Lotus on display for opening game of the season
August 14, 2021
Not the start that Norwich were hoping for with goals from Diogo Jota, Robert Firmino and Mohamed Salah sending Norwich City to defeat on the
Craig Ranson
Managing Director – Bridge Classic Cars
Jensen 541R Interior Update
August 13, 2021
Brian has been working on the interior for the Lilac Jensen 541R recently. He is currently gluing the front cover to front seat base tub
Ferrari Daytona – Stop, Go, Shine
August 13, 2021
It has been a solid week for Scott on the rebuild of the Ferrari Daytona. The brake lines are now in, along with the new
Spotted this week, the old and the new!
August 13, 2021
We had a visit from our good friend Nick today in his stunning M spec BMW Z4. Meanwhile, Gordon is taking some much needed time
Abort the mission! Jaguar XJR
August 13, 2021
Having carried out some initial assessments works underneath, the customer has decided not to continue with the recommission and will now look to sell the
Front squab fitting for the Lilac Jensen!
August 13, 2021
In the trim shop, Brian has been fitting the front squab seats of the 1960 Jensen 541R to their foams and frames. These seats were
Protecting the Jaguar MK VII.
August 13, 2021
Chris has recently put a layer of black protective coating on the underneath of the 1954 Jaguar MK VII. This does exactly what it says
New in, 1999 Jaguar XJR!
August 13, 2021
New in the workshop is this 1999 Jaguar XJR. It’s come in for a valet, for an assessment to be carried out to get it
Repair work continues on the Daimler.
August 13, 2021
James has been continuing his repair work on the corroded areas of the 1977 Daimler Double Six. The right-hand side front inner wing has been
Starting on the Aston Martin carpets!
August 13, 2021
Kath has been starting on the carpet for the 1955 Aston Martin DB 2/4 this week. The list of carpet pieces she’s made includes the
Austin 7 back in!
August 13, 2021
We’ve welcomed back this 1933 maroon Austin 7 into our workshop this week. Paul has been working on it and he’s installed a new brake
It’s the detail that counts with the Honda!
August 13, 2021
Lydia has been continuing her prep work again for the 1998 Honda Integra Type R. This time around she’s been sanding down the primer on
Our newest winners!
August 12, 2021
Our two most recent competition winners got united with their cars today. One of them was Andrew Oswold, who won the 1981 Rover 3500 SD1
Chrome trouble with the Corniche.
August 12, 2021
We’ve recently been looking at the bumper on our 1973 Rolls Royce Corniche. It had been painted at some time in its life and so
Another purchase!
August 12, 2021
You may have read about our recent purchases from yesterday’s blog posts, and here’s another one! This 1958 Triumph TR3, which was in the workshop
Lotus Elan all checked over!
August 11, 2021
The 1971 Lotus Elan is now ready to leave our workshop! After a general check over was done on the suspension bushes underneath the car
Aztec Gold Mercedes coming this way!
August 11, 2021
Another car which we have recently purchased is this 1976 Mercedes R107 350 SL. With the exterior of the car painted in Aztec Gold and
Newly purchased, Ford Capri!
August 11, 2021
Here’s a car that a lot of people are fond of. Purchased by us today is this 1983 Ford Capri 1.6 LS! The bodywork on
Axles fitting time for the Daytona.
August 11, 2021
Scott has now finished re-assembling the front axle for the 1979 Arrow Ferrari Daytona. The rear axle was re-assembled last week, which you can see
Boot panel prep on the Honda.
August 11, 2021
Lydia has been continuing the prep work on the 1998 Honda Integra Type R. This time she’s been sanding down the original paintwork on the
Testing out ‘Track Mode’ on our Tesla powered Mini
August 11, 2021
The guys down at Electric Classic Cars have been out on the runway this week testing out the ‘Track’ mode of our Tesla powered Austin
More transformations on the E-Type!
August 11, 2021
Matt’s been continuing his transformation work on the 1973 Jaguar E-Type Series 3. The outside of the body has now been painted Fern Grey to
HMC Fan Exchange
August 11, 2021
Slight play in the cooling fan of our HMC requires attention. A consideration could be to pack it out with a washer but this wouldn’t
Engine work continues on the Lotus…
August 10, 2021
Ady has been continuing his investigation into the engine of the 1971 Lotus Elan. He’s replaced the points condenser and coil and put fresh oil
New in, 1971 Lotus Elan!
August 10, 2021
We’re welcoming this 1971 Lotus Elan into the workshop! It’s in here because it doesn’t run, so the engine needs checking over to see where
Lotus Elan’s black points.
August 10, 2021
Ady has started investigating this Lotus Elan’s engine after the owner bought it into us because of it not running quite right. He’s found that
Front axle nearly complete on the Daytona!
August 10, 2021
Scott has been getting up to speed on the front axle of the 1979 Arrow Ferrari Daytona. The only tasks left to do on it
Prep work continues on the E-Type Roadster.
August 10, 2021
Lydia has continued sanding down the primer on various parts for the 1973 Jaguar E-Type Roadster Series 3. This time it was the gearbox cover,
More work than anticipated on the Daimler!
August 10, 2021
After thinking the 1977 Daimler Double Six would only be in and out rather quickly, James has unfortunately discovered layers of more corrosion than expected
Ingenius idea!
August 10, 2021
Dave has been working on the 1960 peony red Jensen 541S. He’s adjusted the cover for the gearbox so it can come apart for an
Lotus on display for opening game of the season
August 14, 2021
Not the start that Norwich were hoping for with goals from Diogo Jota, Robert Firmino and Mohamed Salah sending Norwich City to defeat on the opening day of the Premier League season at Carrow Road.
We were there at Carrow Road early to set up the Lotus Elise.
Unless they were attending Goodwood Festival Of Speed, this is the first time the Norwich City supporters will get to see our 2021 Elise in the flesh.
If you want to be in with a chance of winning this very special car, click here
Pity the result was in favour of the Canaries this week but hope the supporters at least enjoyed seeing one of Lotus’ finests!
Jensen 541R Interior Update
August 13, 2021
Brian has been working on the interior for the Lilac Jensen 541R recently. He is currently gluing the front cover to front seat base tub in these pictures. The original and very first owner certainly hoped to make a very bold statement. This car left the Jensen factory finished in Lilac with white interior so we are restoring back to the factory specifications.
If a new owner is found prior to the project completion and wishes for the specifications to be altered in any way this is perfectly acceptable and can be arranged.
Ferrari Daytona – Stop, Go, Shine
August 13, 2021
It has been a solid week for Scott on the rebuild of the Ferrari Daytona. The brake lines are now in, along with the new fuel filler neck, headlamps and rear lights.
The indicator clusters need to be altered slightly prior to fitment so that will be a job for the beginning of next week.
Scott’s making great progress on the build now. Middle of next week we’ll be looking at re-installing the monstrous V12 engine.
Spotted this week, the old and the new!
August 13, 2021
We had a visit from our good friend Nick today in his stunning M spec BMW Z4.
Meanwhile, Gordon is taking some much needed time away from the office and whilst on a little break in Harwich has stumbled across this Ford Mustang parked up.
Abort the mission! Jaguar XJR
August 13, 2021
Having carried out some initial assessments works underneath, the customer has decided not to continue with the recommission and will now look to sell the car as an ongoing project for a new owner to take on.
A considerable amount of welding work is required to get the car through an MOT and with many other projects that the owner currently has he has decided no to pursue with carry out the works.
Front squab fitting for the Lilac Jensen!
August 13, 2021
In the trim shop, Brian has been fitting the front squab seats of the 1960 Jensen 541R to their foams and frames. These seats were created and sewn by Lydia a little while back. You can read about the process here and here.
Brian started the fitting process by glueing and stapling the front squab “faces”/fronts to the frames, making sure the leather was nice and tight with no wrinkles. The staples went around the back of the wooden frame. The back of each seat was then attached with staples that went into the piping flange. 3mm plywood was cut out to the correct shape using a paper template for the bottom of each seat, this was wrapped in the white leather/glued onto the wood. This plywood was nailed onto the bottom of the seats with tacks and does the job of hiding the staples and raw edges of the leather.
Protecting the Jaguar MK VII.
August 13, 2021
Chris has recently put a layer of black protective coating on the underneath of the 1954 Jaguar MK VII. This does exactly what it says on the tin, helps protect the underneath of the car from the elements of the road.
New in, 1999 Jaguar XJR!
August 13, 2021
New in the workshop is this 1999 Jaguar XJR. It’s come in for a valet, for an assessment to be carried out to get it through an MOT, a full service to be carried out with fluids being changed as well and there’s a knocking on the back of the vehicle which needs investigating.
Repair work continues on the Daimler.
August 13, 2021
James has been continuing his repair work on the corroded areas of the 1977 Daimler Double Six. The right-hand side front inner wing has been more work than the left-hand side. Keep up the good work James!
Starting on the Aston Martin carpets!
August 13, 2021
Kath has been starting on the carpet for the 1955 Aston Martin DB 2/4 this week.
The list of carpet pieces she’s made includes the front tunnel carpet, the rear under-seat carpets, the carpet that goes underneath the front of the gearbox, the top gearbox carpet, the gearbox tunnel carpets, the right-hand and left-hand foot well carpets, the carpet that goes around the throttle peddle, the rear foot well carpet and the rear boot-side panel carpet.
Each piece of carpet has got binding around some or all of the edges. This is made from the dark grey leather that was chosen, and is sewn on, right-side to right-side of the leather and carpet. It’s first stitched along the edge, and then the leather gets folded over to the under-side of the carpet and gets sewn again. The new carpet is grey to match the leather binding, whereas it was green and white carpet originally, with green binding.
Austin 7 back in!
August 13, 2021
We’ve welcomed back this 1933 maroon Austin 7 into our workshop this week. Paul has been working on it and he’s installed a new brake light switch and new wires for it too. He’s been looking at the front brakes and the fuel tank float as well because of trouble with them. The front brakes aren’t working quite right and the fuel tank float is getting stuck and ending up showing the fuel as full, when in fact, it’s empty. Now Paul’s just waiting for the parts to arrive to fix these problems.
It’s the detail that counts with the Honda!
August 13, 2021
Lydia has been continuing her prep work again for the 1998 Honda Integra Type R. This time around she’s been sanding down the primer on the various panel pieces for the wing mirrors and the fuel cap. They were all gone over with 500 grade gold soft pads, followed by grey scotch and then panel wipe to clean the sanding and paint dust off.
Our newest winners!
August 12, 2021
Our two most recent competition winners got united with their cars today. One of them was Andrew Oswold, who won the 1981 Rover 3500 SD1 Vanden Plas. He’s also pictured here with a 1976 Triumph Spitfire 1500, which he also won with our classic car competition, back in May! He’s clearly a very lucky man!
The other winner was Michael Wright, who won the 1983 VW Golf GTI.
Chrome trouble with the Corniche.
August 12, 2021
We’ve recently been looking at the bumper on our 1973 Rolls Royce Corniche. It had been painted at some time in its life and so wasn’t looking fantastic. We took it to have the paint taken off but unfortunately, the bumper disintegrated in places. So we’ve decided to get a whole new chrome bumper in replacement.
Another purchase!
August 12, 2021
You may have read about our recent purchases from yesterday’s blog posts, and here’s another one! This 1958 Triumph TR3, which was in the workshop recently for work, is now in our possession. The car has had a full service done in our workshop and it’s now ready for the paint shop to remedy the scuff to the front left wing. The question is, now that this stunning classic is ours, what should we do with it?
Lotus Elan all checked over!
August 11, 2021
The 1971 Lotus Elan is now ready to leave our workshop! After a general check over was done on the suspension bushes underneath the car by John, no problems were found. You can read about the engine work that Ady did on this car by clicking here and here.
Aztec Gold Mercedes coming this way!
August 11, 2021
Another car which we have recently purchased is this 1976 Mercedes R107 350 SL. With the exterior of the car painted in Aztec Gold and the interior being Chocolate Tex colour, it screams the 1970s. The exterior of the car is in great condition and with the seats being made of vinyl, they’ve done extremely well with the age of the car. In terms of the engine, the vehicle has been kept very original but has had work done to it in the past couple of years. Watch this space to find out when it’s made its way to our workshop!
Newly purchased, Ford Capri!
August 11, 2021
Here’s a car that a lot of people are fond of. Purchased by us today is this 1983 Ford Capri 1.6 LS! The bodywork on this car is fantastic, with no signs of corrosion underneath, the original cloth interior is in great condition for its age and it’s only had two other owners! Keep your eyes peeled on the happenings of this new purchase!
Axles fitting time for the Daytona.
August 11, 2021
Scott has now finished re-assembling the front axle for the 1979 Arrow Ferrari Daytona. The rear axle was re-assembled last week, which you can see a blog post about here. A blog post showing the front axle’s progress from yesterday can be accessed here. Now both axles are re-assembled, they were able to be fitted to the car!
The front and rear axles have both been rebuilt with all new bushings, bearings, shocks and springs. The brake calipers have been refurbished and Scott has replaced all the brake lines. The car was then lowered down onto the newly built axles and they were bolted on with new mountings.
Boot panel prep on the Honda.
August 11, 2021
Lydia has been continuing the prep work on the 1998 Honda Integra Type R. This time she’s been sanding down the original paintwork on the underneath/inside of the panel that goes around the boot of the car. She used 500-grade gold soft pads to get rid of the bulk of the shine, followed by grey scotch pads to get into the tricky places and to go over the whole thing as well. Lydia then cleaned off the sanding and paint dust with panel wipe.
Testing out ‘Track Mode’ on our Tesla powered Mini
August 11, 2021
The guys down at Electric Classic Cars have been out on the runway this week testing out the ‘Track’ mode of our Tesla powered Austin Mini 850.
More transformations on the E-Type!
August 11, 2021
Matt’s been continuing his transformation work on the 1973 Jaguar E-Type Series 3. The outside of the body has now been painted Fern Grey to match the inside! There are photos and a small write-up of the inside and the newly painted front frame in yesterday’s blog post, which you can access by clicking here.
There are other parts that are now in the line-up to be painted, so watch this space!
Lydia has also continued sanding down the primer on parts for the E-Type. This time, the door hinges. They were gone over with 500-grade soft pads, grey scotch after and cleaned off with panel wipe.
HMC Fan Exchange
August 11, 2021
Slight play in the cooling fan of our HMC requires attention. A consideration could be to pack it out with a washer but this wouldn’t be the best outcome. It may do the trick and stop it from wobbling but it wouldn’t be the right solution. As it’s an aftermarket fan, new ones are still available. We have order a nice new replacement which should be with us later in the week.
Engine work continues on the Lotus…
August 10, 2021
Ady has been continuing his investigation into the engine of the 1971 Lotus Elan. He’s replaced the points condenser and coil and put fresh oil in the car. The underside of the car needs looking at next, where the suspension bushes are.
New in, 1971 Lotus Elan!
August 10, 2021
We’re welcoming this 1971 Lotus Elan into the workshop! It’s in here because it doesn’t run, so the engine needs checking over to see where the issue(s) lies. Stay tuned for progress on the matter.
Lotus Elan’s black points.
August 10, 2021
Ady has started investigating this Lotus Elan’s engine after the owner bought it into us because of it not running quite right. He’s found that the tips of the points are black, which is not what they should be, and explains why there’s no spark in the engine. Stay tuned for more progress on this…
Front axle nearly complete on the Daytona!
August 10, 2021
Scott has been getting up to speed on the front axle of the 1979 Arrow Ferrari Daytona. The only tasks left to do on it is that the steering rack needs to be installed, the shocks need to be mounted and the front anti-roll bar needs to be installed. After all that, the front axle will be completed!
Prep work continues on the E-Type Roadster.
August 10, 2021
Lydia has continued sanding down the primer on various parts for the 1973 Jaguar E-Type Roadster Series 3. This time it was the gearbox cover, boot hinges and door rubber channels. The gearbox cover had 320 soft grade on the front/face, 180 soft grade underneath and grey scotch pad all over afterwards. The boot hinges had 500 soft grade and then grey scotch pad. The door rubber channels also had 500 soft grade and grey scotch. They were then all cleaned off with panel wipe to get rid of sanding and paint dust.
More work than anticipated on the Daimler!
August 10, 2021
After thinking the 1977 Daimler Double Six would only be in and out rather quickly, James has unfortunately discovered layers of more corrosion than expected on the right-hand side, front inner wing and chassis rail/leg. The whole inside of the subframe is corroded. So James has been going through it all and working out which parts can be repaired and which parts need to be replaced altogether.
Sometimes this is the way with classic cars. You think you have the problem noted down and are prepared for it, but then you start uncovering more than expected. Thankfully we have a talented group of staff that are there to solve these issues!
Ingenius idea!
August 10, 2021
Dave has been working on the 1960 peony red Jensen 541S. He’s adjusted the cover for the gearbox so it can come apart for an easier inspection. Bolts have been fitted so it’s fixed in securely but also has a way to undo. We definitely have clever people working for us!
Lydia has also had a part to play in this process by sanding carpet, glue and paint off one of the floor panels that sits underneath the gearbox.
