Can it really be twenty years since Julian was taken from us? And yes, it was August 22nd 2006 when he passed on when aged only 60.
Whilst all successive Editors of the A.O.C. Bulletin have done a sterling job in keeping the show on the road for well over 600 issues, a decade of these were Julian’s, and there was something almost undefinable about his work. He was, by any stretch of the imagination — a polymath, being encyclopaedic in his knowledge of all forms of engineering and indeed cultural matters in general. He had that uncanny knack of sensing when a new, or perhaps old acquaintance had an interesting story to relate and getting them to write it down before the memory became dulled.
The A.O.C. were not the only beneficiaries of his outgoing approach. Arguably the MSVCR ( Malaysia and Singapore Vintage Car Register) benefitted the most, whose journal he edited for even longer — to wit eighteen years. He was also a contributor to ‘Alvibatics’ and also occasionally to more mainstream periodicals.
His influence was, and to some of us still remains ‘ Intercontinental with only perhaps the Arctic, and Antarctic ‘escaping’ ( and I would not even place money on that ). People of Julian’s calibre should never be allowed to be forgotten by the enthusiasts of today, or by those who are to follow us.
Never too late to say “Thank you Julian “.
Dave Culshaw ( A.A.T. Consultant Historian )
We have compiled and edited the 2000 AOC Bulletin Year Book from the six issues edited by Julian. This runs to over 500 pages of articles and photos and includes an index at the back.
Alvis Archive 