QUICK TO LAUGH and winningly modest, our host is great company but the bonhomie slips momentarily. Matthew Humphries is about to reach the Big Four-Zero and our mention makes him groan: his age has long been a talking point. This is a man who helmed a car design department while barely out of his teens, let's not forget. 'Yeah, but I was the design department,' he counters. 'I still have trouble believing that was almost 20 years ago.'
As do we. So just how did the likeable Midlander make the leap from student to master so quickly? 'When I was four, dad took me with him to a Citroën show in his DS21 Pallas,' he muses. "That was the defining moment. I became addicted to cars. Dad is an architect and obviously he was an influence, but I suppose what really had a big impact was learning that I am dyslexic. If you can't do something well, you quickly learn to play to your strengths. When I was young, dad used to give me these massive sheets of draughting paper and I would spend hours sketching cars.
Humphries was studying design at Coventry University when destiny called. As part of the course I had to arrange a work placement. Like my peers, I fired off my folio to Land Rover, BMW, Citroën and so on, but also to Morgan. Of course, Morgan didn't have a design department, but I tried to think laterally. My folio included lots of renderings for British brands, because I have always appreciated them, and [third-generation principal] Charles Morgan was very receptive. He liked what I had done, which led to me doing work experience.
This story is from the July 2023 edition of Octane.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the July 2023 edition of Octane.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Nathalie McGloin
The only female tetraplegic racing driver in the world and co-founder of Spinal Track, charity supporting disabled drivers
Atomium
An iron molecule, 100m tall and scaled-up 165billion times, was the future in ’58
The Valjoux 7750
Rendered obsolete in the late 1970s, Edmond Capt's wonder movement is not only back, but selling 200,000 units a year
Lucy O'Reilly Schell
The first American woman to compete in a Grand Prix was also a distinguished rally driver and team owner
OCTANE CARS
OWNING+ DRIVING + MAINTAINING
OUR MAN IN JAPAN
James Elliott joins an exclusive Japanese classic tour in an exquisite Alfa Romeo Junior Zagato 1600
LONG-TERM LEGENDS
These two SS100 Jaguars have been in the hands of well-known and dedicated enthusiasts for five decades and more. Chris Mann divulges their entertaining histories
Micky Pople
Octane meets the 95-year-old and talks about his life with the stars as one of Bristol's Filton Fliers'
LEADING FROM THE MIDDLE
The René Bonnet Djet was the world's first mid-engined production road car. Glen Waddington enjoys a momentous French Lotus rival
BACK AGAIN FOR MORE
This Le Mans-winning Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Zagato Spider appeared in the very first issue of Octane. More than 20 years on, Robert Coucher acquaints himself and finally gets behind the wheel