October 7, 2020

Our Spirited Esprit

Our 1985 Lotus Esprit Turbo is back with us for a diagnostics and a possible full engine rebuild. Our engine expert Ady has the whole

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FOUR Exciting Showroom Additions At Bridge Classic Cars

This week has seen four new arrivals into our showroom. One of which is a 90 foot boat! Unfortunately we couldn’t fit Aleda, the 1882 Dutch ‘Stevenaak’ Houseboat in our showroom, so we’ve had to venture out to her current mooring on the River Deben in Woodbridge, Suffolk.

We’ve also welcomed in two superb restoration candidates. Firstly our beautiful Lotus Europa barn find. What was obvious to us through the years of accumulated dirt was how good this car actually was. The interior is like the day it came out of the factory with no rips, tears or degradation through its long term storage.

Our second showroom vehicle which is ready for restoration is our Rover P6 3500S. Offered for sale at just £2750, this appreciating diamond in the rough is awaiting a new owner.

Last but by no means least is our little Ford Fiesta. An incredibly low milage example, this little Ford is a great, usable collectable car.

Read a full write up of all four vehicles via the link below.

www.bridgeclassiccars.co.uk/product-category/cars-for-sale

Our Spirited Esprit

Our 1985 Lotus Esprit Turbo is back with us for a diagnostics and a possible full engine rebuild.

Our engine expert Ady has the whole engine out of the car, with many of its components removed for closer inspection. “When fitting the cylinder head to the cylinder block, you have to torque the cylinder head up to a certain lbs per ft.” Ady explains. “It was in doing this that I found that the thread in the cylinder block was completely stripped.”

Being an all aluminium engine means the wear and tear is so much greater on the threads. An aluminium engine does however give the Lotus Esprit Turbo its high-speed performance, so it’s swings and roundabouts one might say!

You can see the extent of the damage from the pictures of the parts shown below. The problems been rectified by putting a helicoil into engine.

Our spirited Esprit is longing to be driven down some winding Great British roads. We’re doing all we can to get her back to tip-top condition and return her to her owner as quickly as possible.

Jag Takes Centre Stage!

We’ve continued interior trim work on our 1967 Jaguar E-Type race car this week. Brian and Kath, our trim shop experts, have been making parts for the centre console.

“I made the base for the Jags chubby box out of ply wood” explains Brian. “I started by cutting all the separate sections, gluing them into position. Then screwing the finished box into the centre console.”

The leather was then marked out and cut to shape around the box. Foam’s been added around the edge to give the box a nicer shape. “I fitted the leather around” describes Brian, “then glued neatly around the edges.”

Kath’s been working on our race car too. She’s been making the pattern for the gaiter surround. “I mark out the pattern then transfer this to the leather” Kath tells us. “I then stick the edges neatly in place, cut out the centre and stitch the surround to tie in with the rest of the design.”

Kath’s then fitted the surround around the gaiter and added the gear knob she made earlier.

Brian’s then fixed the finished box into the centre console and covered the screws with a matching carpet panel. Now both parts are looking right at home in the race car.

That’s some awesome team work Kath and Brian – great job trim shop!