June 27, 2024

Fixing our enclosed trailer

Our enclosed trailer sees quite a few miles every month! With our transport team always out and about across the country, we have a very strict inspection regime for it and occasionally repairs have to be done.

This week, the team have found that the rear marker lights on the trailer weren’t operating correctly. So the trailer was taken off the road in order for our wiring guru (and workshop manager John) to take a look at and get it back up and running again.

After checking the usually suspects such as bulbs and connectors, John dove into the power box which controls the power distribution throughout the trailer. After performing his wiring checks, he found a single wire had corroded and was not allowing proper connecting, so with a replacement wire run to the lights and testing – he was happy to release our trailer back out onto the open road with the transport team.

Rare Barn Find Motorbike

At the upcoming H&H Classics motorcycle sale on July 3rd, being held at the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull, there is a very interesting motorcycle for sale and it is one that has spent most of its life off the road.

The auction will see a wide range of motorcycles, from sporting to touring models, in various conditions go up for sale. Of the more than 200 lots in the auction, around 70 of them are offered without reserve.

1951 Vincent Black Shadow Series C

One of the most exciting bikes, at least in my opinion, is a 1951 Vincent Black Shadow Series C, which has been off the road since at least the late 1970s and was likely last used regularly in the 1960s. The Vincent Owners Club has confirmed its factory-correct number status. Upon its discovery, the bike was found to be in fantastic condition and rolled freely. Even the engine wasn’t seized its decades in storage. Being sold with a comprehensive history file, including sale receipts from 1955 and various engineer reports, this special bike is estimated to sell for between ยฃ25,000 and ยฃ30,000.

Image: H&H

The auction will also feature three other Black Shadows: a 1950 model with subtle upgrades (estimated at ยฃ32,000-38,000), a 1952 Series C with all correct factory numbers and 20 years of ownership (estimated at ยฃ28,000-32,000), and a 1955 Series D from long-term family ownership (estimated at ยฃ26,000-28,000).


1929 Brough Superior SS100

One of the most valuable bikes up for sale is a 1929 Brough Superior SS100, which is estimated to sell for between ยฃ240,000 and ยฃ280,000. Known as ‘the mysterious SS100,’ it was first registered in 1944 and is believed to have a unique prototype frame that differs from the standard version.

Image: H&H

1922 D.S. Malterre

There’s an even rarer bike that will be available at the auction though. A 1922 D.S. Malterre, the only known survivor of the two examples made. This superbly restored, Indian V-twin-powered motorcycle has been displayed at the Goodwood Revival and is estimated at ยฃ22,000-26,000.

Image: H&H

Other Bikes Available

If you prefer more recent bikes, then a 1968 Godet 1330GT, built to the previous owner’s specifications by Patrick Godet, is estimated to sell for between ยฃ48,000 and ยฃ52,000. Having seen little use due to the owner’s busy schedule, this bespoke motorcycle is ready for a new owner.

A 1977 Triumph T140D Silver Jubilee is also available, described by H&Hโ€™s Mike Davis as the best example he has ever seen. With only 14 miles on the clock and meticulously maintained, this limited-edition model, produced to celebrate Queen Elizabeth IIโ€™s Silver Jubilee, is estimated to sell for ยฃ8,000-10,000.

The oldest lot in the sale is a 1913 Douglas 2 ยพ-hp, estimated to sell for ยฃ7,000-9,000. In original condition, it was discovered in the 1980s and has since been re-commissioned, earning a Pioneer certificate in 1983 and participating in the Pioneer Run numerous times.


Auction Details

For more details about the auction and the available lots, visit H&H Classics.

All lots can be viewed in person at the National Motorcycle Museum, Solihull, on the afternoon of Tuesday 2 July from 12pm โ€“ 6pm. The sale commences at 1pm on the following day.

Anyone interested in bidding on any of the lots can do so in person,ย online, via telephone or by leaving a commission bid.


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Progress on our 1956 Jensen 541R

Our workshop team have been steadily making progress on our 1956 Jensen 541 which is in the finishing workshop here at the Bridge Classic Cars workshop in Suffolk.

Our technician, Paul, began with working on test fitting the rear window catches to line up correctly with the stunning interior built by our in-house trim team. Once checked, Paul could fix them securely in place. Then he moved on to getting the drivers side door test fit to work out the gaps and line up through carefully adding and taking away specifically sized shims. Once he was happy with the doors fitment, Paul went under the bonnet of the classic GT car.

To begin with, he fabricated the new battery mount for the car specifically to work within the confines of this specific chassis. And finally, Paul could test fit the radiator into the chassis to begin working on radiator mounts for the car.

Closer and Closer – Getting the last few remaining jobs done on the 2022 Bridge C-Type

The workshop team are crossing off the last few remaining jobs left to do on our 2022 Bridge C-Type Replica with Jon and John working their way around the homage to the greatest era of sports car racing.

Here’s what they’ve been up to: ”Remove rear wheels. Cut rear suspension bolts and replace with new bolts fitted the other way round. Drill out rivets in nearside rear arch and apply sealer. Re drill and re rivet. Trim off excess alloy front arch liner. Seal boot to body area under fuel tank above rear axle. Refit wheels. Adjust and tighten mirrors. Drill and fit fire extinguisher between seats.”

Our SL returns with a noise…

Firstly, we have road tested the vehicle to experience what the customer is experiencing.
Found the noise to be coming from the nearside rear wheel so we have stripped out wheel hub and replace wheel bearing.

Whilst the car is in with us, we have fitted a DAB radio with DAB aerial and microphone.

We’ve also had reported to us a smell of fuel so we have looked into this also. Having stripped out the boot linings to check all fuel pipes we have not found there to be any leaks.

We have remove the dash cluster in order to replace the left hand bulb assembly.

The car is now ready to go but as the weather is so beautiful, the customer has asked us to store his hardtop in the summer months. Great choice. If you have a car, motorcycle or even a hardtop to store check out our amazing storage facility.

Our 1989 Porsche 928 S4 takes a special trip

Alongside our 1958 Austin Healey 100/6, our transport team were given the task of safely delivering our 1989 Porsche 928 S4 to a special location recently for filming with our marketing team.

Tony, our transport driver, expertly navigated the narrow country lanes to get this stunning long-legged GT car to location for the team to make it look like a million dollars and… you’ll be able to see the results of that very very soon.

Time for some TLC – Our 1998 BMW E36 M3 Evo comes over to the workshop

This stunning 1998 BMW E36 M3 Evo has been in long term storage for quite some time now. Recently, our transport team took a trip to our secure, secret storage facility – The Hangar, to pick up this incredible 1990’s sports coupe.

After being taken out of its protective bubble, the car was loaded into our enclosed trailer and brought to the main workshops here at the Bridge Classic Cars Suffolk HQ.

Back to its core – stripping our 1973 Ferrari 246 GTS

The 1973 Ferrari 246GTS ‘Dino’ has been in the Bridge Classic Cars workshops for a few weeks now with the restoration team getting started on revitalizing this iconic sports car. Most recently, the car has been in with our body team aswell as our workshop teams to begin the process of repairing corroded and damaged sections of the car.

To begin with, the workshop team have been carefully removing all of the trims and accessories from the exterior of the car – making sure to catalogue and document each piece that is removed for the moment when it is ready to come back together in our brand new finishing workshop.

After that, the car could be transferred into our body shop for Chris and his team to begin the process of taking the cars paintwork back to reveal areas of corrosion and damage highlighted during the cars assessment. Most notably, the sills which have actually corroded all the way through in places along with other areas which will require the careful and delicate attention of our fabricator, also called Chris.

Recommission work on our Daimler Conquest

Loads has been happening this week on our 1954 Daimler Conquest as we continue to work through the recommissioning process.

Some key activities include; securing the ignition switch into the dash. Jon has remove the reserve tank cable and blanked hole with a grommet. He has remove the carburettor suction chambers and pistons.

We have removed the float bowl tops and cleaned all parts. Then moving on to adjusted the float arms and checking the needle valves before refit. The jet depths have then be reset.

The carbs have been rebuilt and we have refitted the air filter, new spark plugs. The coolant has been drained too.

Jon has stripped the steering column centre and attended to a short circuit in the wiring loom inside the column.

Work continues on the steering column as we cut the wires to length and make new loom for horn and indicators. Make connections at horn push/indicator switch in centre of steering wheel.

Jon and John have rebuilt the loom down the shaft whilst Clinton went off to repair the split in the column tube.

Adjust ring inside steering wheel for indicator cancel function. Tap out the thread in the ring to secure and tap out the grub screw hole for securing centre to wheel.

We have then fitted the column tube, olive and securing nut to lower column and tightened in the correct position so indicator the switch was at the top of the steering wheel. Next up was to connect the wiring and test but the horn remained temperamental. The fault has been traced to the horn itself. We’ve now remove the horn and ordered a new one.

Finish grille top plate replacement and re-secure the grille.

We have tightened the bonnet catches each side and lubricated.

Wire in front fog lights. We’ve measured the lengths and madee twin core looms to run from the switch on the dash to each fog light before remove the fog lights and testing the bulbs. Both ok.

Jon has run wires along the existing loom and into the car, connecting them at the fog light ends and reassembling. The loom has been tested by connecting to the live feed from ignition, all ok.

Connect to fog light switch.

Make small wire from sidelight feed on back of light switch and connect to other side of fog light switch.

Turn on sidelights and test. Ok.

Connect the earth wire for interior fan and test.

Tighten offside mirror.

External work next. We have inflated the tyres, torque up the wheels and refitted the wheel trims.

The nearside window have been refitted and we have elongated the holes as the window catches on the A pillar. A bit more fettling required on this one.