AM Cars Ltd, run by Adam Marsden, is one of the best-known names in the classic Audi Quattro world.

Adam started the business officially in 1981, buying and selling everyday cars. Two local Taunton dealerships, Rowcliffs and Silver Street Motors, helped him get going by letting him take cars on and pay for them once they had sold.

“They got me going really, to be fair, because I started with nothing,” Adam says. The turning point came in 1986, when Adam took on his first Audi Quattro, a damaged car bought from Silver Street Motors.

“I said to him, I can’t afford that. So, he said, you just take it on and repair it and pay me when you can,” Adam recalls. “That sort of turned it all around, really, with the Quattro world.”

The car was repaired, used and sold and another was bought in its place. Before long, classic car and sports car magazines were coming to see the business and AM Cars featured regularly in the press for its first ten years.

A TV series called The Road Runner, presented by Judy Spires and a film shoot featuring one of Adam’s  Quattros followed, bringing further attention to the business.

In 1996, Adam took the decision to buy the building AM Cars had been renting, rather than continuing to pay rent on it. “It’s going to cost me eighty pound a month more to buy the building than rent,” he remembers being told. “Everybody thought I’d gone crazy.”

The move gave the business room to grow and coverage in the Telegraph and the Sunday Times followed, alongside more magazine features and a widening range of Audi and Volkswagen sales, servicing, bodywork and restoration work.

Rally car building has become part of the business too, with two or three builds under way at any one time and AM Cars has continued to appear on screen and in print, including a segment on the BBC’s Cars for the People with James May and, this month, a feature on the Quattros in Classic Sports Car magazine.

The challenge

Before working with Milsted Langdon Adam used a local accountancy firm that he says simply was not delivering the service he needed.

A recommendation from a friend, Kenny Edwards, led Adam to Milsted Langdon Partner, Jon Stocker, who was then running his own practice.

“That’s one of the reasons I was introduced to Jon, because they weren’t very good,” Adam explains. “So, I went with Jon.”

How Milsted Langdon helped

Adam and Jon have known each other for close to 40 years and when Jon joined Milsted Langdon Adam followed. “It didn’t really affect us, to be fair, because it was just literally move over with Jon,” Adam says.

That long-standing relationship has meant Milsted Langdon has supported Adam through some of the more difficult periods in his life as well as the day-to-day running of the business.

“We’ve had ups and downs in my lifetime,” Adam says. “Jon has helped us learn how to get over the bumps in the road. He’s been very good to me.”

Adam works directly with Jon who is supported by the wider Milsted Langdon team. It is a long established set-up that suits Adam well, as it is built on a single point of contact he trusts completely.

Adam is quick to point out that the relationship goes beyond the professional. “We probably rip each other apart every time we see each other. A bit of banter,” he laughs. “Friends as well as clients.”

That friendship is reflected in the day-to-day experience of working with the Milsted Langdon team too.

“They’re good company. We’ve got no problems with them at all and they are always helpful,” Adam says.

“If I turn up there to look at the books or sort out year-end, they’re all very friendly and jolly and it’s a nice office to visit.”

The result

What began as a switch away from an underperforming adviser has grown into a professional relationship spanning four decades, built on trust, accessibility and a genuine personal connection.

Adam has recommended Milsted Langdon to other businesses over the years and says the reason is simple: “They look after me and so you’ve got to look after them.”

Why Milsted Langdon?

For Adam, the value of working with Milsted Langdon comes down to having an adviser who has been by his side, in business and in life, for almost as long as he has been running AM Cars.

It is a relationship that has given him the confidence to focus on what he does best – buying, selling, restoring and building the Audi Quattros his reputation is built upon.

If you would like to find out how Milsted Langdon could support your business in the same accessible, personal way, please contact our team for a confidential conversation.