I met George Cuthbertson while trying to
find a Canadian company to manufacture our boats under license. I was VP of
Sales and Marketing for Lockley Recreational Products (New Castle, Pa. based
producer of car top sailboats, iceboats and All Terraine Vehicles.) George
wasn't interested in building Lockely boats but was interested in me. I
joined C&C in 1977 as Inland Dealer Sales Manager. I was to establish an
inland dealer network for 24, 26 and Mega, which was then just an idea. Once
that network was established, I went on to be sales manager for the entire
line. C&C was constantly changing areas of reponsibility and through my five
years there I handled sales and marketing at various times for all of Canada
and all of the US, except the north east coast. I moved on to become Project
Manager for the Mega during which time I officed at corporate in Oakville.
When that project was complete, I reverted to sales and marketing based in
NOTL. I left C&C in the fall of 1982 shortly after it suffered the unfriendly
buy out by Plaxton and the entire company began to unravel under the new
ownership. (Within a year 80% of the key players who had built C&C and guided
it through its heydays were gone.) Rather unbelievably during my five years
at C&C, I had 6 different job titles, 8 different offices and 10 different
bosses, based at all four of our North American facilities. I had one boss,
Wes Dalby, who I worked for three different times in three different jobs. My
favorite boss was George, on the Mega project.
I chime in when memory serves and its fun to recall the "good old days" and
they were good at C&C back then. Their products reflected the best thinking
of some of the best minds in the industry at the time. And George had his
finger on the pulse of everything that was going on and a firm hand on the
helm. A strong leader with vision, a talented designer, and a man for whom I
have the upmost respect. I'm delighted to hear he is doing well and send my
best regards. I wish we could entice the likes of George, Robbie Ball, Rob
Mazza and others onto this list. I know they could expand greatly on what I
remember and I'm sure would "correct my recollection" of things from time to
time. A wealth of knowledge that I wish we could tap.
Here is what Hank has said about some of our "Classic" Boats