- Exclusive interview with Reading F.C owner Rob Couhig
- He chats cars, road trips and the US's best diners
- Rob is a BMW man at heart, having owned a string of 7 Series models
- Not the biggest fan of driving in the UK!
(Credit JasonPix)
He’s in the driving seat at Reading F.C - and Royals’ owner Rob Couhig has lifted the bonnet on his life in cars, revealing how he’s a BMW man at heart.
The Select Car Leasing stadium shifted gears earlier this month as it celebrated its first-ever ‘Louisiana Day’.
Both Rob and his business partner Todd Trosclair (below) hail from America’s so-called ‘Pelican State’ and brought an explosion of Cajun colour to Berkshire.
(Credit JasonPix)
On the 24th January - as Reading faced Barnsley at home - supporters in hospitality got to enjoy a Louisiana-inspired menu, complete with creole-style options and an Amaretto-infused cocktail devised by Todd himself.
Select Car Leasing - Principal Partner of Reading F.C since 2021 - was also there, showcasing some of the US’ hottest four-wheeled exports, including the unmistakable Ford Mustang, while there was an enhanced entertainment experience for all who attend.
The club also joined forces with Louisiana’s tourism board, encouraging more visitors from the UK to explore what the Deep South has to offer, while also highlighting why Louisianans should visit leafy Reading.
(New Orleans, French Quarter)
For us here at Select, Louisiana is home to some of the world’s greatest road trips, with New Orleans marking the beginning of the epic Blues Highway, a 750-mile route that traces the Mississippi River up to Nashville, Tennessee.
So, we sat down with Rob (a respected attorney and former Congressional candidate) to chat about all things automotive, charting his journey from a humble Volkswagen Beetle to his beloved BMW… and why driving in the UK gives him the jitters.
(Credit JasonPix)
Rob - tell us about Louisiana Day. What was the thinking behind this special occasion?
“Louisiana Day has grown from an idea my business partner Todd and I had. Todd owns some of the most famous restaurants in New Orleans, the two of us are both from Louisiana, and we have a good friend in common in Billy Nungesser, the Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana. For us, this is a chance to publicise Louisiana to the world through Reading Football Club, while also publicising Reading back to Louisiana."
(Credit JasonPix)
Select was showcasing some famous American cars on the day - but what’s your own relationship with driving?
“For me, it’s a utilitarian relationship. I grew up in the country where my school was 15 miles away so I drove my two brothers and sisters every day in our old Volkswagen Beetle. No air conditioning, bombing along the road at 60 mph. The Beetle was my first car, bought by our parents because there was no other way for us to get to school. We had other cars in the family, though. I remember my father driving an Oldsmobile sedan and a Pontiac convertible. He loved to bang along the highway with the roof down.”
What about big family road trips?
“The fond family memories that I have is of us all piling into the family station wagon (the US version of a big, practical estate) and driving up east, going on a 2,000-mile trip from our house in Louisiana to New York City and back every summer. We’d have to be creative when it came to fixing the air conditioning. My mother would figure out how you could take a piece of cardboard and create a make-shift deflector that would channel cold air to the back seats, where us boys would be fighting! It was our annual holiday - ‘See the USA in Your Chevrolet!’, as the famous advertising jingle at the time said. Remember, in our country, you drive everywhere - and people enjoy it. I live 100 miles from my office (Rob lives 100 miles north west of New Orleans) and I go there two or three times a week and think nothing of it. We make fun of the Brits sometimes because if you tell them you’re going on a 100-mile trip, they say, ‘Oh my God, have you packed!?’”
US road trips go hand-in-hand with food stops - what’s your favourite place to grab a bite to eat back home?
“If you get a chance to go to the States, particularly the southern states, and you don’t go to Buc-ee’s, you have missed America at its finest. They have the cleanest throne rooms (toilets, to us UK folk) where you can go to the John, 140 different fuel pumps, and more food options than you can believe. Once you’ve visited Buc-ee’s, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what America is like in its heartland.”
We’re fascinated by your old VW Beetle - did you keep hold of that car?
“I had the VW when I graduated college and I kept it throughout law school. I changed the alternator by hand, writing every step down along the way and then repeating it in reverse! When I got out of law school, I was able to take public transportation to work so I gave up the Beetle. But when I became a partner in my firm I discovered that I got free parking so I went out and got another car - a second-hand Peugeot, bright yellow. All I’ll say is that it lived up to its reputation for needing a lot of work. I then ended up borrowing the Chevrolet Tahoe (a sturdy SUV, below) which I’d previously bought for my son for being such a good student.”
These are all humble cars - when did you get a motor you really enjoyed?
“By the mid-1990s, one of my nephews told me that I looked ridiculous not driving a ‘real’ car. He showed up at my house one day in a BMW 7 Series, the 740 IL. We got into a dispute about it, as I didn’t want it and I thought I didn’t need it. He said, ‘Just try it for the weekend’... and I ended up getting my own BMW 740i, which I drove constantly for the next decade. After that died, I bought a BMW 740 IL hybrid on the internet, sight unseen, and had it towed in from California. It was like a drug deal! I met them at the back of a service station, handed over the cash, and they gave me the keys! I loved that car. Fast, great mileage, and I drove it for another ten years until it died.”
Definitely a BMW man, then!
“I towed my last BMW to a dealership in Baton Rouge to get a replacement but they didn’t have the car I wanted. So, I went across the road and bought a Mercedes-Benz E-Class, the E 450, instead. To be candid, I regret it. I don’t like it as much as I liked my BMW. I guess you gotta be one or the other, and I’m a BMW man. In the near future, I’ll be buying the Tesla Model S (a car that’s no longer available as a right-hand drive in the UK). There’s something beautiful about Tesla’s self-driving capabilities. It’s spectacular, beyond anything you can imagine. Until you’ve experienced it you won’t believe how good it is.”
(Credit JasonPix)
How does driving in the UK compare with the roads in America?
“Let me say this - these roads scare the hell out of me! When my wife and I first started coming over here five years ago, I rented a car in Heathrow. As I was leaving, my wife, Missy, started shouting, ‘Stop, stop! You’ve run into the embankment!’ And, of course, I had. That was before we’d even get out of the car park. We then drove to Bath in a terrible storm on little roads and we basically swore off of me driving in England at that point. I find the roads frightfully narrow and I don’t like the roundabouts. Having said that, I’ve been holed-up here for the past few weeks with a broken leg and I’ve been driving around in a colleague’s car. I enjoyed it, I really did, but at home I prefer my wife or kids to drive rather than me.”
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