The loss of David cuts deep.
It was so much more of a shock to me - as I had emailed David only 18 days ago ...and had a cheery reply from him.
I had the 250F Maserati book written by David and I finally met him about 7- 8 years ago and reading his works had already given me an insight into his amazing mind.
I visited him when he was living in Vartry Rd in Tottenham and we also had many lunches during my UK visits.
Both of us being born in NZ meant a lot of ground was covered during our annual lunches in London - when I went over for the Goodwood Revival. A a lot of time was spent rehashing our parallel childhood days in Auckland.... as well as “car stuff”.
An astounding fact emerged during one of these lunch chats: David used to stay with his grandfather on some weekends in Parnell, a near-city suburb in Auckland.I actually lived 200 yards from that very house.... however we had never met.
I went to Auckland a couple of years ago and took photos of the actual street and his late g/father’s house and sent them on to David. He was like a kid when he saw them, telling me later he had also sent them on to his sister, who I think is still in NZ??? I knew little about his family.
Amongst the many roles in his life, David worked for some time as a Parliamentary reporter in Wellington, NZ -and when I said that when my wife and I were in Wellington, we had dinner at a hotel right across the road from the Parliament buildings. David said ”Oh boy, we “lived there” after work, having a beer or 3!
One of nature’s characters and sadly missed by all who had known him ..and had benefitted from his “human hard drive” memory abilities.
RIP David