Trim Shop Storage Space
October 22, 2020
Our in-house trim shop had some light building works taking place this week. Keen to keep our assortment of leather, carpet and vinyl in pristine
October 22, 2020
The Batmobile (AKA: Jensen 541R)
October 22, 2020
The interior of our 1960 Jensen 541R has had a visit to our in-house trim shop this week. The customer is going full-black exterior and
The Jensen Gets A Fitting Treatment
October 22, 2020
Class car technician Scott has been looking after our 1957 Jensen 541R this week. He’s been doing a bit of everything, working through a varied
Team Turbo
October 22, 2020
The Bridge Classic Cars engine team have been hard at work investigating a knocking noise coming from our 1985 Lotus Esprit Turbo. Ady, our engine
Things are heating up for our MGA build
October 22, 2020
With cold weather approaching, Paul, one of our master classic car technicians was asked by the owner of this majestic MGA to fit a heater
Trim Shop Storage Space
October 22, 2020
Our in-house trim shop had some light building works taking place this week. Keen to keep our assortment of leather, carpet and vinyl in pristine condition, we’ve had a trim shelving unit built especially. Ready when needed to create our custom-made interiors.
We’re sure it won’t be long until these shelves are packed full of all the fabric and foam the trim shop need. Now they have their own special storage, it just means we can buy more fabric right?!
We pride ourselves at Bridge on being super clean and tidy. We down-tools early at the end of every working day, and carry out a full deep clean of the workshop.
Having everything spotless, tidy and easy to find, makes us more efficient. It also provides a great place for our classic car experts to do their very best work.
The Batmobile (AKA: Jensen 541R)
October 22, 2020
The interior of our 1960 Jensen 541R has had a visit to our in-house trim shop this week. The customer is going full-black exterior and interior. Kath and Brian, our trim experts, have been hard at work fitting all the interior trim right through the car.
First up, the sound deadening was glued and fitted to the metal body. This helps reduce the amount of road and engine noise while driving the car. Essential for classics, who’s engines are much loader than standard modern cars.
“I also made a template for the base of the seat” Kath explains “then glued that in and trimmed it up.” Kath also made templates around the foot well and pedals in a similar fashion. “First the sound deadening goes down” she tell sus “then I fitted the carpet in and glued it into position.” The carpet gets fitted all round the sides of the footwell so the edges are tucked away and look clean.
Carpet is also fitted around the handbrake gaiter. Kath’s also fitted the seatbelt eyes into position and cut the carpet to fit snug around them.
“I’ve then cut carpet for the foot wells and door sills.” Kath explains. The door sill carpet was then positioned and glued.
Kath then had to bind round the foot well carpets. Kath marked the position of the carpet fittings and fitted it into the car.
Leather is then fitted around the seat frame base.
The colour combination for our 1960 Jensen is black, on black, on black. Perhaps our customer is secretly a vampire, or maybe Batman? Who knows!
The Jensen Gets A Fitting Treatment
October 22, 2020
Class car technician Scott has been looking after our 1957 Jensen 541R this week. He’s been doing a bit of everything, working through a varied check list of parts to fit.
“I’ve put the rear 1/4 windows in” Scott explains “I figured out placement of the catches too, so they work with the window and then I fitted them.”
Scott then worked out the placement of the door wing mirrors. Once confident with their position, he then drilled holes and fitted them into place.
Scott’s also fitted the new Jensen horn. He’s then made a start on the windscreen system.
“Firstly, I worked out a suitable place to mount the screen wash bottle” he describes. “I fabricated a little mount bracket then fitted the screen wash bottle.”
Scott then marked out where the hole for the washer jet should go. Once happy with it’s position, he drilled the hole and fitted the washer jet component. Scott then connected all the screen wash pipework under the bonnet, securing the pipes in nice and tidily.
Scott’s then sorted some other jobs on the Jensen doors. “I fitted the chrome door trim” he tells us. “I’ve also fabricated a bump stop for the windows.” The bump stop is a small rubber part that acts as a cushion for when the widow is wound right down. This helps protect the glass and the internal mechanism from hitting into one another and causing damage.
All this little job help bring the Jensen to life, making the car user-friendly and comfortable. Great job Scott!
Team Turbo
October 22, 2020
The Bridge Classic Cars engine team have been hard at work investigating a knocking noise coming from our 1985 Lotus Esprit Turbo.
Ady, our engine expert explains the process; “we removed the whole engine to investigate. The pistons were in bad shape. We’ve gone right through the whole engine and all its components.”
The Lotus has been treated to four brand new pistons, new gaskets, new bearings and a new cambelt. It was also discovered that a loose clip has caused the pully to rub on the waterpipe, causing a leak.
It’s taken the team three days and a whole lot of tea! But we’re finally over the worst. The engine is only waiting on a new water pipe to be fitted and she should be raring to go soon!
Things are heating up for our MGA build
October 22, 2020
With cold weather approaching, Paul, one of our master classic car technicians was asked by the owner of this majestic MGA to fit a heater box. We elected to import a period correct Smiths heater box from the US. Paul has had to adapt the bracket between the heater unit and the fan motor to perfectly fit the engine bay of our MGA.
After the full engine rebuild, Ady has now installed the engine back into the vehicle. A weak casting caused one of the piston skirts to break. Unfortunately this required a full engine rebuild.
