John Michael McCartney 1928 -2011

J Mac was one of the higher profile personalities on the cyclemotor, autocycle & moped scene in recent years.

John had a busy life with varied interests: sailing, golf, hill walking and running the family business of a chain of men's outfitters shops, but motor vehicles were always high in his personal interests.

There was involvement with veteran and vintage cars: Phanomobil and Model T Ford; rallying: RAC and Monte Carlo; hillclimb and sprints: BRM Cooper, Chevron and Killeen; and a lifelong love of exotic Italian machinery which involved several Ferraris and his last Maserati road car, though he would usually prefer to avoid driving in favour of being driven.

In his later years, John seemed to develop interest in the restoration and collection of small capacity bikes and was famously accumulating his urban-legendary A to Z collection of cyclemotors, autocycles and mopeds.  Like many folks when they get older, John had pretty much abandoned actually riding these bikes, but maintained a strong self-motivation for restoration, and a great enthusiasm for collection and showing his bikes.  He became particularly interested in knowing the history of these vehicles and about their manufacturers - which is probably where I first came into contact with him in the early 2000s, in his eternal pursuit after obscure parts.

John had been a keen follower and supporter of the material IceniCAM was producing, and much looked forward to each publication since it invariably presented fresh and unknown material relating to vehicles he collected or generally held interest in.

The geographical distance between us tended to make actual meetings fairly infrequent, but from the many occasions he would ring me up, I will probably remember John most for his distinctive voice.  Speaking to so many people on the phone, you could always pick John's tone out straight away - maybe he would have had the perfect voice for radio!

John died in hospital on November 18th 2011, after feeling unwell just two days earlier.

Our deepest condolences to his wife Margaret, to whom we spoke to just recently.

John will be missed from our circle, he was a great personality.

Mark Daniels