Projects

Back To The Farm

Our 1996 Toyota Hilux has been finished and sent back to the farm for its owners to finish themselves. Our task was only to correct

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Sill Rebuilding

Pricey has been taking apart and rebuilding the lower rear sills, entire lower sill, rear inner sill and floor as all of it were showing

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New Ford Anglia In

We’ve just welcomed this quirky barn find 1959 Ford Anglia into the Bridge Classic Car family. It’s looking rather dusty at the moment however for

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Spot The Difference

Notice anything about these two images? We were stunned to see the difference in colour once Colin for Auto Valet had cleaned the seats on

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Tr4 Goes Camping

We love receiving updates from winners about what they’re getting up to with their cars. Adrian has gone camping with his campervan and Tr4. What

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Jaguar XK8

Pricey has discovered a rotten left hand subframe mounting point/chassis leg. To deal with this, Pricey cut out the outer layer to reveal a rotten

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Toyota TLC

James has been using the original spot-weld marks on our Toyota Hilux to realign the drivers door skin. James has made a spacer for the

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White Jaguar E-Type Inner Parts Painted

More inner components have been painted for the 1973 White jaguar E-Type Series 3 Roadster. Parts have been had air box primer applied and then painted silver. Other parts have been painted black.

Back To The Farm

Our 1996 Toyota Hilux has been finished and sent back to the farm for its owners to finish themselves. Our task was only to correct and replace the doors and side panels as this is set to mostly be a home restoration. Hilux’s are often a favoured agriculture vehicle thanks to their reliability and classic indestructibility.

Sound Deadening The Peony Jensen

Kath has been laying sound deadening in the Peony Red 1960 Jensen 541S which is starting to look more and more complete.

Kath began by covering the section of floor she was working on, with leather and then started to lay the sound deadening, being careful to check how each piece fitted and glue them securely in place. She then went over the sills and added the carpet under the rear seats and bound the ends. Then Kath started laying the carpet in the passenger footwell, around the side of the centre tunnel and bound the edges.

Sill Rebuilding

Pricey has been taking apart and rebuilding the lower rear sills, entire lower sill, rear inner sill and floor as all of it were showing series signs of corrosion as the structural integrity was challenged.

The process includes correcting previous fixes and a lifetime of rust and wear. Pricey has been fabricating new sections and welding them in so that the lower sills are ready to be repainted.

Pricey has been addressing the poor alignment issues and previous corrections. He has stripped parts back to good metal to be able to fabricate new parts.

New Ford Anglia In

We’ve just welcomed this quirky barn find 1959 Ford Anglia into the Bridge Classic Car family. It’s looking rather dusty at the moment however for a car that hasn’t been driven in years, it’s looking amazing. Many of the original details are still intact such as the interior which is pristine for a 62 year old car that has been used well throughout its life. The previous owner never liked over-restoring cars and instead preferred to leave his Ford as untouched as he could but kept up well enough to be frequently used.

We’ve got some body work and tidy ups to do with this vehicle before we can photograph it, but stay tuned to see where this Ford ends up….

TR5 Up And Running For The First Time

Our 1968 Triumph TR5 has been a total nut and bolt restoration, with it looking like just a chassis and some mechanics only 6 months ago. Today it was started for the first time and it ran as expected with no series issues. The expected teething issues of a brand new engine have occurred, including a large amount of smoke as the new components are run for the first time. The next step is to road test it to see how it runs.

Ford Model T Gets New Brakes

We’ve been working on getting this 1915 Ford Model T up and running again, starting with refreshing the brakes. On this age car, the brakes are drum and steel which are only located on the back. We’ve taken the wheels off the back right hand side to find they’re totally dry and looking well. We’ve refreshed the grease on the hand brake pivot point and reassembled it. On the opposite side at the back the brakes were full of oil, which is as expected as the oil in the axel runs to the left hand side. We’ve taken it apart and replaced the outer race on the bearing as well as fitted an oil seal inside. At the front we’ve refreshed the grease in the hubs as well as noted some wear in the king pin.

Spot The Difference

Notice anything about these two images?

We were stunned to see the difference in colour once Colin for Auto Valet had cleaned the seats on our Mercedes CL600! The line across each photo shows the before and after of the leather seats in our Mercedes.

We can’t wait to see how it all looks once clean!

Mercedes Owners Wave Goodbye To Beloved Motor

Our electrician Tim recently sold us his late fathers beloved Mercedes CL500 with the hopes that someone else will take it on and love it. We’ve recently put this up in our competition where someone will be able to win it and love it as well.

Thank you Tim for passing on such a special motor.

TVR Racing Grantura Update

Raymond bought our rare 1962 TVR Racing Grantura a while back and he’s now restoring it to its former glory. On The right you can see a progress photo of the Grantura he bought from us and on the left is another rare racing Granture he’s recently bought – what a fantastic collection!

This is what the racing Grantura looked like when Raymond bought it:

Diagnosed Dodgy Distributer

Scott has taken a look at our 1971 MG Midget. He began by investigating the poor running issue, which he identified as being a dodgy distributor cap. After finding a cap off another car to try, Scott got it running. By played with timing and fuel mixture, Scott managed to get the MG started so that it was running nice and all seems well now. He then started doing a general check over as the customer has told us that it has sat for a while. Scott found that the diff-fill plug was really damaged and hard to remove so he had to weld a bar to it to remove and check the oil.

Spitfire In For Service

Scott has been working on our 1971 Spitfire to identify the source of an oil leak. He discovered that it was the timing cover gasket so we’ve ordered a new part to fix it. Scott then had to fix the heater vent control lever as it was jammed and then look at a poor starting issue. Scott tried turning the idle speed up as it was very low. In doing so he noticed that some fuel lines had perished so he has replaced those too.

Peony Red Headliner Continues

Kath has continued on the 1960 Jensen 541S Peony Red headliner by bolting in the screws in the front header rail. She’s then covered the B posts in leather and added 3mm of foam to the rear. Kath has then covered the back parcel shelve in the same headliner leather and then followed it up by fitting the panels along the top of the head liner.

Next up, Kath made a pattern for the rear pocket sections and then glued it in place. She then removed the seat belt to fit the rear quarter panel. She then modified the rear quarter panel to make it fit better. Kath then attached the rear door capping and rear panel as well as fitting the seat belt back in place. She then repeated this process on the driver’s side.

Once everything was covered and fit, Kath could lay the rear seat in place to make sure it all fits. Next up is the sound deadening and carpet.

The Ford Capri’s Run-In With A Ladder

This stunning 1971 Ford Capri has had an unfortunate run in with a ladder that has left some small cosmetic grazes on its rear quarter panel. We’ve taken it into the capable hands of our paint shop to have a touch up so that it can leave looking brand new.

We’ve all been ogling at this stunning bronze example. The paint, a golden bronze, is otherwise spotless and the interior is well preserved and well-loved.

1978 Mini 1275 – Team C Racing

This little brown 1978 Mini GT 1275 is in for some bodywork. We work closely with Ted from Team C Racing, who specialises in Minis as he will often send his projects our way for paintwork and bodywork, such as this Mini.

EADT – May 2021: Electric Classic Mini Set To Star On TV

Our Surf Blue mini that we helped restore with Ted from Team C Racing is now set to star on Vintage Voltage on tv. We’ve recently been mentioned in an EADT article about it which you can read here.

The car has spent the 6 months in Wales at Electric Classic Cars undergoing a Tesla conversion.

Owner Simon Benton, has had the mini in his family its whole life. Originally purchased for him and his sister to learn in, the car then became their mother’s daily before retiring to their garage where it sat untouched for many years.

The characterful mini gained the name ‘OBie’ after its number plate and the release of Star Wars the summer they bought it.

1971 MG Midget In For Service

This little 1971 MG Midget has come in today for a service. It’s in need of its wheels being balanced, a general check over as it hasn’t been driven in a while and an oil check.

These MG Midgets are a particularly popular and charming classic which are quickly appreciating in value. As a simple classic roadster, it is the perfect every day classic or someone’s first classic. Fun to drive, easy to work on and cheap to fix, there’s not much you can’t love about it.

Jaguar XK8: More Rust Reveal

Our 1997 Jaguar XK8 has become somewhat of a snowball restoration. Originally in for just a touch of rust repair, we’re now revealing more rust than previously thought. Scenarios like this is very common as rust repair is often like opening a can of worms and we believe its better to bite the bullet and sort it out rather than wait for the rust to get to an unmanageable and fatal point.

Pricey has started working on the rotten right hand front subframe point where he has removed the outer layer, then cleaned and removed the inner layer and zinc sprayed it all. He has then welded the inner layer and zinc primed that, before doing the same with the outer layer. Pricey has then rust treated the surrounding areas and epoxy primed, undersealed and cavity waxed the area. After this, he refitted the subframe bracket and bolts.

Lilac Jensen Fibreglass Repair

Our 1960 Jensen 541R is undergoing some fibreglass repair in our paint shop. Matt is currently working on the boot lid that needs to be repaired with filler, shaped up and smoothed down.

White E-Type Begins Its Paint Journey

Before we get the body and panels of our 1973 Jaguar E-Type Series 3 Roadster in for paint, we need to start painting the internal parts in black epoxy. The majority of these parts will be totally or partially hidden either under the car or within it, however, it is important to have them all looking uniform and neat.

Rebuilding the V8 engine

Having been in storage for many years with our friends at Brown and Gammons it’s time for the car to out and see the sunshine.

We have been commissioned to rebuild the engine and marry up the gearbox.

Work will commence very soon.

Triumph Stag Interior Finished

Brian has recently added the finishing touches to our Maroon 1973 Triumph Stag. This car has gone from looking rather sad at Bentwaters, with an empty interior and flat tyre, to now starting to resemble a usable car!

He has fitted the tonneau cover in place by bolting the brackets into the car and fitting a catch to lock the hood in place. Brian then checked that the rear bar of the frame fits well into the cover lock and then laid the hood cover over the frame and glued the rear flap to the rear bar.

The next step was to clip the front edge in place and glue it to the front bar, followed by gluing the side and roof flaps in place. Brian then fit metal channels and rubbers in place and then trimmed the front edge of the cover, and then rivetted the metal channel and rubber in place.

After this, the rear and front seats could also be fitted. The interior now looks perfect.

Lotus In For Service

Our Lotus has come back in for a service before the owner takes it out on a road trip.

We’ve attended to the engine cooling fans which are working correctly, we’ve found no oil leaks, we’ve checked over the vehicle to identify any other faults, which we have not found and replaced the oil and filter.

Tr4 Goes Camping

We love receiving updates from winners about what they’re getting up to with their cars. Adrian has gone camping with his campervan and Tr4. What a great opportunity to take it out on a new adventure now that camping is back on the cards!

Jaguar XK8

Pricey has discovered a rotten left hand subframe mounting point/chassis leg. To deal with this, Pricey cut out the outer layer to reveal a rotten middle section.

He then cut out the middle section to reveal rotten inner reinforcement. He’s also taken to cleaning up some of the corroded parts before building the reinforcements. Once these have been made, the chassis leg panels can be welded back into place, grounded down and a middle section can be fitted in. Once all the elements have been grounded and welded in place, Pricey then covered the underside in Epoxy primer so that its ready for an underseal.

Toyota TLC

James has been using the original spot-weld marks on our Toyota Hilux to realign the drivers door skin. James has made a spacer for the same door to rectify the owner’s previous repair and has also rust repaired the passenger side door frame ready to refit door skin in the same way.

Jaguar E-Type Handbrake Stripped

Scott has stripped the handbrake callipers and sandblasted the parts so they could be painted. Scott then started to put the rear axle together.

Crash Victim In For TLC – 1961 Jensen 541S

Earlier in the week we got delivered this 1961 Jensen 541S that had been the victim of a crash, and is looking a little worse for wear on the front end.

The incident occurred when the bonnet flew up on the motorway and smashed the windscreen, tearing the fibreglass bonnet in the process. This was a result of the bonnet catches not being done up properly.

We are currently working alongside the insurance company to assess the damage to see what exactly needs to be done.