Managing Director – Bridge Classic Cars
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]It’s been a long time coming but our 1932 Vauxhall Cadet now has the engine refitted and ready for running up.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaOOfsK7ZHQ”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”14812,14813,14814,14815,14816″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] This weekend saw the latest Car ‘N’ Croissants meet from the guys at 400 Alliance (Facebook). If you are not familiar with 400 Alliance, they
Arriving in our workshops next month we have our 1980 MG Midget 1500. Previously residing in Edinburgh she’s had just 2 owner’s and covered an
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Photographs from Tom Steer, a good friend of Bridge Classic Cars out with his family enjoying the Brodie car show. Even little Elspeth enjoyed the
The polished aluminium radiator and header tank has now been fitted up and looking fantastic.
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Our Maserati Merak is now back in our Ipswich workshops after one final visit to the paint shop and she is looking absolutely outstanding. Just
The brand new full A and B posts have successfully been fitted to our 1947 MGTC. As you can seem we have discovered a small
Having exhausted all avenues in sourcing some new/good used headlight hydraulic cylinders to operate the raising mechanism of the headlights, we had no other choice
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Having travelled all the way over from our good friends at Beverly Hills Car Club, she spent her early years in Kirkcaldy before heading over to
Our 1974 De Tomaso Pantera is back in with us to have the dust covers replaced top and bottom.
The A and B posts have been successfully removed from the offside of our 1947 MGTC. We have temporarily fitted up the components we have
The Mansion House in Elgin is a lovely tourist trap and as we have often seen an overnight stop for classic car enthusiasts. This time
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]After several months travelling from Beverly Hills to be with us our 1967 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow runs brilliantly, with very little effort. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d46CjG6HbG4″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Tommy is now away sailing the Suffolk coast for a couple of days but before he left our workshops yesterday he managed to complete the installation
We have now successfully removed the majority of the affected area of our 1947 MGTC with just the A and B posts remain. It’s a
We have now uncovered the A and B posts of our 1947 MG TC to assess the extent of the rot and what coach work
John and Dave have been hard at work refitting the engine to our 1932 Vauxhall Cadet.
THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE SEASON FOR FANS OF OLDTIMER With an audience of more than 60,000 and an outstanding starting field, the AvD-Oldtimer-Grand-Prix is one
Superglass Windshield Repair have been in today to repair the crack on the windscreen.
From time to time you unfortunately uncover more of an issue than what you first estimate and this is one of those times. We set
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Our 1947 MG TC has arrived in to our workshops this weekend to have the underside rotten wood issue resolved. The underside wood can be
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]We have now stripped, cleaned and rebuilt the brake system of our 1974 Triumph Spitfire. We’ve also blackened underneath the engine bay now that the
Our 1967 Jaguar E-Type racing series engine is now complete, ready and waiting to be fitted. We have carried out a full rebuild of the
Fresh off the ship this morning and in our workshops this afternoon, here we have our 1967 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow – RXX 1. having
With the air intakes removed, stripped and repainted they have now been fitted back up and the engine as had a full detail. A huge
Although it has taken much longer than we first hoped for (mainly due to how rare the parts are), our 1932 Vauxhall Cadet engine has
Bright and early, our 1974 Datsun 240Z has now arrived at the Bridge Classic Cars workshop
We are now about to start rebuilding the engine of our lovely 1971 Triumph Spitfire. The engine has been fully removed and will be stripped
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Due in tomorrow is our newest project, a 1974 Datsun 240Z. Sales of the Nissan Z Car started in October 1969 (for the 1970 model year),
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]We were delighted this morning to receive this amazing gift from our 1989 Volkswagen T25 Camper owner Margaret. Daisy is now enjoying her new life
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]It’s been a long time coming but our 1932 Vauxhall Cadet now has the engine refitted and ready for running up.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaOOfsK7ZHQ”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”14812,14813,14814,14815,14816″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
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This weekend saw the latest Car ‘N’ Croissants meet from the guys at 400 Alliance (Facebook). If you are not familiar with 400 Alliance, they are a Suffolk based members club for driving enthusiasts. Follow them now on Instagram
This weekend’s event was in association with Shine Supply UK. Held at Unit 7, Aries Business Park in Ipswich it looked to be a great day. They couldn’t have asked for better weather!
Unfortunately we were unable to attend the event ourselves but thanks to our good friend Aliona (she’s even let us have some photos from her latest photo-shoot)…
…we managed to grab some pictures of some of the incredible cars that turned up on the day.
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Arriving in our workshops next month we have our 1980 MG Midget 1500.
Previously residing in Edinburgh she’s had just 2 owner’s and covered an impressive 14000 miles from new.
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Photographs from Tom Steer, a good friend of Bridge Classic Cars out with his family enjoying the Brodie car show.
Even little Elspeth enjoyed the day, looking at all of the fantastic classics. She’ll soon have another little pal to enjoy the day with.
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The polished aluminium radiator and header tank has now been fitted up and looking fantastic.
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Our Maserati Merak is now back in our Ipswich workshops after one final visit to the paint shop and she is looking absolutely outstanding.
Just a couple of small areas to work on and the concours restoration will be complete. A couple of removable panels need to be realigned once again and we are waiting on a new badge for the rear to be re-produced by the guys at Pamela David Enamel.
The car is now available for sale, for any interested parties please do not hesitate to contact the office for more information. Price is strictly on application.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”14772,14771,14770,14769,14768,14767,14766,14765,14782,14781,14780,14779,14778,14777,14776,14775,14774,14773″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
The brand new full A and B posts have successfully been fitted to our 1947 MGTC. As you can seem we have discovered a small area of rot that has spread to the back arch panel. Rather than replacing the entire back arch for a small amount of rot Asa has decided to leave the existing woodwork in place but to cut out the affected area and replace just that area alone.
The task is now complete and looking fantastic.
Having exhausted all avenues in sourcing some new/good used headlight hydraulic cylinders to operate the raising mechanism of the headlights, we had no other choice than to re-manufacture some brand new components.
Certainly not as easy as it sounds; lots of phone calls later to lots of hydraulic specialists and with no one wanting to take on the task we started to look more locally for help.
Nigel and the guys at Ipswich Hydraulics reluctantly said they would take on the challenge and full credit to the team, they are now back with us, looking amazing and ready to be fitted up. A huge thank you to Ipswich Hydraulics for taking on the challenge.
Will they dread coming to the phone when they next hear ‘it’s Craig from Bridge Classic Cars’ on the phone? Maybe so…haha
…but a huge thank you.
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Having travelled all the way over from our good friends at Beverly Hills Car Club, she spent her early years in Kirkcaldy before heading over to the states in the early 80s we believe.
Now that she’s back on UK soil we’ve got her running and here we are out on a nice, leisurely morning drive this morning.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”14634,14635,14636,14637,14638,14639,14640,14641,14642″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Our 1974 De Tomaso Pantera is back in with us to have the dust covers replaced top and bottom.
The A and B posts have been successfully removed from the offside of our 1947 MGTC. We have temporarily fitted up the components we have in but are just waiting for one more piece to the jigsaw before we secure everything into position.
Due to the severity of what we have discovered we have taken some time out to assess the nearside of the car but this looks to have been resolved in the past. Without having to remove panels unnecessarily you can see how good the exposed ends of the A and B posts are.
The Mansion House in Elgin is a lovely tourist trap and as we have often seen an overnight stop for classic car enthusiasts.
This time some enthusiasts had arrived from Germany and hired an MGB and an Austin Healey from Caledonian Classics (name on the back window) and were making their way around the north of Scotland. The driver of the Austin Healey had a very nice Auto Union and a restored DKW back home and has promised to send on some pictures that we can share.
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]After several months travelling from Beverly Hills to be with us our 1967 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow runs brilliantly, with very little effort.
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Tommy is now away sailing the Suffolk coast for a couple of days but before he left our workshops yesterday he managed to complete the installation of the new brake pipes. As you can see, the pipes are not yet secured but are in the positions that they need to be.
We have also fabricated the brand new over-flow pipe to the sump. This needed to be made up as it is no longer available in the shape we require.
We have now successfully removed the majority of the affected area of our 1947 MGTC with just the A and B posts remain.
It’s a surprisingly big task to take on but we are lucky to have caught it now as leaving these issues will only make the situation worse.
Once the A and B post are removed we’ll start to build in the new ash posts before re-modelling the exterior panels.
We have now uncovered the A and B posts of our 1947 MG TC to assess the extent of the rot and what coach work will need to be carried out to resolve the issues.
As you can see, the A post has been tampered with and corrected in the past as sheet metal has been used to shape and strengthen the panelling.
And as you can see from the B Post images, the rot has spread to 3 separate panels with the top panel, again being a panel that has had attention in the past. We’ll now start to get to work on correcting the issues and preventing the rot to spread any further.
John and Dave have been hard at work refitting the engine to our 1932 Vauxhall Cadet.
Superglass Windshield Repair have been in today to repair the crack on the windscreen.
From time to time you unfortunately uncover more of an issue than what you first estimate and this is one of those times.
We set out with the intention of replacing the main wooded beam that runs along the bottom of both the A and B post and almost from the front of the car to the rear. After pulled away the body shell which was wrapped around the area in question we have now discovered both the A and B posts areas are in desperate need of attention.
The extra work involved is the removal of the offside front wing, offside rear wing, offside door. We will need to cut the body along the cut lines for access to bottom A and B posts for splicing repair to parts T503 and T502.
We will then need to refit all panels and paint the affected areas blending in to where necessary. The offside floor panel may have to be removed for access.
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Our 1947 MG TC has arrived in to our workshops this weekend to have the underside rotten wood issue resolved.
The underside wood can be purchased off the shelf which makes the workload (and final bill) much lower but that’s not to say this will be an easy job.
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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]We have now stripped, cleaned and rebuilt the brake system of our 1974 Triumph Spitfire.
We’ve also blackened underneath the engine bay now that the engine is fully removed as well as the wheel arches. Unfortunately, in places, we’ve discovered a reaction so his task will need to be re-addressed.
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Our 1967 Jaguar E-Type racing series engine is now complete, ready and waiting to be fitted.
We have carried out a full rebuild of the engine including the upgraded weber carburettors.
Almost everything has been rebuilt, reconditioned or replaced: exhaust valves, inlet valves, cam buckets, valve guides, VS2 valve springs, head gasket, spark plugs, core plugs, leads, distributor, cap, coil, clamps, timing chain kit, oil pump, FC288 oil filter conversion, oil thrower, main bearings, big end bearings, thrust washers, pistons, clutch.
We’ve reconditioned the lightened flywheel, fitted new flywheel bolts and dowels, block studs, chrome nuts, oil pump seals, exhaust manifold studs, lock tab, small end bushes, crank bungs, tab washers, gaskets, oil pump lock washers, banjo bolts, oil pipe, water pump, rear seals conversion, balance rotating assembly, face block, face head, overhauled water pump, resized big ends, shim head, mild port on head, unleaded conversion, polish cam covers and breather, grind crank, strip and rebuild dyno.
Fresh off the ship this morning and in our workshops this afternoon, here we have our 1967 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow – RXX 1. having travelled all the way over from our good friends at Beverly Hills Car Club, she spent her early years in Kirkcaldy before heading over to the states.
1967 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow 1
Initially, the model was planned to be called “Silver Mist”, a natural progression from its predecessor Silver Cloud. The name was changed to “Silver Shadow” after realising that “Mist” is the German word for manure, rubbish, or dirt.
Our Silver Shadow is a very early model which has the much sought after Chippendale dash. Finished in claret over black with magnolia leather. It was exported to the United States where it remained as a 1 owner car until recently repatriated by Bridge Classic Cars and still, today, sporting its RXX1 registration number.
It is not our intention to restore the car but to sympathetically recommission so as not to lose the years of patina.
With the air intakes removed, stripped and repainted they have now been fitted back up and the engine as had a full detail. A huge improvement for very little effort, that’s what we like!
Although it has taken much longer than we first hoped for (mainly due to how rare the parts are), our 1932 Vauxhall Cadet engine has now been stripped, cleaned and rebuilt. The insets, cork gaskets and coreplugs have all been replaced. The block has been bored, the flywheel refaced and we have overhauled the water pump.
The pulley has had to be remade, we’ve welded and refaced the exhaust/inlet manifold. the rocker cover has been polished and 2 new rocker cover screws have had to be re-manufactured.
The block and head have both been refaced.
Next week we’ll refit the engine back into the car and get her back on the road once again…she’s been too long off!
Bright and early, our 1974 Datsun 240Z has now arrived at the Bridge Classic Cars workshop
We are now about to start rebuilding the engine of our lovely 1971 Triumph Spitfire. The engine has been fully removed and will be stripped of all components.
The head will be bored out, hardened valves for unleaded fuel, new piston rings, new water pump and oil pump.
The engine bay will be cleaned up ready for the ‘new-look’ engine to be re-fitted.
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Due in tomorrow is our newest project, a 1974 Datsun 240Z.
Sales of the Nissan Z Car started in October 1969 (for the 1970 model year), with separate versions for the Japanese and US markets. The Japanese Fairlady Z featured a 2.0L SOHC L20A inline-6 producing 130 hp (97 kW), while the US 240Z featured a 2.4L L24 inline-6 with twin Hitachi SU type carburetors that produced 151 hp (113 kW) . A third Z, the Z432 PS30 shared a performance version of the DOHC 2.0 L S20 engine with the Nissan Skyline.
In Japan, the Z was still known as the Fairlady to keep the car in line with the previous generation Datsun Sports roadster. JDM versions had the Fairlady Z badge on the lower fenders with the 432 badge above (the 432 designation was 4 valves, 3 carburetors, and 2 camshafts). However, Yutaka Katayama ensured the American version had all Nissan, Fairlady Z, and 432 badging replaced with “Datsun” and prevented all dealer shipments until they were replaced.
The 240Z was released in America on October 22, 1969. Combining good looks, and powerful performance, it sold over 45,000 units through the ’71 model year and over 50,000 and 40,000 in 1972 and 1973, respectively.
Our Car
The Datsun 240Z has just been released from its slumbers that started in 1984 when the car was put away due to a growing family and the reluctance to part with it.
Believed to be one of seven RHD cars built in this year makes it even rarer.
With mostly LHD cars only coming to the market, this car is very rare indeed especially with this mileage and this amount of previous owners.
33 years later this one owner plus demonstrator with 50,000 miles has seen the light of day and is ripe for one of our highly sought after concours restorations
The interior is time warp and is in fantastic condition with everything standard, mostly irreplaceable.
The body will be striped, dipped and rebuilt to as new and will be painted in its original metallic blue.
The engine, gearbox and back axle will be subject to a full rebuild.
All other parts will either be refurbished or replaced as necessary to make it Bridge show winner.
We don’t expect this car to be for sale very long and it is not for sale un-restored.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”14455,14454,14453,14452,14451,14450,14449,14448,14447,14446,14445,14444,14443,14442,14441,14440,14439,14438,14437,14436,14435,14434,14433,14432,14431,14430,14429,14428″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]We were delighted this morning to receive this amazing gift from our 1989 Volkswagen T25 Camper owner Margaret.
Daisy is now enjoying her new life in the north of Scotland with Margaret and we are busy enjoying this wonderful cake.
The cake has already had worldwide attention across our social media with over 89000 views on Instagram already.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”14416,14417,14418,14419,14420,14421,14422,14423,14425,14415,14424″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
