Gobowen man to auction unique book signed by Honda founder

Philip Wilkinson, 68, originally from Lincolnshire, has received the book, called ‘Honda’ written in 1982 by Mick Woollatt, as a present for Christmas in 1984, and only a few months later he met Soichiro Honda, the automobile company's founder.

Mr Wilkinson was employed by Honda UK in 1979 and was known as the ‘Honda Millionaire’ in the 10 years he worked for the company – his main role being in the recruitment appointment, development, and training of franchise dealers.

The nickname 'Honda Millionaire' was attributed to him after he started bringing over a million pounds revenue a year for Honda's UK quarters.

The 'Honda' book signed by Soichiro Honda himself, as a thank you gift to Mr Wilkinson (Image: Ana Cazan)

The 68-year-old said: “Because of the amount of business I brought in the UK, on his last business trip here, he wanted to meet me, among other members of the team, and say a special thank you.

“He was very reluctant to give autographs to anybody at any times.

“The value of this book for me is priceless, I have had it for so long, and it is one of a kind.”

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Mr Wilkinson further explained that him and his wife don’t have any children, so they started thinking about who they would leave the book to.

“We didn’t want to create offence to anyone” he added “So we thought the best way to go about it is just to put it for auction at Golding Young.”

Soichiro Honda's signature in Mr Wilkinson's book (Image: Ana Cazan)

The auction will take place in July or August.

The price for the signed book will start at £1500 and all the proceeds will go to Severn Hospice in Shrewsbury – where Mr Wilkinson’s brother-in-law passed away.

“We are comfortable” he said, “We don’t need the money and we wanted to give it to the hospice as they helped our family tremendously.”

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The 68-year-old added that he has had two other offers but never wished to part with it.

Mr Wilkinson has always had an affinity for motorcycles and cars, since Charles Wilkinson, his father, formed the famous Louth and District Motorcycle Club in 1932 and staged the first race meeting on the track in 1934.

Now known as Cadwell Park, the circuit was sold off , and changed hands three times, and now it is owned and operated by MotorSport Vision.