The story begins in the dying days of World War II, when two young Fleet Air Arm officers, who had become staunch friends, found their thoughts turning to the future and were discussing what was to come next. Horace Steele (H.D) would be returning for the most-part to the motor trade business he had built up personally in Worthing before hostilities began. E.W Cuff-Miller (Cuff) (an enthusiastic amateur motorcycle racer) was certain only that he did not want to return to his profession of bank clerk so with Cuffs enthusiasm,  H.D's proven expertise and capital from both parties Cuff Miller & Co was born. Starting at the Thorncroft Garage, now occupied by the local Honda Dealer on March 29th 1947, and moving to its present larger site “the new garage” some 11years later.

Life was rather different then, Cuff's as it rapidly became known sported 4 vehicle franchises Ford, Fiat, Rootes Group and Jaguar, and sold 6 different brands of petrol. Cuff relaxed by driving a variety of different cars at Goodwood with mixed success, the two most memorable epithets being Cuffs belief that he drove more laps of Goodwood in anger than anyone, and that a young Derek Bell got his first real chance in a competitive car when Cuff was kind enough to lend him his Marcos. H.D was also building his business successfully, while occasionally disappearing on Safari and on other dangerous pursuits. Matters proceeded through to the end of the 1980 by which time Cuffs matured into a thriving business, but had concentrated it's loyalty to one car brand, Ford and one fuel supplier, Shell.

 By the time Cuff died in1990 at the age of 84, the business was soundly established with a turnover of £4m a year, and Cuff’s own wholehearted philosophy which was that 'A satisfied customer is more important than an extra profit' was practiced in the business, long before it became fashionable to think in those terms.

Though the loss of Cuff was deeply felt by all of his team, it had to be put behind by his company, which it was, thus enableing Cuffs to prosper further with assistance from  H.D's son Michael, and from H.D himself.

In the last 16 years things have changed enormously. The bigger dealers have gotten bigger, and the technology has become incredibly complex. For instance the outgoing Mondeo has a maximum of seven programmable modules (computers) in it, the next Mondeo, and the present S-Max can have up to 42, containing two million lines of computer code. Even though cars have had to become heavier to be safer, fuel economy has had to improve at the same time and so has the level of pollutants in the exhaust gases. The old vision of a technician with black oily hands and face wielding a spanner has had to be replaced with highly skilled diagnostic technicians, wielding portable computers.

The undoubted fact that it is all changing ever faster has meant that in order to prosper any Motor Dealer has to be able to rely increasingly on the willingness and hearts and minds of the team being completely involved. Though Cuffs now has a turnover of around £12m a year, we are still a David amongst Goliaths. So, Cuffs finding new opportunities, and really looking after our customers well is essential if there is to be long term security for the 40 families supported by the business.

The truth is that we only have loyal customers until we allow someone to look after them better than we do .........but we also remember that it was David that won.