Al Smith

Alan Carl Smith (born 11th August, 1959 in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, United Kingdom), more commonly known as Al Smith, is a former motorsports team principal and used car dealer, who now works as the Commissioner for the AutoReject World Series.

Early Life

The youngest of six children, Smith was born to World War 2 veteran Corporal Fred Smith and Linda Smith, who was an ambulance driver during the war. Having served within the Royal Armoured Corps himself, the Smith family made their trade as mechanics after the war, and it was in this environment that Al developed a love of cars from a young age. The young Smith worked in the garage from the age of 12, saving up enough that he was able to buy his first car at the age of 16 - a broken-down Ford Zephyr Mark II, which cost him £50. In his free time, Smith then worked on the car over a period of 2 years, restoring it to excellent condition - and acquiring his driver's license in the meantime - before he sold it to a passing car enthusiast for £500.

This experience buoyed the young Smith, who then re-invested the money into effectively starting his own business. Smith would purchase old, mostly broken-down cars, restore them, and then sell them on for a tidy profit. By 1981, Smith opened up his own used car lot on the outskirts of the nearby city of Leicester - a decade later, and he had become one of the most prominent car dealers in the East Midlands, with additional car lots in Nottingham, Derby, Northampton, and Peterborough.