Summer touring – workshop update
The summer seems to be flying past, and it has been great to see so many of our customers out and about with their cars. If you have a photo to share of your car out and about, we would love to see it. Be it on a tour, at a local show, or just popping to the shops, it is always a pleasure to see the cars being used.
The early part of the summer was a whirlwind of servicing and tour preparations to get people out on the road for the driving season. In July, we have had a little more breathing space and have been able to crack on with some restoration work. It looks like things are going to get very busy again for us in the autumn as the driving season comes to an end, so please do book in any winter work in advance if you can. It really helps us to manage workflow and ensure we are able to meet everybody’s needs.
In this workshop update, we take a look at some E-Type restorations, a Mk1 and a Mk2 saloon, engine rebuild work, and a rather nice Austin.
Covered Collection and Delivery – Summer Offer
Many of you will already have seen our recent email about our complimentary covered collection and delivery service available during August and September. If you missed it, we’d encourage you to sign up to our mailing list so you’re the first to hear about future offers and updates.
This initiative was designed to smooth out the autumn seasonal rush. The response has been quite remarkable — far beyond our initial expectations — and we’re delighted that so many of you are taking advantage of it.
As interest has been so strong, our collection schedule for these months is filling up rapidly. While we will always do our best to accommodate everyone, we may not be able to bring in every car during this window.
For full details of our Summer Transport Offer, including how it works and what’s included, please visit the news section of our website or give us a call.
St Moritz tour
Here’s a nice shot of Reggie, our XK140 from the St Moritz tour last month. It looks like it was a fantastic trip, taking in some wonderful locations. We are delighted to report that the XK140 and its occupants coped very well with some challenging driving conditions. Despite some very high temperatures (38 degrees) and long days on the motorway crossing France, Reggie’s cooling system coped admirably, and the engine didn’t miss a beat.
During torrential rainstorms and hail, the upgraded wiper system was a real bonus, and the whole package of upgrades came together to create a reliable car for covering such high mileage.
We will have some more photos and videos to share from the trip in the coming weeks, alongside our friends at Classic Travelling. Watch this space for that, as it will give you a flavour of some of the fantastic events they put on.
If you are planning to take your classic Jaguar on a tour and would like advice on upgrades, preparations, or spares, please do not hesitate to get in touch. We have a great deal of experience in preparing cars for such events and would love to help get your classic car in top touring condition.
Austin 16
As is often the way, we like to have the odd non-Jaguar in the workshop. A recent, and rather spectacular, visitor was this Austin 16. The car belongs to a local classic car enthusiast who has owned a string of interesting vehicles over the years. He brought the car in for us to investigate a few electrical faults and to seek some advice on its windscreen wipers.
Big or small, we are happy to tackle a huge variety of jobs on all sorts of classic cars. While we are best known for our work on XKs, E-Types, and other classic Jaguars, our workforce has a wealth of knowledge covering many marques. Amongst our team are backgrounds ranging from classic Ford and BMC cars to Italian classics and American V8s. We are enthusiasts ourselves, and counted amongst our own staff cars are a pre-war MG, a beautifully restored Mini, a Wolseley 1500, a Volvo P1800, a Rover V8, a Jaguar Mk2, and several Mazda MX-5s. You name the car — there’s probably someone here who knows something about it.
Jaguar E-Type restoration
I am so excited to share this photo of an E-Type currently undergoing a full nut-and-bolt restoration here. Last time we showed an update on this car, we had just finished the fabrication process and were trial-fitting all the parts. This is a vital stage of the process, as you want to ensure there are no alterations after the car has been painted.
Having a car painted always feels like a huge leap forward in any project. I think it marks a psychological turning point — moving from dismantling and repairing to reassembling and creating a finished product. It is a testament to all the team members who worked so hard through the fabrication, preparation, and painting process that this car now looks so good. The photo here almost doesn’t do it justice! So much skilled work goes into creating a perfect bodyshell, and it can often be forgotten once you move on to building the car up.
We will share more updates on this car as we progress, some of which will be over on our YouTube channel — so please do subscribe there if you haven’t already.
Fire Safety Sticks
Some of you may have seen the video we put out recently of the Fire Safety Stick we fitted to our XK140 before it left for the St Moritz trip. We had seen footage shared of a few classics suffering fires in recent months, and although this is a very rare occurrence, it can be devastating. What might start as a small and easily contained fire can quickly escalate into something far more serious in a classic car if you are not able to deal with it immediately. Swift action could be the difference between minor, easily repaired damage and really significant — even dangerous — consequences.
This is where the Fire Safety Stick comes into its own. It is small and easy to carry. They can be kept loose or fitted discreetly in the passenger footwell, as pictured here. You could even have a second fitted in the boot. They have a 15-year shelf life, so you can fit one and know you are covered for a long time. They are easy to use, effective on many forms of fire, and designed to create minimal mess or damage. Please get in touch to discuss having a Fire Safety Stick fitted.
Jaguar D-Type recommissioning
On the ramp here we have a Jaguar D-Type replica which has come in for some recommissioning work. Built some decades ago, it has been off the road for quite a while and has recently found a new owner. The new owner is enthusiastic about getting out and enjoying the car, but first it required some recommissioning.
Initially, the remit was to sort out the ignition and fuel systems and check over the brakes and suspension. With that done, we were able to road test the car and provide a list of recommendations to the owner. Generally, the car was in good order, with the exception of a slipping clutch.
Having discussed our findings, the owner opted to have a new diaphragm clutch fitted. As you can see here, the bonnet has been removed from the car and safely stowed away to allow us to remove the engine and gearbox in order to change the clutch. At this point, the engine had been refitted and the final touches were being made to get the car ready to head back out on the road.
Check your tyres
We have spoken a lot in recent months about classic car tyres. In particular, we have highlighted the fact that classic cars often don’t cover enough miles to wear their tyres out, resulting in many cars running around on excessively old, hard, or degraded tyres. This not only compromises ride and handling but can also be dangerous. Generally, we advise changing tyres that are over ten years old, and to keep a close eye out for cracks or perishing.
What we haven’t mentioned so much is the importance of checking your tread. Clearly, one needs to ensure their tyres aren’t worn out, but it can sometimes be easy to miss if your tyres are wearing unevenly on the inside. That was exactly the case with these tyres on the front of an XK150.
If your tyres are wearing unevenly, it can indicate a number of issues. Poorly set-up suspension geometry or tracking is a common cause, but we have also seen this kind of wear caused by failed wheel bearings or even wheels that have not been fully tightened. The moral here is: do check your tyres thoroughly, inside and out. Tyres are the bits that connect you and your car to the road!
Jaguar Mk1 seat belts
This delightful Jaguar Mk1 was brought in to us by James Batchelor of Batch Reviews. If you haven’t heard of him, do take a moment to look at his YouTube channel. I would particularly recommend his Jaguar F-Type 75 video, where he celebrates the end of a fantastic sports car.
The Mk1 is a recent purchase and was with us for a check-over and to have a smart set of inertia-reel seat belts fitted. The seat belts have been made in a grey colour to complement — but not match — the car, and feature chrome buckles and fittings, combining classic looks with modern safety.
With the seat belts fitted, we set about checking over the car, and I am pleased to say it is one of the finest examples we have had through the workshop. Perhaps that is what one should expect from a professional car reviewer — underneath, it is one of the cleanest small Jaguar saloons I have ever seen.
Seat belts fitted, a clean bill of health, and only a few minor items to plan for on a future visit — the car has now been out and enjoyed for the rest of the summer.
Seat back repair
We show a lot of big projects and photos of cars, but sometimes it’s the small details that really count. We recently had a Jaguar Mk2 saloon in for some work and noticed that the driver’s seat didn’t feel right. As we drive so many of these cars, we get a sense for how they should feel — whereas, if you drive the same one every day, that becomes your “normal.”
Having spoken with the owner, we were asked to investigate and found that the seat back was broken. The picture here shows the crack before repair. With the seat stripped down, we were able to straighten it and weld the seat back so it was as strong as when it was new.
From full restorations to refitting a chrome bezel, no job is too big or too small for us, and every job is treated with the same level of care and attention. If something on your classic doesn’t feel quite right, please do ask us to check it. It may be that whatever you are experiencing is perfectly normal for the model or for a car of its age, but it could also be that there is a fault hiding somewhere. All these small things can add up to really improve both the car and your driving experience.
Jaguar E-Type – Finishing a forgotten project
This Jaguar E-Type was recently purchased at auction. The car began life as a home restoration some 30 years ago. Initially, good progress was made — the body was evidently restored to a high standard and painted well, and the engine was rebuilt. But then the project stalled for many years.
In more recent years, the restoration was restarted: the wiring was run in, the brakes built up, and the chrome and glass fitted — before once again stopping for the last four or five years.
The new owner bought the car for a good price, with one big unknown: the engine had never been run, and although it appeared to have been rebuilt, there was no paperwork to support this. We were tasked with fitting an exhaust system, attending to a few other outstanding tasks, checking over the engine, and getting it running. I am delighted to report that everything on that front went as well as it possibly could, and the engine is in fine health.
With the car now running and driving, we are going through the interior parts and helping the new owner plan the next steps for this delightful car.
Engine rebuilds
Pictured here is the block from a Jaguar XK150 3.4 S, in with us for a rebuild. The owner asked us a few months ago to recover the car and its associated parts from another specialist who had unfortunately gone into administration. Great care has to be taken in these circumstances to ensure that all the correct parts belonging to the owner are recovered — without an expert eye, it is quite easy for things to go missing.
This particular situation was further complicated by the block having been sent away to a third party. We are well-practised in dealing with these delicate matters tactfully and getting the best outcome for our customers.
With the car and its parts now safely recovered to our workshop, we have agreed a programme of work with the owner to get the car back on the road. Our dedicated engine shop is a clean space for rebuilding everything from carburettors (can you spot the nice set of triple 2” SUs ready to be fitted to this engine?) to differentials. If you are in need of assistance with an engine or gearbox rebuild for your restoration, please do not hesitate to get in contact.
Jaguar Mk2 and XK120
As I walked across the workshop, this pair caught my eye and I just couldn’t resist taking a photo. The XK120 up on the ramp was just having final checks made following an extensive recommissioning and upgrade process. The car was restored some years ago and remained in sound bodily condition, but the interior was looking rather tired and many of the mechanical components were becoming worn.
Alongside retrimming the car and attending to the mechanical items, the owner also opted to have some upgrades fitted whilst the car was with us. These included an electric cooling fan, ethanol-rated fuel lines and seals, a front disc brake upgrade, inertia seat belts, electronic ignition, polyurethane suspension bushes, and more.
The delightful Mk2 in the foreground is a rather fine example. It has been upgraded in the Coombs style and is a very sharp-looking car. The owner thought correctly that the enamel coming off the exhaust was letting down an otherwise pristine engine bay. Unfortunately, we are unable to source original-style exhaust manifolds that do not suffer from this problem; however, we do offer very beautiful stainless six-branch manifolds along with full stainless steel sports exhaust systems. The owner of the Mk2 opted for a full stainless exhaust system with custom tips to come straight out the back à la Coombs.
E-Type differential rebuild
Anyone who has worked on E-Types or later Jaguar saloons will know the issues one faces when working on the rear suspension, brakes, or differential. The very thing that makes these cars handle and ride so well — the wonderfully engineered independent rear suspension — is also the thing that can make many jobs harder.
For some jobs where access is restricted, like changing handbrake pads, there are workarounds. But often, it is more cost- and time-efficient to simply remove the whole rear suspension assembly. This then creates another issue for a busy workshop like ours: if you remove the rear suspension, you have a car stuck blocking one of your ramps until you can refit it.
Fortunately, we have a solution in the form of this handy trolley, which picks up on the mounts where the rear cradle fits. This allows us to safely move cars with their rear suspension removed and even continue to work on other aspects of the car.
