after a long stint buying and selling classic cars. His rather unique style and beautiful way with words made him stand out like a beacon at a time where automotive journalism was becoming a bit stale.

He shot to fame when producer Jon Bentley cast him to work alongside a new breed of ‘Top Gear‘ presenters that included Jeremy Clarkson, the ever excitable Vicki Butler-Henderson and former racing driver Tim ‘Tiff’ Needell. Armed with a solid knowledge born from his experience of being a former motor dealer, Quentin specialised on TG with matters relating to the buying, selling and sourcing of used cars.

Not only a TV presenter, Quentin also became an established author with many titles to his name and his services for public speaking were always in high demand. He latterly became a campaigner for car prices to be on a level with Europe and joined forces with ‘Fairfuel UK’ to put pressure on the government to reduce the amount of fuel duty which successfully saw a tax reduction of over £5 billion pounds of fuel duty.

On a personal note, I got to know Quentin fairly well. He was a genuine bloke who had time for everyone, knew his cars and had a brilliant sense of humour and I for one, as thousands of others will miss him.

He leaves behind his wife Michaela and their three children.