JAMES (Jim) Smith, a man who probably imported more exotic sports car brands into Australia than any other automotive entrepreneur, and made a name for himself racing an eclectic brace of different makes and models from the 1960s, has died after a battle with cancer.

An amiable gentleman with a ready smile and widely respected across motor racing and car retailing circles, Mr Smith was 88.

An innovator in the car business, the mark of the man was demonstrated when he famously became the owner of Peter Manton Motors over a race bet at Sydney’s Warwick Farm racing circuit.

The story goes that Mr Smith and champion Mini racing driver Peter Manton were best of friends and they would fly to racing circuits together. On a flight to Warwick Farm Mr Smith declared that if he beat Manton over the weekend Manton would have to sell his business to him.

He beat Manton and they did the deal for Peter Manton Motors which was at the top of Elizabeth Street in Melbourne selling all the BMC/Leyland brands including Jaguar, Land Rover, Mini, MG, Morris, Austin and Rover.

Mr Smith owned and operated Peter Manton Motors (the name of which was subsequently shortened to Mantons) from 1969 to its sale in 1990.

Other franchises operated by Mr Smith also included Volvo, Jensen, Lotus, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Lancia, and Citroen. In 1993, using his Lotus connections, he brought the first Bugatti to Australia.

Mr Smith was the importer and distributor for Jensen 1972 – 1978, Lotus 1974 – 2000, Lamborghini 1994 – 2012, Aston Martin 1994 – 2000, TVR 1993 – 2000 and Caterham 1992 – 2000.

For his automotive retail activities Mr Smith won two industry awards: the Australian Automobile Dealers Association Victorian Dealer of the Year in 1987 and, in the same year, the Time Magazine Victorian Dealer of the Year award.

In the mid 1990s, Mr Smith offered 50 per cent of his Monarch Motors to businessman Dean Wills who had just retired from Coca-Cola Amatil.

Monarch had by then amassed a portfolio of distributorships of some of the world’s greatest sports car thoroughbreds including AC, Aston Martin, Bugatti, Lamborghini, TVR, Lotus, Caterham and an agency for the McLaren F1 supercar (which was priced at 1.2 million British pounds).

Under the Australian Design Rules (ADRs) the company was licensed to import between 25 and 100 cars.

Mr Wills said at the time he was attracted by Mr Smith’s expertise and experience in the complexities of importing, vehicle compliance and technical matters.

Mr Wills was able to provide the financial backing to cover the purchase of stock for such high-cost exotic cars although he and Mr Smith were able to operate mostly on the basis of ordering cars to individual customer requests with a deposit paid.

Mr Smith was renowned for creating a strong personal relationship with the management at the factories from which he sourced his cars and it was from those relationships that he was able to navigate through the sometimes demanding compliance regulations required by the Australian government to get cars suitable to import into the country.

In the early to mid-1990s Mr Smith liaised with Canberra to get Dean Wills’ McLaren F1 into Australia with a price tag of then 1.2 million British pounds. It is said it was, at the time, the most import duty and stamp duty that had ever been paid on an individual car import. Memories are hazy but the sum of $250,000 is mentioned – roughly $A510,000 in today’s dollars.

Mr Smith became a close friend of Mike Kimberley, the CEO of Lotus Cars, who went on to run Automobili Lamborghini. These were to become two of the key brands in Mr Smith’s career.

In his years as a racing driver, Mr Smith was a factory driver for Mini and won the Ron Flockhart trophy for the top Mini driver in 1968, 1969, 1972 and 1973 with legendary track battles against Peter Manton that excited the crowds with the signature lifting of the inside rear wheels of the Minis in tight corners

Mr Smith was a factory driver for Rover campaigning a bright yellow Rover V8 sports sedan under the colours of the Camel Racing Team in the days when cigarette advertising was still allowed.

In the early 1980s he built his own sports car called a JSA, which was in the clubman style similar to the Lotus Super Seven.

He was heavily involved in the creation of the Volvo Dealer Team and through that team he got John Bowe his first drive in touring car racing. He also at one time led the Datsun factory racing team.

He campaigned a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 which he picked up from Bob Jane and raced a Torana A9X.

As a team owner/principal (with his son Andrew) the team, campaigning a Lotus Esprit and Lotus Elise, won the 1994 Australian GT Production Championship (driver Brad Jones) and with his Lamborghini Diablo was winner of the 2003 and 2004 Australian Nations Cup Championship (driver Paul Stokell) which was sponsored by Crazy Johns then riding off the back of booming mobile phone sales.

The team was also the winner of the 2002 Sandown 500 with a Lamborghini.

Mr Smith is survived by his wife Joan, his son Andrew, his daughter Katrina and four grandsons.

Mr Smith’s son Andrew, an industry training graduate from Toyota, worked with his father on Lamborghini in the 1990s and remains in the motor industry.

By John Mellor