About Brave Auto International

In 2008 I ended up in a book, and it all started with a phone call I was sure was a prank.

Aussies and Kiwis will probably relate to this a bit more, but it is still a good read no matter where you are from.

“This is Dick Smith from Australia, the real Dick Smith.”

It was a Sunday in early 2008. I was in the wash bay at our yard here in Japan, cleaning vehicles ready for photographing on Monday. Believe it or not, I still wash a lot of the vehicles myself. It is the best way to get a feel for a car’s true condition.

Around midday my mobile rang. Blocked number.

Me: “Hello.”
Caller: “Mark.” (with a very strong Aussie accent)
Me: “Yes, how can I help you?”
Caller: “This is Dick Smith from Australia, the real Dick Smith.”

Now, if you are from Australia or New Zealand you will understand why I did not take this seriously at first. Dick Smith is a very well known Aussie who started Dick Smith Electronics mega chain stores throughout New Zealand and Australia. Back in the day, almost every town in Australia and New Zealand had a Dick Smith store. They were the place to go for anything electronic, back in the day.

Growing up in New Zealand, one of the standard jokes was, “Who are you, Dick Smith?” So when this bloke says “the real Dick Smith”, my first thought is that it is my Aussie mate James winding me up.

Dick went on to say he was coming to Japan in May, travelling around the world in his camper, and needed an exporter to look after it in Japan and then ship it to Perth, Western Australia.

According to him, people in the industry had told him, “Mark, you are the man for the job”, his exact words.

My response, over and over, was just: “Yeah, really.”

I was halfway through washing a car, soap everywhere, convinced it was James on the phone, so I probably was not sounding too professional.

Dick then told me that his PA (personal assistant), Nigel, would call me on Monday to sort the details, and he gave me his personal phone number and said, if my PA Nigel does not call, give me a call back. Not to be outdone, I fired back that when Nigel calls, he can talk to my PA, (which I do not have), and “once your people speak to my people we will get it sorted for you, Dickie.”

We hung up. I am thinking to myself, good one James, you are not fooling me.

The second call: “Mark, you are going to get a very important phone call…”

Ten minutes later my phone rang again. This time the caller ID showed Bill / Universal Customs Brokers in Perth Western Australia. Bill has been clearing my Australian customers’ cars through customs in Australia for years, and he never rings on a Sunday unless it is serious.

Me: “Hey Bill, what is up?”
Bill: “Mark, you are going to receive a very important phone call from Dick Smith, the real Dick Smith.”

Silence from my end for a moment as the lump forms in my throat.

Me: “… uuummm, yeah Bill, Dick Smith actually called me about ten minutes ago.”
Bill: “Sh%t. What did you say to Dick?”, as Bill kind of knew I would think it is a prank call.
Me: “Uuummm, I thought it was a prank. I just kept saying “yeah, really”, started calling him Dickie and told him my PA would speak to his PA.”
Bill: “Oh god. What did Dick say?”
Me: “Not much really. He said his PA Nigel would call me Monday morning.”
Bill: “Mark, whatever you do, it is the real deal. Take it seriously.”

Now I knew it was actually Dick Smith, and I am replaying the whole conversation in my head thinking, nice one Mark.

Sure enough, Monday at 11am my mobile rang. Australian number.

Nigel, Dick’s PA, introduced himself and we got everything organised for Dick and Pip’s arrival in Japan. From then on I mainly dealt with Nigel until Dick and Pip arrived in Japan, but to this day I still have “Dick Smith – The Real One” and his personal number saved in my contacts. You never know when he might call again.

My “impressive” stock camper versus the EarthRoamer

The day before Dick and Pip arrived, I decided to move one of my own stock campers, a 1994 Toyota Townace 4WD camper I had for sale, up to the top yard near our office.

I gave it a proper wash, made it look nice and parked it like a display vehicle. I was actually quite proud of it.

In my head, the plan was simple. Dick would see it, ask a few questions while he admired it, and we would compare campers. Mine has this, what has yours got. The usual bloke banter. I was even thinking he would be that impressed by it, he would tell his friends about my camper.

It did not quite work out that way.

Chainsaws, back roads and a monster of a camper

Dick’s camper turned out not to be the nice little Townace type camper I was imagining, but an almost brand new Ford F550 EarthRoamer double cab, an absolute monster of a truck.

Originally Nigel had suggested we would ship it in a 40 foot high cube container. Once I saw the size of the thing, it was obvious that was not going to happen. Even the truck alone, without the camper body, was too big.

The first challenge was simply getting it to our top yard near the office. Our usual road has overhanging trees and low power lines. That is fine for “normal sized campers” but not fine for an EarthRoamer. There is a narrow back road with just one tree overhanging it, so that became plan B.

I met Dick & Pip down the road at a 7/11 where we left the EarthRoamer, I told Dick I would bring it up to the yard shortly. Dick and Pip then went off with my business partner at the time Jimmy to stay at his place for the night. I quietly said to Jimmy before leaving with Dick and Pip, “drop Dick and Pip off and you know that chain saw you have never used, grab it and meet me on the back road.”

Picture this. It is late at night, I am halfway up a tree with a tape measure, working out how much I need to trim. Jimmy turns up in full Japanese safety fashion with a shiny unused chainsaw, a bright orange hard hat and leather gloves.

I am no tree surgeon and it took me a good ten minutes just to get the chainsaw started. Then there was another solid half hour up the tree cutting branches in the dark with a flashlight.

We eventually sneaked the camper up the back road to the top yard and parked it ready for the morning. At midnight, Jimmy and I were standing in our yard just staring at this huge thing and thinking, there is no way this is going in a 40 foot container.

While Dick and Pip slept peacefully on traditional Japanese floor bedding, we were stressing about how to get his pride and joy to Perth on time.

“Is that normal in Japan at 10pm?”

Next morning Dick walked over to the office with a cup of tea in hand.

I asked how they slept. He said the floor bedding took a bit of getting used to, and added, “I could hear a chainsaw screaming its head off somewhere out the back about 10pm, is that normal in Japan?”

“Have another cup of tea mate. You must have been dreaming,” I told him.

Later, sitting in the driver’s seat of the camper, Dick showed me around the dashboard. Stuck to the windscreen were about fifteen navigation screens, different brands and types, cables everywhere.

I asked, “What are all these for Dick?” He said they were all sat nav units they were testing.

I am thinking to myself, this is 2008, these things are about 500+ dollars each and you have fifteen of them, wow.

I asked which one was the best. He opened the glovebox, pulled out a five dollar paper map and said, “This one.”

Flat rack shipping and a few more grey hairs

In the end, the only realistic way to ship the EarthRoamer on time was on a flat rack 40 foot container. Same length as a normal container but with no sides or roof and removable ends.

When it was time to export Dick’s camper, I drove it from the office, back down the same little road where I had trimmed the tree, and on to the container packing facility near the port. It was about a 40 minute drive. Until you actually drive it yourself you do not realise the size of it. I believe Pip drove it for part of their world journey as well. I take my hat off to her.

At the packing facility the camper was loaded onto the flat rack, lashed down, and then craned onto a semi truck ready to be delivered to the vessel for loading. We arranged with the shipping line for the container to be stowed inside the vessel to protect the camper from the weather on the way from Nagoya to Perth.

From the night I was up a tree with a chainsaw to the moment that flat rack was finally secured on the vessel, I am pretty sure my hair went a lot greyer. I still would not change it. It was an honour to look after Dick and Pip’s camper and to spend time with them.

As for my little Townace camper I had washed and proudly parked as a display to impress Dick, he never saw it. After seeing the EarthRoamer, I quietly moved my camper back to the bottom yard that same night. I know when I have met my measure and been outdone, and I was outdone in a big way.

Dinner, apologies and a rockstar at the yard

On the last night, Dick and Pip had dinner with us and drinks. Before the serious drinking started, I apologised to Dick for our first telephone conversation and admitted I had thought it was a prank call.

Dick laughed and said that when he calls people to ask them to do some work, they usually spend the whole time telling him why they are the best for the job and how he will not find anyone better.

“But when I called you, Mark,” he said, “all you said were two words “Yeah, really”. Then you started calling me Dickie but the best part was when you told me your PA would deal with my PA. I had a good laugh about that.”

Dick and Pip stayed with us a couple of nights. On the first day there were reporters from different magazines and even a TV crew turning up at the yard wanting interviews with Dick. I suspect he had already made a deal with someone before he arrived, because most of them left without getting their interview and they were not very interested in talking to me.

For a couple of days it felt like having a rockstar at the yard, especially with all the Japanese people who wanted a snapshot of Dick and the EarthRoamer, once again, they were not too interested in snap shots of me.

Pip would also have to be one of the funniest people you could have at a dinner table, especially when she is telling stories about Dick. It was honestly one of the best dinner and drinking nights I have ever had. I do not think I have ever laughed so much or drunk so much at a dinner table.

A bit more about Dick and Pip

Before meeting Dick and Pip, like most people I thought of Dick mainly as the guy who started Dick Smith Electronics and must be incredibly wealthy. After a few days together, I realised there is a lot more to Dick and Pip than most people know, because I did not.

Dick was the first person in the world to fly a helicopter solo around the world in 1983. The logistics alone were incredible. He had to arrange for drums of aviation fuel to be loaded onto various commercial ships around the world, then find each ship in the middle of the ocean and land on it, often in less than ideal weather or in the dark, with fuel running low.

Japan was one of the final legs of that trip, and he famously had to make an emergency landing in a small coastal fishing village here. He brushed himself off and walked into a local bar in his full aviation gear and scared the life out of the locals in there. It was all over the Japanese news at the time, which is part of why he is still well known and liked here. So when Dick turned up in Japan with his camper, so did the media.

Pip has her own achievements as well. She is the first and only woman to fly around the world in a helicopter, on a separate trip, without an emergency landing I might add. Together, they have also flown around the world in a light fixed-wing aircraft. On top of that, both of them have given a huge amount back to the community through various charities and Dick Smith Foods.

If you would like to read more about Dick and Pip Smith’s adventures, you can visit their site:
dicksmithadventure.com.au

We are even mentioned, with photos, in one of Dick’s books on pages 125 to 128 of Overland Adventure. You can download the online version here:
dicksmithadventure.com.au/overland-adventure