Fuzz Townshend |
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Wikipedia: Fuzz Townshend
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The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's Fuzz Townshend page on 21 August 2020, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
John Richard Keith "Fuzz" Townshend is a British drummer, TV presenter of National Geographic Channel's Car SOS (also shown on Channel 4/More4), motoring journalist for Classic Car Weekly, former technical editor of Practical Classics, and mechanic. He is also Honorary President of the Triumph Sports Six Club.
Townshend's first job in journalism was for Practical Classics, going on to become Technical Editor until March 2011, when he decided to go freelance, as well as starting a new classic car restoration business, Westgate Classics.
In 2014, Townshend founded Classic Friendly Ltd, a network of classic car-friendly garages, offering comprehensive safety inspections for MoT test-exempt classic cars as well as standardised servicing regimes. He is also about to launch an inspection scheme for auction and online auction cars under the same CFL umbrella. In April 2019, a message posted on the Facebook page Classic Friendly Ltd confirmed that Townshend had resigned from the business around one year earlier, and that he had "no further dealings or influence with its direction or trading."
In the summer of 2016, Fuzz left Westgate Classics to set up a new garage, To-Ta Classics Ltd., in Oldbury, West Midlands. In 2018, To-Ta changed its name to SOS Workshop Ltd.
A TV production company invited Townshend to do a screen test audition for a new show, Car SOS, held at his garage. He was given the position and his businesses would feature as the show's location.
Townshend handing over Classic Friendly signage to one of the Classic Friendly Scheme approved garages
Car SOS airs on National Geographic Channel (with re-runs airing on Channel 4/More4) in the UK, and in 2018 won an National Reality TV Award for "Most Inspirational Show".
Townshend is also a passionate supporter of 'Classic Aware', a new campaign promoting the importance of having one's classic vehicle properly checked: in the light of new legislation scrapping MoT requirements for classic vehicles made before 1960.
He is based in Bishop's Castle, Shropshire and has regular features in Practical Classics magazine as well as Classic Car Weekly.
| Date | Article | Author/Source |
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| 15 July 2016 | TV's Fuzz Townshend seeks Britain's biggest petrol head | Autosessive.com |