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Craig Ranson

Managing Director – Bridge Classic Cars

Special Touch – Unique Finish on the Seats of the 1958 Jensen 541R

September 6, 2022

The 1958 Jensen 541R has been having more pieces of its interior made by the Bridge Classic Cars trim team but this time with some unique and personal touches.

The rear seat bases of the classic Jensen have been completely stripped back for the team to inspect and take measurements for the rarely seen fluting of the material which will be carried over onto the new pieces.

Lydia has carefully measured and tested to get the spacing and symmetry of the fluting just right before committing it to the final material. The whole seat base has been entirely made for scratch including the foams and underpinnings specifically to fit the car.

This is a wonderful little touch and something a bit different and unique for this very special car.

Good as New – Painting the Wheels of the 1987 Volvo 240GL

September 6, 2022

The wheels from the 1987 Volvo 240GL have been with the Bridge Classic Cars paint and body team to be completely refurbished.

The Volvo, which is undergoing sympathetic restorative work with our teams, had been inspected and wheels were in need of refinishing. The team carefully stripped back the original paint and reworked the material to give a fresh and clean base for the team to refinish in stunning bright silver.

Stripped Back – Stripping the Subframe of the 1955 Jensen 541 ‘Number 8’

September 6, 2022

The subframe for the 1955 Jensen 541 ‘Number 8’ has been delivered back to the Bridge Classic Cars Pettistree workshop.

The subframe has been checked over and all areas in need of repair have been noted by the workshop for our amazing fabrication shop to carry out getting the piece back to full strength and squareness.

Fresh Coat – Painting the Wheels of the 1969 Morris Minor Convertible

September 6, 2022

The wheels for the 1969 Morris Minor Convertible are the most recent components to be taken into the Bridge Classic Cars paint booth.

The team have been carefully preparing, cleaning and priming the wheels before they were taken into our in-house booth/oven to be shot in colour-matched Snowberry white to match the rest of the car.

These will be left to completely cure and harden before they are mounted with tyres and fitted to the car which is going through reassembly in the main restoration workshop.

This Just In – 1987 Lotus Excel

September 6, 2022
1987 Lotus Excel

The Bridge Classic Cars workshop at our Suffolk HQ have welcomed this seldom seen and rare 1987 Lotus Excel.

The workshop team will soon begin to inspect and assess the entire classic Lotus with each department compiling their condition report on the car.

Our transport team collected the Lotus from the West Country late last week and brought it back to our Pettistree workshop.

Coming Soon – 1968 Daimler 250 Arrives at The Hangar

September 6, 2022

The Bridge Classic Cars secure storage facility, The Hangar, has welcomed a new resident recently – this 1968 Daimler 250.

The car has arrived to wait its turn for the team to completely and thoroughly inspect it at our Pettistree workshops deep in the Suffolk countryside.

Freshly Built – Rebuilding the Distributor and Lift Pump on the 1953 Armstrong Siddeley Hurricane

September 6, 2022

The workshop team at the Bridge Classic Cars Suffolk HQ have been working their way through the 1953 Armstrong Siddeley Hurricane as part of its recommission.

The first stage of this round of work was to rebuild the distributor. Our technician Jon carefully inspected the unit in the car before deciding to remove it and more thoroughly going through the part on the bench. After checking its operation, Jon completely rebuilt the unit to ensure it worked correctly.

Then the whole piece was put back into the car and wired up.

Next, the team completely went through the lift pump for the fuel tank. Jon removed it from the car to completely go through every single piece making sure it all worked correctly and any gaskets were remade and the unit put back together and installed back into the car.

Out & About – BBC Show ‘Detectorists’ Filming Nearby!

September 6, 2022

We noticed some goings-on up at our filming location the other day but it turns out that the hugely popular BBC show ‘Detectorists’ are filming nearby to us!

The show is being filmed round our area and as you can see, the signature yellow TR7 is making an appearance too!

In Colour – Painting the 2005 Suzuki Every

September 5, 2022

The 2005 Suzuki Every has been moved from the Bridge Classic Cars body shop into our in-house paint shop for the next stage of its work.

The team have been carefully preparing the bodywork of the VW look-a-like to get it ready to be repainted.

Once primed and ready, the team scanned the paintwork to create an identical match to the existing bodywork and laid down several coats. Once cured, the paint work will be colour sanded and polished.

Full Circle – Mia from Fast & Furious Uses Her Fast & Furious Integra For Wedding

September 5, 2022

Recently Jordana Brewster, most well known for playing Mia in the Fast and Furious films, had an old friend at her wedding.

As their wedding car, her and her husband Mason used the 1994 Acura Integra GS-R which was driven by her character in the first Fast & Furious film alongside her late friend Paul Walker in 2001. Also seen are some of the other famous cars from the franchise including Vin Diesel’s original Mazda FD RX7 and the Acura/Honda NSX used in the later films.

Fresh Finish – Freshly Blasted Parts from the 1959 Jensen 541 ‘Hepburn’ in Gloss Black

September 5, 2022

The freshly blasted parts for the 1959 Jensen 541R ‘Hepburn’ have returned to our Suffolk HQ for the team to get into perfect condition for its restoration.

The freshly stripped parts were meticulously cleaned to get rid of any residual blasting material before they were refinished in hard-wearing gloss black.

The parts were then left to sure completely before carefully being packaged and put into storage to awaiting the cars reassembly.

Out & About – 1973 Triumph TR6 in France

September 5, 2022

The 1973 Triumph TR6, which was restored in-house at the Bridge Classic Cars Suffolk HQ, has been out on its travels recently!

The car has been used on holiday in France by its owner and looks like the perfect companion for a countryside jaunt.

We love seeing our cars out there in the world being used and enjoyed!

Going Back Together – Reassembly Continues on the 1969 Morris Minor Convertible

September 5, 2022

The workshop at Bridge Classic Cars Suffolk HQ have been busy getting the 1969 Morris Minor Convertible back together following its fresh repaint.

The team have been getting the body trims in place, perfectly aligning them to each other before moving on to some of the mechanical work.

The team have got the parts out of storage for the car which were taken off during disassembly to inspect further. They have found the edges of the fuel tank have corroded slightly.

The big job was to get the freshly painted engine back into the engine bay but first the team had to get the gearbox mated up to the block. Before this, our technician Scott carefully cleaned up the gearbox casing and bell housing before fitting a new bearing and clutch for the car. Once back together, the team carefully installed the engine and gearbox into the frame of the classic Morris.

Finally, the team could start on rewiring the car now that all of the major pieces were back in place.

Back and Sides – Handmade Seat Parts for the 1958 Jensen 541R

September 2, 2022

The Bridge Classic Cars trim shop have been working on making more of the handmade parts for the interior of the 1958 Jensen 541R.

This time, Lydia has been working on trimming the backs and sides of the front seats. Each of these parts, including the foam pieces, have all been made and cut specifically for each of the seats to get the best fit for them both.

Lydia has carefully stretched and pulled the material to make sure there were as few creases and folds as possible. The bases will be finished with the cushion and bases that will help to pull the material of the bases taught.

Gone Through – Working on the 1969 Morris Minor Convertible

September 2, 2022

The 1969 Morris Minor Convertible, which arrived recently at Bridge Classic Cars, has been in the workshop for our team to take a look at.

To begin with, the team have replaced the fuel pump and filter on the classic Morris Minor to make sure that it was getting all the fuel it needed after the team had noted the original pump had corroded around the connectors. After that, the team adjusted the brakes on the car before it could go out on road test. At the same time, they found a nail in the tyre! Thankfully, the nail hadn’t pierced the tyre but had got stuck in one of the grooves.

After this, the car could be road tested.

Behind The Scenes – Live Draw of the 2008 Bentley Continental GT Speed

September 2, 2022

Last night, the Bridge Classic Cars team got together to find out who the fortunate new owner of our 2008 Bentley Continental GT Speed was.

This week, we were joined by our friend Sam from Bruizer to help us with the new video set-up. As the clock struck 7 o’clock, we welcomed our friends to our weekly Livestream. As everyone joined in, Molly and Freddie took everyone around our amazing Bentley one last time while there were still tickets available.

After showing everyone the video of our Bentley in action, Molly, Freddie and Craig went through some of the other amazing machines we currently have in our competition building. Just like our beautiful 1968 Morris Mini MkII 850, a car we’ve all become massively fond of and proving to be massively popular with our followers, so we showed our friends around it.

Then, it was time for our new history segment where Nick goes a little bit further in-depth into some of the cars and motorcycles that we currently have in. This time, it was the history of the 1994 Ducati 750SS going back to the early 1970s.

Afterwards, Molly introduced what the team had been up to the week before visiting Knowledge Visual Technology in Oxford to try out their racing simulator but then it was time! By the time the competition closed, there were only around 400 tickets remaining on the Bentley.

With our pre-published entry list now live on website, we could find out who the lucky new owner of the 2008 Bentley Continental GT Speed was using our random number generator.

Molly input the numbers for the generator to choose from and then it was down to one single click… The first number hadn’t been allocated. It took a few attempts until finally, we found it. Ticket 1630.

That number had been allocated to Terry Richardson. Terry was the winner of our 2008 Bentley Continental GT Speed.

He was absolutely ecstatic when we called him. He said that he was gonna use it every day for a while once it is delivered right to his doorstep very soon!

Make sure you watch along next week for the draw of our 1968 Morris Mini 850 MkII.

The Other Side – Metal Repairs on the Passenger Side of the 1986 Daimler DS420

September 1, 2022

As the work is being carried out on the other side of the 1986 Daimler DS420, our fabrication team have been working on the passenger side of the car at the same time.

One of our amazing fabricators, Chris, has been working on removing any corrosion from the classic limousine. Much like the other side of the car, the team have been focusing on the rear arches, inner arches, sills and front arches. Every time an area is in need of repair, Chris would create handmade patch panels specifically for the area they were needed in recreating much of the sills and inner arches by hand.

Teardown – Stripping Down the Body of the 1955 Jensen 541 ‘Number 8’

September 1, 2022

The 1955 Jensen 541 ‘Number 8’ has been further stripped down by the Bridge Classic Cars workshop team.

The workshop have removed the roof and rear bodywork from the early 541 to expose its chassis to be thoroughly inspected. The fibreglass parts have been put away into storage after being catalogued for when the classic GT car is ready for restoration.

Check Over – Inspecting the Subframe from the 1960 Jensen 541R ‘Lilac’

September 1, 2022

The subframe from the 1960 Jensen 541R has arrived back at the Bridge Classic Cars workshop after being sent away for blasting.

The team sent away the subframe for blasting to get a better look at the condition of the piece. Once it arrived back, the team have noticed that several of the mounts and brackets are heavily bent and misshapen while the bottom of the subframe has some areas of corrosion.

The subframe will be taken over to our in-house fabrication shop to be repaired and further checked over.

Bit by Bit – Reassembly on the 1969 Morris Minor Convertible

September 1, 2022

The 1969 Morris Minor Convertible, which has recently finished up in the Bridge Classic Cars paintshop, has been moved into the restoration workshop at our Suffolk HQ to begin reassembly.

Our technician Scott has been put in charge of beginning the reassembly of the classic Morris Minor. He begun by getting some of the rear trims in place such as the rear lights with the rubber seals before moving on to getting the glovebox in place for later.

Scott also got the doors built up on the car with the new handles and mechanisms along with the window regulators to then build up the frames and put the glass securely in place. After that, it was time to move to the interior where the wiring would begin.

The speedometer has been wired up after a few key wiring repairs were done, then he could begin to trace the wiring through the firewall and up to the various key systems in the engine bay.

Back and Better – Refurbished Steering Rack for the 2005 Aston Martin DB9

August 31, 2022

The steering rack from Craig’s 2005 Aston Martin DB9 has arrived back at the Bridge Classic Cars workshop after being refurbished by the amazing team at Re-Go Autoparts.

Re-Go (especially Gary) has been a massive help in the work we have done on the left-hand drive and power steering conversion of our 1970 Bristol 411. So, when Craig’s DB9 developed a power steering issue and leak the team gave them a call. After taking the rack out and sending it down to the Re-Go team, they stripped down the whole unit to find out what the issue was.

Upon inspection, the Re-Go team found a weakness in the material that makes up several seals inside of the power steering rack so when more pressure (more turning lock) was applied, part of the seal would fail and leak. So, they have replaced the seals with a new style and material and then checked/tested the rack before sending it back to the team here to get refitted to the DB9.

Like New – Painting the Rear Axle of the 1905 Riley 9HP

August 31, 2022

The paint shop at Bridge Classic Cars have prepared and painted the rear axle assembly for our 1905 Riley 9HP restoration project.

Since returning from the blasters, the paint team have been getting all of the bare pieces into the spray booth to be finished in gloss black, the same as the rest of the frame. This will be left to cure properly before being reunited with the rest of the prewar tourer.

Handmade – New Coolant Pipes for the 1905 Riley 9HP

August 31, 2022

The restoration team at Bridge Classic Cars have been working hard on recreating the coolant system on the 1905 Riley 9HP.

Our technician Dave has been busy carefully making up new coolant pipework for the 117-year-old tourer. These are being made from brass and copper, as it would have been originally. For this, Dave removed the water pump from the engine block after taking countless measurements in order to create a jig that meant Dave could more accurately solder the entire piece without worrying about it moving.

After this, everything could be test fit back onto the car. Dave remade the now long-gone gaskets by hand before the pipework was tested and then painted in the glossy black.

Royal Spec – The Worlds Most Expensive Ford Escort RS Turbo Series 1

August 31, 2022

This past weekend at the amazing Silverstone Auctions so a world record broken… The highest price paid for a Ford Escort RS turbo ever and not by a small amount either.

Granted, its former owner was Princess Diana, but also because this 1985 Series 1 RS Turbo is the only Black factory-painted example in existence. The car has been beautifully kept throughout its life with just under 25,000 miles.

The final cost as the hammer fell? £650,000….

Progress – Wiring and New Latches on the 1971 Bristol 411

August 31, 2022

The Bridge Classic Cars workshop team have been continuing to work on the wiring of the 1971 Bristol 411 along with some other jobs on the classic GT car.

The team have been asked to replace the wiring harness through the entire car. John has been going through each of the systems to make sure everything is working correctly and then installing the new harness while carrying out any necessary repairs.

The team have also adjusted and installed some new latches and hinges throughout the car.

Finalists – Bridge Classic Cars Named as Finalists for Medium Business of the Year

August 31, 2022

Bridge Classic Cars have been named as a finalist for Medium Business Of The Year by the Suffolk Business Awards!

We just want to say a massive thank you to each and every one of you who has supported and followed what we have done for the past 18 years and it’s because of this that we have made it to this point. It’s incredible being named as a finalist and we are so grateful to all of you who have been along the journey to here with us and can’t wait to go forward into the exciting future with all of you.

Again, from all of the team here at Bridge Classic Cars – Thank you for all of your support!

Rebuilt – Carburettor for the 1953 Armstrong Siddeley Rebuilt

August 31, 2022

The workshop team at Bridge Classic Cars have been working on completely overhauling the seized carburettor on the 1953 Armstrong Siddeley Hurricane.

Our technician Jon completely disassembled the unit to begin cleaning and adjusting each individual part to make sure it had full operation. The unit can now be reinstalled on the car to begin testing and to flush through the new gearbox oil.

Capped – Repairing the Arches and Sills on the 1986 Daimler DS420

August 31, 2022

The fabrication shop at Bridge Classic Cars have been busy carrying out further metal repairs to the sides of the classic Daimler limousine.

The team are working their way through repairing the inner and outer wheel arches along with extensive repairs to the sills of the car. These have been cut back the area to expose any corrosion which ad begun to run deep into the underside of the car. All of the area was then treated to neutralise any rust issues before the team began to make the various patch pieces needed to rebuild the structure into the car.

Both wheel arches have also been cut out and repaired as part of the work.

Front End – Front Suspension and Valance on the 1978 MG B GT

August 31, 2022

The workshop team at Bridge Classic Cars are deep into the reassembly of the newly repainted bodyshell of the 1978 MG B GT, beginning with the front end.

Our technician Rob has been working on getting the front suspension put together and in place on the newly installed cross-member. The spindles and control arms are in place to check tolerances and operations before they will be tightened down to spec and secured.

Also, Rob has fitted up the colour-matched front valance to the car and aligned it perfectly with the rest of the Blaze Orange bodywork.

© Bridge Classic Cars Holdings Ltd, T/ as Bridge Classic Cars. Registered in England and Wales with company number 5047706.