Gibb Grace, former Commercial Motor technical editor, died on 1 May in his adopted home of Cape Town at the age of 80.
Before turning to journalism, Gibb served a five-year apprenticeship with Ford before studying automotive engineering at the Cranfield Institute of Technology, followed by industrial and design experience with Vauxhall and Chrysler. A number of journalism roles culminated in being CM’s technical editor from 1971 to 1973. You can read a full reprint of one of Gibb's road tests in CM on 14 May.
Gibb left CM to become chief CV press officer with Ford, where he oversaw the launches of the Transcontinental, Cargo and Transit Mk 2. This was followed by spells at Leyland DAF and Iveco Ford.
In the early 1990s, he returned to writing as a freelancer with many contributions to CM until he and his wife Susan decided to retire to South Africa in 2005.
