Catching up with Tim, CEO & Co-Founder

We caught up with Tim Mayneord, Co-Founder of PaddlUp to talk about his past, present and future as his latest automotive business venture speeds towards its launch.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background

My father had a small garage so when I left school at 16 I took the easy route and went straight into the motor trade. I worked for a local garage in the parts department for a couple of years and then joined my father’s business as a service advisor and progressed through the business there.

An opportunity arose to buy a Ford garage in 1983 and we needed to make a decision on what brand we wanted to lead with. It was decided that Ford wasn’t it.

Two or three Ford executives actually jumped ship to Peugeot and when they visited us to do the same,  they threw me the keys to what turned out to be a pre-production version of the 205 GTI 1.6.

I had that car for the weekend and decided that if they could build cars as good as that then Peugeot was the brand to go with. We had a great relationship with Peugeot, at 27 I was the youngest dealer principal in the network. My team was consistently in the brand’s top 25 dealers for a very long time.

In 2010, having navigated through a hard 2008 recession I decided, after almost 30 years, I’d had enough and just sold everything in the space of 6 weeks.

How did you get involved in PaddlUp?

Cars are in my blood. After some time out of the automotive world dabbling in tech and digital ecommerce, I was drawn back to the world of four wheels and, from nothing, started Regal Auto Lease at the end of  2018 - a blend of ecommerce and new car retailing which very quickly evolved into a successful virtual dealership in a very competitive space.

PaddlUp was born in a space of just ten days, but it’s been a vision of Joe Priday’s for longer than that. We noticed a gap in the market for someone to come in and offer a level of service and security that you can’t get anywhere else. From that point on it quickly evolved into reality. Joe and I have known and worked with each other for 17 years across a few different projects, Regal was sold so that I can focus 100% on our very exciting and dynamic new business.

Why the name ‘PaddlUp’?

The name has evolved and gone through a lot of iterations. We could set up a domain agency with the amount of names we went through! 

The name is super important to the brand and none of them sat quite right with me. The final name came from a blend of a traditional auction paddle and the type of paddle you’d pull to change gear in a modern-day supercar. It’s a fitting mix and I think the name itself looks well-rounded.

What is the vision for PaddlUp?

Joe and I had noticed a few flaws with some of the competitors and it was something we thought could be improved on.

The bonus of having all cars we auction on-site means bidders and buyers can inspect the cars in person. We’re adding security and convenience mixed in with a level of customer service we don’t think you can get anywhere else. 

What is the best car you’ve ever owned and what car is the one that got away?

Morgan Aero 8 for both. There was a TV show called ‘Troubleshooter’ in the early 90s that showed early designs for the Aero 8 and I promised myself I’d buy one if they ever actually made it.

Of course, some years later Morgan did release the car and I decided to buy one to go to Le Mans in. I had fully convinced myself that I was going to buy the car on the Tuesday, go to Le Mans on Thursday, come back Monday morning and then sell it on Tuesday.

After all that’s what I did right, buy to sell cars? Wrong - I kept that car for five years! It was absolutely stunning. 

I have a funny story about that car.

Sat in a bar in Le Mans, the friend I was with said it was only 70 kilometres back to port, but he was reading the map wrong and it was in fact 70 miles!

We blasted back as quick as possible and got to port quite late. Whilst waiting in the queue a guy tapped me on the shoulder and asked me quite aggressively 'is that your Morgan?' to which I was worried this was going to be a disgruntled road user but it turned out to be the CEO of Morgan.

I had a great chat with him and ended up having a good relationship with him afterwards which resulted in us putting a few Aero 8 GTN bits on my car.

Any other standout cars?

I’ve had a ton, most notable of which would probably be the three 911s, including a 930 Turbo, all of which were painted in Guards Red.

In addition to the Porsches, I’ve also had a 'mental' 380bhp 405 T16, as well as a Lancia Delta Integrale Evo, a few Caterhams and Ram Cobra among others!

One car for the rest of your life, what would it be?

That’s a difficult one. I think it would definitely have to be a Porsche. Perhaps a 918 or maybe one of the GT cars.

Interested in buying or selling at PaddlUp?

If you're thinking of buying or selling a supercar and would like to know more about PaddlUp's unique approach, find out more about selling here and buying here.

You can also view our range of distinctive, hand-picked examples here.