Richard Gauntlett has lived and breathed automobiles since birth. His father owned and ran Aston Martin in the ’80s and ’90s, and so he had a front row seat to one of the richest and most troubled stories in the industry. So, a young Richard, fascinated by history, objects and cars, first set his heart on a career in auctioneering, before changing tack and opening an art and antiques shop in London’s Pimlico Road, where he also got involved in advising brands like Rolls-Royce and Belstaff on how to tell their story more effectively and relate to their clients.
Years later, he was drawn to the motor industry again, with longtime friend Phillip Sarofim to aid the revival of Californian brand Meyers Manx. Peculiarly, through working as head of brand for this venture, he found, on his travels, a dilapidated petrol station outside St Moritz and decided to renovate it, as a café, for the many motoring enthusiasts who pass through the Swiss Alps. Here, he explains why this vintage pump stop is somewhere you should visit if you are in the area.
When the motor car was first introduced, it was very quickly banned from the upper Engadin region of Switzerland, which is where St Moritz is located. The town took a vote and said, ‘We don’t want these noisy, smelly cars coming through here and spoiling the serenity.’
So, originally, when you arrived at the upper end of the road up to the Engadin valley, you had to pay a team of horses to pull your car through the valley before carrying on your journey.
But this year is the 100th anniversary of 21 June 1925, the date on which they voted to let the automobile in. This was the first gas station. Originally it was a horse watering station for all the carriages going to the funicular railway behind us, and then in 1925 it became the first proper functioning petrol station in the region, opened by Shell. And it’s been Shell ever since.
Shell had another station in Samedan, and so they paid for the straight three-to-four-kilometre road between them to be paved in the late ’20s because Henri Deterding KBE, the head of Shell, who was living at Suvretta, wanted to host speed trials on that road. These took place, like Louis Chiron in a Bugatti in the late ’20s, doing 200 kilometres an hour on the main road. Deterding also wanted a good, well-made road because he played golf at the local golf course and he didn’t like the clouds of dust, kicked up by the tyres, wafting over his beloved fairway.
This petrol station was owned by the same family for many years, and then it fell into disrepair. It was actually coffee that got me interested in the place. When I was first coming to this area it was because I’m a big car guy, and there are a lot of passionate car guys in this region. And the one thing that drove me insane was that it’s quite difficult to get good coffee here. It’s certainly difficult to get good coffee quickly.
In St Moritz you often have to park underground, walk, then sit down and order. I’m a quick coffee guy and when I saw this space I thought it could work as a coffee stop. I’m always busy and I love small experiences. I love the idea of stopping, having a great coffee and pastry and enjoying an incredible view – a perfect 10-minute stop.
It was derelict. The pump was running, but the building was abandoned, the shutters were falling off and the paint was peeling. But when I looked at it, it sort of reminded me of Prada Marfa, the artwork in Texas on Route 90. I saw it as this little, cosy jewel in an incongruous setting.
I thought, OK, I’m working with Meyers Manx, which is the company that made the original dune buggy, and we’ve restarted it and are making a new range of cars, which launch next year. We already had a Meyers Manx Café in the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. The cars themselves are small, fun and with endless good vibes. So I decided that we could turn this old Shell petrol station into a Meyers Manx Café, to bring a bit of that California vibe to the mountains.
We opened in 2023, two and a half years ago, with interior fittings that came from a 100-year-old pharmacy in Leipzig. And now, because of our coffee and our 100-octane Shell V-Power, it’s where all the local car guys come to get the best-quality fuel for their soul and their car. We also have a huge number of classic car rallies who pass through to do the Alpine passes throughout the summer. We wanted to create a bit of a meeting point, and it’s really worked.
You know, the Swiss have a wonderful old-school politeness, and on the first day we opened, I introduced two car collectors from the local area. They have known about each other for 25 years; they live 400 metres apart; they’ve seen each other driving and knew each other’s cars by sight, but they had never actually said hello. So I sort of forced them into our 160 square feet and made them talk to each other and now they go driving together. I love that.
It’s been a great exercise in how cars are great connectors of people. There is something special about the car passion which transcends the normal barriers. It’s not about money – there is a common ground with car people. This is not the same, in my experience, in the art world, for example. You don’t see the people who just bought a £70 million Picasso chatting with the guy or girl who just bought their first art print for £150. They don’t interact quite so easily. But car fans can, so the Meyers Manx Café is a base for nurturing that.
We’ve done a lot of fun things here, like book signings. Both Marc Newson and Lord Norman Foster have agreed to do signing sessions inside our tiny café, as they “get it”. The day Marc Newson was here, a driver pulled up to buy his book and asked if we had it. I said we could go one better, and actually had Marc Newson himself. He looked over behind the coffee bar and saw Marc sat there waiting for him. The guy was speechless!
Meyers Manx Café, Punt Muragl 1, Samedan, Switzerland 7503
Peter Howarth has been the style director of British GQ and the editor of Arena, British Esquire and Man About Town. He is the co-founder and CEO of London creative agency SHOW and managing director of Secret Trips
