Goodwood Revival 2021

September 13, 2021

Another amazing year of the Revival at glorious Goodwood! Where would the classic racing world be without it on the calendar for all enthusiastic petrolheads young and old alike. Since 1998, Lord March has welcomes visitors to the legendary West Sussex circuit which some claim to be the very best on earth to watch vintage motorsport at it’s finest.

This year’s event runs from the 17th to the 19th of September at Goodwood, West Sussex.

For those of you interested in attending or wanting to find out more, simply click here to find out more and get your tickets for an incredible weekend of classic racing and nostalgia-fueled excitement.

Mr McDonald – Suffolk

September 13, 2021

“Thank you for storing the car for me, first class from start to finish. Will certainly be using again”

The Search for Perfection – 1989 Porsche 911SC

September 13, 2021

The Porsche 911. An icon of the sportscar world since its introduction in 1963 with the legendary long bonnet cars. To this day, 911 takes its first basic principles forward through each subsequent generation.

The older generations of this model need to be kept in top condition so as to remind those of its lineage back to Ferdinand Porsche’s earliest idea. This beautifully kept 1989 Porsche 911 SC that we have in at Bridge Classic Cars is one of those cars. The owner of this vehicle has asked our skilled and enthusiastic technicians to inspect and advise on a small rust blemish on the rear window frame.

Just like all of the restorations that are undertaken here Bridge Classic Cars, the work will be sympathetic to the car but also finished to the highest standard to ensure that both the customer and ourselves are happy with the repair.

Keep an eye out on our website for more updates about this incredible 1989 Porsche 911.

From the Ground Up – Restoring the frame on a 1951 Riley RMB

September 13, 2021

To achieve the best results with a restoration, every component must be given the same outstanding care and attention. It is vital that for great things to be built, the foundations must be strong.

This rings true with the 1951 Riley RMB we are painstakingly restoring in-house here at Bridge Classic Cars. As much attention has been given to the foundations of this beautiful classic as has been awarded to its flowing, classic bodywork being lovingly restored by our talented metalworking craftsmen. The frame had been sent out for media blasting to uncover and inspect any faults or deviations to this now 70-year-old frame. On the whole, the results were positive as to what returned from its careful strip down.

However, on closer inspection by our in-house team at Bridge Classic Cars, we found a couple of areas that we were not happy to leave be. So, for that, the decision was made to send the entire frame out to be dipped. The reason for this degree of investigation is to further expose any areas that would need attention and sympathetic repair befitting a classic car of this rarity and style.

Time to Shine – Photoshoot with our competition Vauxhall VX220

September 13, 2021

A beautiful Suffolk Friday evening is made all the while better when it involves a very special British sportscar.

For those who know, this is our 2003 Vauxhall VX220 that you could own through our Bridge Classic Cars Competitions and own a unique piece of British motoring history. The 2003 VX220 that we have here at Bridge Classic Cars is 1 of 7 finished in British Racing Green, so you could get your hands on an ultra-special example of an underrated future classic.

Those who saw the live draw of the GT6, Lancia and our very special Damon Hill Watch probably saw these two playing together on a runway. You will have also noticed a new face to Bridge Classic Cars Competitions with Lucy, who stepped in to help us out due to our regular presenter Charlotte, being temporarily unavailable. Fear not regular watchers., Charlotte will be returning very soon.

The VX220 has been carefully gone through by our technicians here a Bridge Classic Cars to ensure the owner has got a solid, reliable and top-class driver. We have known of this car for some time and have worked closely with its previous owner who has spared no expense in keeping this very special car in the best overall condition at a well-respected marque specialist.

There is still a chance for you to enter to win this very car, just head over to Bridge Classic Cars Competitions to enter the draw or check out any of the other vehicles that catch your eye. Someone has to win them!

A New Lease of Life – Cambelt & Service on our 1998 Volvo V40.

September 13, 2021

You have all probably seen the posts recently about our amazing 1998 Volvo V40 that is going to our new run-around/camera car here at Bridge Classic Cars. Although this being quite a modern car, it still deserves to be running and kept to the standards of our highest mechanical restorations that we do here in-house at Bridge Classic Cars.

One of the most overlooked parts of any service schedule on a vehicle is the cambelt change. This being a belt as opposed to a timing chain, it does suffer through age and also on the mileage of the vehicle and should be replaced periodically to preserve the health (and the happiness) of your engine. Our technicians here at Bridge Classic Cars have years of experience and this shows with end result. The cambelt change on this 1998 Volvo V40 was done in good time and will help preserve the longevity of these much-overlooked workhorses.

While the belt was being changed, the Volvo was treated to a full-service in-house at Bridge Classic Cars so that while we use the V40 as the new camera car for our Bridge Classic Cars Competitions, we can have complete confidence that it is happy and healthy.

Expect to see more on our Volvo V40 as we learn more about it and bring you along for the ride.

Fully Fueled – Replacing the fuel tank in a 1971 Jaguar XJ6

September 10, 2021

If you’ve been following along with the progress of the 1971 Jaguar XJ6 we have here at Bridge Classic Cars, you’ll know of the trouble that our amazing technician Dave has had with getting the car to fuel properly.

What began as a simple carb rebuild and set-up has grown into making the fuel system work (and look) just as good as the rest of this underappreciated classic. The old tank once removed looked fine from the outside, but after one look inside Dave knew he had got onto the right track. Rust. The dreaded oxide that plagues all classics but something that we here at Bridge Classic Cars are well used to dealing with and overcoming for our amazing customers.

Replacement tanks are available for this generation of XJ, but this being a very early XJ6 our technician Dave noticed some changes between the two. This is no problem thanks to Dave’s unrivalled skills. He has swapped out the supplied fittings for the return style system (for use on fuel injection cars) on the new replacement fuel tank to a returnless style need for this particular XJ6 with its wonderful set of Webers. Dave has made new plugs for the lines that are no longer needed for this beautiful classic.

Along with the new tank is a brand new set of fuel lines. Because of the rust issues that Dave found through the fuel system, it is best practice to replace the lines from front to back for the longevity of the car. Now the next step, get the new tank fitted up into place along with the new carefully made lines to begin testing to make sure that this XJ6 runs as good as it looks.

Raising the Roof – Revitalising the hood on our 1989 TVR S2 2.9

September 10, 2021

Our incredibly talented in-house trim expert Brian has been working on the roof of the 1989 TVR SII. The old roof had begun to look quite tired and had sun-bleached in places.

Brian worked his magic on the material of the roof and the removable panels to give this convertible a new lease of life.

Find out more about the TVR SII on our News Page for updates.

This Just In – 1964 Daimler 2.5 V8

September 10, 2021

Just arrived here at Bridge Classic Cars in Suffolk is this incredible 1964 Daimler 2.5 V8 Automatic for us to get to the bottom of a couple of issues.

Firstly, the owner has noticed a slight leak coming from the automatic gearbox fitted behind the V8 of this gorgeous green classic. This will be thoroughly investigated. All of this by our in-house team of restoration technicians to get to the bottom of the issue for the owner.

Along with the leak, the owner has commented on some interference to the updated radio installed in the car when first turning on the vehicle. This will also be tracked down by our incredible technicians and sorted.

All of the work will be done to the highest standard so the lucky owner of this beauty can enjoy many more miles with her.

Beach Street Felixstowe Car Show

September 9, 2021

On Saturday the 4th of September, Felixstowe’s exciting new location for food and shopping, Beach Street, played host to a car show. 40 beautiful classic vehicles were on display to the public .

Traditional Techniques for our Riley

September 9, 2021

James is hard at work in our Fabrication shop, working on our 1951 Riley RMB. As part of the front wing fabrication James has built a custom tool to create front wing support/stay. These beautiful hand-crafted vehicles require such skill and precision to achieve the perfect finish. Superb work, James.

Rescuing the original interior

September 8, 2021

Brian and Kath and made an incredible start to our 1987 Volkswagen Golf GTI restoration story. Although the car has been parked up and off the road since 2007 the interior is in remarkably good condition.

The car was full of water and the interior smelt of mould.

A good clean, strip down, tighten and re-stitch and it’s looking beautifully patina’d once again…exactly what the owner was hoping for.

Some of the cushioning has taken a bit of abuse; a couple of the plastic covers needed some repair work carried out, the bolsters had started to collapse but the most important factor is that the original patterned interior could be salvaged. The door cards were in lovely condition, albeit a bit grubby.

Our brief is to keep the car as original as possible. It belonged to Alice’s father and together they want to get the car back on the road to be used and enjoyed for many years to come.

Jaguar E-Type work continues

September 8, 2021

From our last update on the beautiful 1973 Jaguar E Type Roadster, we here at Bridge Classic Cars had entirely refurbished and upgrade the front subframe assembly ready for the next phase of this beautiful and special classics journey.

Scott, our in-house technician is working his way through the assembly of our 1973 Jaguar E-Type roadster. Beginning with the brakes, The handbrake assembly has now been fitted which managed to worked into its original factory placement. To take advantage of the space, we have also replaced all of the brake hardlines throughout the car. From its new double-circuit master cylinder and vacuum pump to its rear rebuilt callipers finished in factory colour against its new modern rotors. So when you do decide to go for that middle pedal in the cabin of Fern Grey, it will be right there for you thanks to a brand new brake pedal to bring together all of Scott’s hard work.

The steering column is in position now to take advantage of the previously refurbished front-end with new bushes and bearings throughout so once this glorious example of well sorted E Type is finally on the road, its lucky owner can take full advantage of the confidence instilled in the parts fitted by our talented technicians. Along with the steering column and brakes, the suspension is now being run by a modern updated version of its original set-up thanks to a beautiful set of GAZ adjustable dampers in the front and adjustable double coil-overs in the rear for a modern take to its handling with its timeless exterior.

Progress on the rebuild here at Bridge Classic Cars is going really well so far and the project is looking absolutely incredible.

Our Capri Sparkles Again

September 8, 2021

After years of car park dings and scratches. We’ve revitalized the paintwork on our 1983 Ford Capri. It will now head into our workshop for a full mechanical check-over and the wheels will be refurbished. A vehicle purchased by us here at Bridge Classic Cars, Should this be a future competition car?

Heart and Soul – 1973 MG B GT V8

September 8, 2021

The engine. The beating soul of any classic sports car is just as important as its classic, iconic lines. Performance was the cornerstone of sports car design and dynamics in the 1960s and 1970’s and the legendary 1973 MG B GT V8 is a fine example of this.

When it came to the engine build, our talented and all-knowing in-house engine builder Ady here at Bridge Classic Cars, all that was delivered to his bench was several boxes comprising of an all-aluminium Rover V8 when he had got it all back together to the highest of standards for this very special customers car.

With such care and attention to detail taken with building up the long block to the finest of details. Its installation must be dealt with under the same supervision and care.

The engine was tentatively lowered down between its fabulous purple towers, being careful as to not mark or mar the body or engine in any way. Millimetre by millimetre until it sat perfectly in position to achieve the handling and excitement its B GT V8 is renowned for.

Next up for this particular car is to handle a way of keeping the whole package cool and calm in the face of many fun-filled miles ahead.

Sanding and Polishing our Capri

September 8, 2021

Matt has been hard at work in our paint shop giving the Ford Capri’s paint a new lease of life. After a full respray, Matt has sanded and polished the paintwork in incrementally finer polishing grades. We cannot wait to see this fully polished.

New Arrival: V12 Aston Martin DB9

September 8, 2021

In our workshops today is something rather new for us here at Bridge Classic Cars. We will be servicing the brakes and fitting customer-supplied pads and disks to the vehicle. Further to that, we will be investigating both a coolant leak and what is initially beliewved to be an air conditioning leak.

Lining up for the paintshop

September 8, 2021

Clinton is now in the final stages of repairing the boot lid.

Chris and Matt now have the bonnet to prepare and paint the underside. There are certain areas of the bonnet that once fitted to the car are then not easily accessible. Painting the underside now means Clinton can then fit up the bonnet to ensure all of the lines are right before handing the entire shell over to the paint shops for preparation.

Although no records exist for the original colour of Moonbeam Grey we matched the colour from the back of the glove box compartment. This small part looks to have never been removed from the car so was although other colours had been found during the stripping process this has given us the closes match to what would have been a 1955 Moonbeam Grey.

Hydraulic issue on E55 AMG

September 7, 2021

We got a late arrival to the workshops on Sunday afternoon as the RAC delivered us a 1999 Mercedes E55 AMG with hydraulic issues. Heading up to Birmingham the car suddenly lost it’s hydraulic fluid out of the rear covering

Upon further investigation, the fuel and brake lines are also starting to corrode so now is as good a time as any to replace the pipework underneath.

We also discovered an unexpected power steering leak. Having seen signs of fluid on the belly pan we thought we best remove the cover to find out what the cause could be. Unfortunately it has revealed a leak on the front hose which will need to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

Alvis Has Left The Building

September 6, 2021

Just as soon as this 1961 Alvis TD21 was starting to settle in, it’s already leaving us. An unexpected arrival, this vehicle broke down on Thursday and was fighting fit again by Friday. The vehicle’s owners are on a long road trip from wales by way of Suffolk to a car show they are hosting in Oxford. It was crucial they were back on the road for the weekend.

After diagnosing the issue as a faulty starter motor, Paul set about removing the starter motor solenoids and replacing them with new ones. We had the starter motor repaired overnight and Paul re-fitted the unit Friday morning. With great work from the Bridge Classic Cars team, this beautiful classic made it to the ball.

1972 MG B GT Update

September 6, 2021

We last caught up with Alex back in April 2019 when we looked at his 1972 MG B GT.

The project was ongoing for Alex who was looking to carry out a lot of the work himself. We visited with a view of shaping, preparing and painting the body shell.

Two years on and it is lovely to hear from Alex again with a little update on his B.

“I have replaced both foot wells, inner wings, both floors, the full three piece sills and castle rails, both doors. Currently being done and still got to do is both rear arches each side. Full rear wings, boot floor and rear valance along with a few bits in between all them. So yes hopefully it won’t be long and you will have the car in your paint shop.”

Great job so far Alex and hope you’re enjoying the project!

TVR’s seized seat

September 3, 2021

The driver’s seat on our 1989 TVR SII 2.9 V6 was reported as not being able to move on the runners, so Paul took it out to have an investigation. He found that the bottom of the seat frame had completely rotten away, so the driver would have been basically sitting on the floor of the car! He also found that the lever that tilts the “squab” backwards and forwards was seized. He worked his magic on the lever and then passed it over to Brian in the trim shop to finish. Once the covers were taken off, Brian re-painted the frame and put strips of Pirelli rubber webbing across the base of the frame, attaching new springs on the ends to hold it in place. A new piece of foam was also attached to the existing foam for the base seat. The covers could then go back on the frame, ready for the seat to go back in the TVR. Great teamwork guys.

Grinding away that surface corrosion

September 3, 2021

Lydia has been helping with the progress of the 1951 Riley RMB. There was surface corrosion on the inside of one of the original wings round the edges of the spot welds done by James. Lydia did this with various-sized grinding attachments on a drill. A small step in the process, but a vital one, nonetheless, since we don’t want that surface corrosion getting worse or showing through the paint when it goes into that stage.

Another piece of the puzzle

September 3, 2021

Brian has been re-covering another piece from the 1963 Bentley S3 Continental. This time, the glovebox.

He started the process by removing the original covers from the metal box that makes the glovebox. He then used these original pieces as patterns on the new fabric, headlining fabric for most with one piece of leather. The headlining fabric pieces were glued onto the inside of the glovebox first, with the back piece having board underneath the material to give it structure and stability. Once this was all glued into place, Brian put the leather piece onto board as well, before glueing it onto the metal. All the material was wrapped around the edges to give a neat finish. Another piece of the Bentley interior finished!

Honda S2000 in and out like a flash

September 3, 2021

This 2000 Honda S2000 is a returning modern classic. It came into us back in March this year for some cosmetic work, with patches of corrosion and paint chipping away on the wheel arches, boot, bonnet and side panels. You can read about the process in full, in previous blog posts on this car.

This time around, it came into us for preparation work and painting on the front bumper and wing. This is called a SMART repair, which stands for Small Medium Area Repair Technology. It’s simply where a small area of the car is repaired instead of replacing the whole panel. Another great job done by the paint shop guys!

Glowing Jaguar

September 3, 2021

Dave has installed these original UV lights under the dash of the 1954 Jaguar MK VII. The blue/purple looking lightbulbs are called black lights and the white numbers and markings on the dials will be painted in a substance such as radium (but we’re not 100% sure on whether it is radium). So then, in the dark with the lights on, the dials will glow. Most cars have backlights, so this is a really lovely feature of the vehicle.

Update on the Aston Martin

September 3, 2021

Here’s a big update on the 1955 Aston Martin DB 2/4. Clinton has been continuing his work on the car and has given us the low-down on what has been done recently.

If we start at the rear of the vehicle, he’s finished putting the four corners in, the outside edge of the boot lid was corroded so this has been repaired with fabrication and welding, a new boot hinge has been created and Clinton is waiting for parts to arrive to complete the boot. One bigger change to the boot has been the removal of two large handles on the boot. When the car arrived with them on, we thought something wasn’t quite right, so we went on a visit to Stratton Motor Company because they had a DB 2/4 in their own showroom. It was there that it was confirmed that the handles should not be on the boot lid.

The front “pod” of the car on the right-hand side had to be repaired due to corrosion. The guys in the fabrication and welding bay are now waiting for the inside of the bonnet to be painted before they can fit the inner frame parts back in. The doors also need looking at as they won’t shut properly.

Riley RMB Chassis Work

September 3, 2021

Unfortunately our Riley RMB chassis is suffering badly with internal rust and corrosion building up. On the surface it looks to be in a relatively solid state but when tipped up on one end large clumps of rust falls out.

This is a bit unexpected but most certainly needs to be addressed.

Having discussed the matter with the Riley’s owner we have decided to chemically dip the chassis. The chemical dip process works very well on cars and chassis’ and will remove paint, rust and underseal from complete car shells or individual panels. Its chemical formulation strips away contaminants from all internal and external areas.

James has also been fabricating the new strengthening panels on the chassis and subframe.

Meet Helmut, our 1987 Volkswagen Golf GTI

September 3, 2021

It may be some time before we see our 1987 VW Golf GTI in the workshops but having been sitting outside and open to the elements since 2007, we thought it was best to get the car inside and away from the wind and the rain.

Having been owned by the same family for many years Alice has decided to get her father’s the car back on the road for many more years of enjoyment.

After a little bit of tree surgery in order to get the van through the gates, Tom and Mauro have managed to pull the car out and successfully loaded (him) in to the trailer.

Now safely tucked away in the Hangar, our first job will be to thoroughly clean the car, inside and out. This way, we can see work is involved in the restoration or re-commission of this modern classic.

With a small window of opportunity in the trim shop diary Kath and Brian have got to work in removing the very wet, and very mouldy interior trim. We’ll return all of the interior to the workshops for a full assessment and clean and we hope to be able to rescue as much of it as possible.

Check out the T-shirt that Alice was wearing in the image above. The wheels aren’t the same but the number plate sure is!

Bridge Classic Cars to the rescue!

September 3, 2021

Yesterday we had an unexpected new arrival in the form of a blue 1961 Alvis TD21. Unfortunately, this classic had broken down and was on its way to a show which the owners are hosting. They’d traveled down from Wales and had attended a wedding on their trip in the area. On their way across to Oxford, the Alvis stopped working.

This gorgeous classic ended up being brought to us for our technicians to look at. It was found that the starter motor wasn’t working, so it was swiftly sent off last night to be repaired. We’re now just waiting for its return. Well done so far to the technicians for being so quick with diagnosing the issue. Let’s hope we can get it to Oxford in time!