In some respects, you have to say that John Tordoff was born to be in the business.

Not because he bears the family name synonymous with car sales in Bradford, but simply because he was literally born above the shop.

As he sips on a coffee from a mug splattered with Disney characters, he looks skywards while sitting at a table in his smart and comfortable office. It is here he casually mentions how he was born in the rooms above where he sits now, the one-time garage where the JCT 600 empire was born.

Today it is the nerve centre of the company, which is a true dynasty.

Where John's dad Jack developed the JCT 600 brand from his own father's early beginnings as Tordoff Motors Ltd, John has taken over the mantle. He is now chief executive of the rapidly expanding business.

Last year the firm sold more than 20,000 cars and had a stunning turnover of £1 million per day.

But this is no one-man show - be that John or Jack. "There's a lot of people who work really hard in the company. Dad would be the first to say he couldn't have done it on his own. They all work tirelessly for the benefit of the company."

Elder brother Ian, 45, runs the firm's trade operations - "liquidating" part-exchanges that come into the sales rooms.

But John now leads the company - and its future success. And yet, by his own admission, he had no drive - excuse the pun - nor desire to get into selling cars.

"I had no interest in joining the family business, and I think I was a bit anti-establishment. I just wanted to do something different."

When he was a youngster growing up, getting into scrapes in the streets of Laisterdyke near the garage, he had no inkling of how he was to lead a business with 950 people.

He had a passion for business, to be sure, but he wanted to know about profit and loss, balance sheets and turnover.

And so, after finishing his A-levels in English and French at the now defunct Fox's School of Commerce in Bradford, he joined chartered accountants Jocelyn & Co and learned all about number crunching.

It was the heady days of the late 1980s, the days of sharp suits, slicked back hair and red braces over striped shirts. And everyone was going PLC mad.

Even JCT was planning to go to market and John jumped on-board to help with the plans. Under Brian Crowther, financial director, he helped draw up the plans that would put the Tordoff family business in the hands of major investors.

But at the 11th hour the mood changed and suddenly the management team began to ask why they were doing it.

"We thought why are we about to lose control? And a lot of my dad's contacts in the motor trade were asking if he was mad," John said.

As the PLC Holy Grail was abandoned John had in effect done himself out of a job.

And back he went to the figures as he joined the accountancy side for three or four years before becoming general manager of the Porsche and Ferrari business that developed into the Brooklands brand, now well enshrined with a plush base and even more fabulous cars in Leeds.

That is the core of the business these days. Some 75 to 80 per cent of its profits come from the prestige marques, the rest coming from the volume trade - selling the Toyotas and Vauxhalls.

But John does not and has not sold cars.

He is happy to talk to people, advise them even, but shaking hands on the deal for a Mazda or a Maserati is not what drives him.

In fact, John, who this year nudges 40, says if the showrooms had been cleared of motors and replaced with tins of baked beans, his approach would be exactly the same.

"The business dynamics are the same," he said.

In fact, he sees the business as like any other retailer - with more in common with Harvey Nichols or Marks and Spencer, than your common or garden car dealer. Put simply: "The consumer is king."

John says if the customer is not happy with what they are being offered he would rather the deal didn't go through.

"We have got to give the best level of service, reputation is so important. The world of Arthur Daly is dead."

And that focus has helped the business develop.

He only took over when Jack decided as 65 approached he wanted to enjoy a more relaxing lifestyle.

But John would only take the reins - which Ian was not interested in - if Jack agreed to let him do it his way.

"I didn't want to be my dad's lap dog."

And so, John says, when the sun shines now, Jack hops into his light aircraft at Leeds Bradford airport and flies to his boat in the south of France.

But he is always on the end of the phone if needed - and often they agree about the way ahead.

Today John talks about investing more than £10 million in Bradford over the next two years, not including the £4 million being invested in the Mini and BMW dealership he can see from the windows of his office being fitted out across the road.

That site will expand further with land acquired next door after it is opened in the next few weeks.

JCT 600 sold 20,000 cars last year, made £1 million turnover a day and this year hopes to achieve a net profit of £10 million for the very first time. Only ten years ago it broke the £1 million barrier.

But John doesn't brag about it and declares himself uninterested in the trappings of wealth he could so easily have.

He doesn't have a private garage bursting with Maseratis, Ferraris or Porsches. He has a BMW X5 to transport his family of four youngsters about. His second wife Joanne drives a Toyota. And that's it.

What about his children, could they carry the Tordoff lineage in the motor world on?

"It would give me no greater pleasure for my kids to be doctors or lawyers," he says. "They are under no pressure to join the business."

In fact, the two older boys seem to have very different desires.

Joe, 12, is proving himself something of a footballer. "He's had trials with Leeds United," his dad beams.

But Sam, 14, is worrying his dad by showing himself to be a top karting racer as a member of the British kart racing champions.

That must have come from his grandfather's genes: Jack was a well-known amateur rally driver. "I don't want him to be a professional racing driver," John bemoans like any father would.

"I keep telling him to work hard in school, get his exams and go to university."

He can then race at weekends for fun.

"The world is full of people who almost made it as a racing driver, but now stock shelves," he adds.

But you never know, five-year-old twins Abigail and Elliot may just rebel like their dad and ensure the Tordoff dynasty lives on.