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Craig Ranson

Managing Director – Bridge Classic Cars

Front frame sanding.

August 4, 2021

Lydia has been sanding down the primer on the front frame for the 1973 Jaguar E-Type Series 3. This was simply done with 500-grade soft

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Front frame sanding.

August 4, 2021

Lydia has been sanding down the primer on the front frame for the 1973 Jaguar E-Type Series 3. This was simply done with 500-grade soft sanding pads all over. This is all prep for the final coat of paint!

This Friday, don’t forget!

August 4, 2021

This Friday, the 6th of August, is the draw for our competition to win a gold 1981 Rover 3500 SD1 Vanden Plas! For your chance to enter, simply click here! Where you’ll also be able to find out more information about the car.

The story of the missing winner!

August 4, 2021

Today we delivered this maroon 1959 Jaguar Mk I to its rightful winner! The draw for this car was held last Sunday at the annual Helmingham Hall Festival of Classic and Sports Cars. This has a bit of story that goes with it! The winner was actually at the event but we couldn’t track him down! In the end, we put a post out on Facebook quoting the winner’s name asking for help from the public to contact him, and it got over 30,000 views! Hours later, we got hold of him and he’s now received his prize.

Dash tray work on the Aston.

August 4, 2021

Brian has been continuing the interior trim work for the 1955 Aston Martin DB 2/4.

This time, he’s been working on a pair of dash trays and a pair of under dash panels. For the dash trays, Brian started the process by taking off the rubber lip that went around the hole, then took off the original fabric pieces. He cleaned off as much original glue from the metal frame of the under dash panels. He then lay out the new headlining fabric chosen for the car, and placed the original fabric pieces on top of it, using them as patterns. Once marked out around, Brian cut out the new fabric and the first piece to glue onto the metal was the centrepiece. Glue was applied to the back of the fabric and to the metal and then Brian slowly attached the fabric to it, after the glue had gone tacky, making neat cuts around the hole so the material sat nicely. The inside sides were also covered in headlining fabric. Brian then cut out grey leather for the outside of the under dash panels. These pieces were glued on, then the finishing touch was to place the rubber lip back on.

For the under dash panels, Brian simply took the original headlining fabric off them, sanded down the excess old glue, used the original fabric pieces as patterns on the new headlining fabric, cut out, and glued the new material onto them.

Pressure testing the Jaguar Mk VII engine

August 4, 2021

Ady has taken a trip up the road to Coltec Racing to pressure test the Jaguar Mk VII engine.

During pressure testing all-bar-one of the outlets are blanked off and then compressed air is fed into the open port on the inlet manifold, this way we can find if the cylinder head is leaking.

It is always worth getting a pressure test because if anything is cracked internally, it will not be visible, however by using our methods we can easily check if any cracks within your components, before repairing and putting your vehicle back to its best condition.

More priming for the E-Type!

August 3, 2021

The 1973 Jaguar E-Type Roadster Series 3 has had another layer of primer sprayed on. This comes after sanding and repair work was done to the car last week. The body of the car and the doors were primed on this occasion.

Continuing prep work for the Honda.

August 3, 2021

Chris and Lydia have been continuing their work on the 1998 Honda Integra Type R in the paint shop.

As before, Chris has been spraying primer onto various panels from the car, including the front and rear bumpers, the sills, the registration plate panel, the spoiler and the wings.

Lydia has then been sanding down this primer, using either a block sander, DA sander or by hand. She covered each panel in black guide coat beforehand to help see how much sanding needed to be done. You can read about last week’s work on them here. https://bridgeclassiccars.co.uk/more-stages-of-the-prep-work-for-the-honda-integra/

Progress on Aston Martin panels!

August 3, 2021

Brian has been re-covering more panels for the 1955 Aston Martin DB 2/4.

This time it’s been the lower A posts, the dash side panels, the rear seat front rail and the boot side panels. He took the original leather off all of them and cleaned off any old glue that was left behind. He then used the original leather pieces as patterns on the new leather, marked out around them and cut them out. The new leather pieces were then glued onto their associated panels, and any foam was added where need be.

Small repair on the Honda Integra.

August 3, 2021

James has been working on the 1998 Honda Integra Type R.

He’s repaired a section on the lower quarter panel by fabricating and welding. It’s now ready to be re-fitted back onto the car.

Engine out for the Pagoda!

August 3, 2021

Paul has successfully removed the engine from our beautiful blue 1969 Mercedes 280SL Pagoda. The engine will be rebuilt by Ady and the engine bay will be detailed as part of the project.

Apart from a couple of small paint imperfections the engine bay is very good order so a really good clean followed by some touching up in places will present us with a lovely space to return the engine to once completed.

Small adjustment for the red Jensen!

August 3, 2021

Kath has been laying the carpet back down in the peony red 1960 Jensen 541S. The pedals needed some adjustment, so the sound deadening and carpet were glued back down after this was done.

Finishing the Vanden Plas headlining!

August 3, 2021

Brian has been finishing the headlining fitting for the 1981 Rover SD1 Vanden Plas.

In this last post about it, you can see that he was glueing in the sunroof section. https://bridgeclassiccars.co.uk/headlining-work-continues-for-the-vanden-plas/ The board with the main piece of headlining on slid in from the back of the car. Brian had to take out the panels with the seatbelts attached, to put the headlining back in, and then they got put back into place.

Don’t forget, you can win this car! Just click on the following link to find out more information about the car and how to enter! https://www.bridgeclassiccarscompetitions.co.uk/product/1981-rover-sd1/

Charlotte takes you on a tour of the Hangar

August 3, 2021

With our VW Golf GTI and Rover 3500 SD1 draws coming up very soon, Charlotte takes you on a tour of the current collection we have in the Hangar. Good luck for this Friday if you’re in the draw!

1979 MG Midget 1500 repair work

August 3, 2021

Back on the 26th July 2021 Coby Morton received the amazing news that he has won our 1979 MG Midget 1500. When carrying out the Pre Delivery Inspection checks in our workshops we discovered a small area of corrosion that needed to be repaired. Scott got to work immediately cutting out the area of interest and replacing the metal work with new.

The car is now in the paint shop with Matt and Chris to have the sills painted and the underneath sealed.

Hopefully we’ll be handing the keys over to Coby later this week. it may have taken a little longer to deliver than expected but as we often say, it’s the attention to detail that counts!

Fun filled weekend for Bridge Classic Cars

August 2, 2021

One of the busiest weekend’s of the year for the team at Bridge Classic Cars as we made an appearance across the country at various classic car events. The Classic at Silverstone is an epic festival weekend for the whole family. It’s got historic motorsport at its heart and entertainment for all ages. Friday saw a day of downpours but this made for some incredible test racing on the track. Check out the videos on The Classic – Silverstone Facebook page.

The TVR Car Club were there for the weekend.

Not a great result from Silverstone Auctions on our 1973 Rolls Royce Corniche, with it not quite meeting the reserve but Karl took some fantastic photos from the weekend nevertheless.

Next stop on Saturday was the Motor Show Events and the Festival Of Wheels at Trinity Park in Ipswich. The youngest member of the Bridge management team Loick (aged 4) got to ride in the Monster truck!

Festival of Wheels is a 2-day visitor or 4-day camping spectacle of speed, family entertainment, amazing vehicles, live stunt shows, shopping, live music, artisan food and drink, and a whole lot more. A fun fuelled weekend out for the whole family, with the event set in 350 acres at Trinity Park, Suffolk’s finest venue we already have more to see and experience than you could do in one day so why not make this a trip to remember with 4 days and 3 nights of camping. There is something for everyone with an intoxicating mix of the big top circus, monster truck rides, wall of death experience, multiple live action arenas, live wrestling arena, BMX stunt shows, thousands of vehicles to see, shopping village, live music, kids entertainment, It’s the largest event of its kind in the South-East if not the UK.

Whilst the rest of the family were enjoying a day out at Festival Of Wheels in Ipswich, Craig was getting ready and setting up for the Festival of Classic & Sports Cars at Helmingham Hall .

The two race cars were heading out (1967 Jaguar E-Type and 1983 VW Golf GTI), along with our current collection of competition cars for all to see! Our part restored 1955 Aston Martin DB2 also got to come for the ride too.

Freddie captured some amazing shots of the day on Sunday which can be seen here.

It was also lovely to see our friends at The Original Friendly Classic Car Group posting some pictures of the day too. Here is a collection from Jake Jacobs.

Thanks also to @orh_official for sharing a lovely shot of our 1967 Jaguar E-Type to his followers. This car received a lot of attention on the day. I guess it’s not too often you see a Volcano Orange E-Type in the flesh!

We also saw a beautiful collection of images from Ruby The Healey

Our good friends Tony and Julie from Wyatt Polishing were also there with Taz!

Keep the pictures coming!

Special thank you to Katy, Sam and the team from Helmingham Hall for organising a brilliant day.

We look forward to seeing you all at next year’s shows!

Bridge Classic Cars at the 2021 Helmingham Hall Festival of Classic and Sports Cars

August 2, 2021

What a weekend! Now we’re back at base, it’s time for a re-cap of another classic car-fueled weekend. After a canceled 2020 show, Helmingham hall played backdrop for a wonderful show. Charlotte and the Bridge team were all at the show to present our restoration projects and current competition lineup. We even closed out the show by drawing the winner of our 1959 Jaguar MK1 which was Shaun Clarke, with ticket number 1486.

Here are a few snaps we took at the show.

Were you at the show? It was lovely to meet so many of you yesterday.

Headline act – 1990 BMW E32 750il

August 2, 2021

A possible future project for us at Bridge Classic Cars may be our 1990 BMW E32 750 il with a droopy headlining.

A common problem with classics and modern classics is the headlining starting to droop. A few factors that can cause this to happen is direct sunlight and in particular the heat that is generated from the sun. This can often melt the glue which causes the material to become unstuck and drop.

It would also be an age related issue. The fixings and adhesive used may be getting old and tired. The material used may be stretching.

I had a similar issue myself on my Aston Martin DB9 so we removed the ceiling board and fitted with new material.

Work on the Jaguar E-Type Series 1.5!

July 30, 2021

Scott has been working on the 1968 Jaguar E-Type Series 1.5 4.2.

He’s replaced the brake line that connects to the rear axle, bled the brakes, the bushes have been replaced in the steering column, because they were worn out, he’s lock wired any bolts that needed to be, fitted a new radio and replaced the fuel line because it had been badly fitted before!

Getting busy with the 1975 Triumph!

July 30, 2021

Dave has been carrying out work on the 1975 magenta Triumph TR6. Here’s a list and a look at what he’s been up to!

There were problems with the horn so a new plate was ordered, the earth coil needs re-instating, replaced the fuel filter in the boot, the pipe got replaced, the fuel was drained a couple of times because of debris in it, Dave lubricated to free up the butterflies in the engine bay, each injector was removed to get the air out of the pipes, he set out linkage in sequence, which was done with a vacuum metre, there was oil in the distributor, so Dave cleaned it out, and put it all back together again, the clutch had to be made longer and now works fine, the wiper motor needs attention, and he’s set the points up!

Bentley dash panels get a new lease of life!

July 30, 2021

Brian has been re-covering more panels for the 1963 Bentley S3 Chinese Continental.

This time, he’s done the panels that go underneath the dash, the dash rail panel, corner panel, the metal plate that goes with it, padded dash panels, and front-seat support wood.

He stripped the original leather off all of them, and any old foam that was underneath. Then sanded off the old glue. Most of the metal panels had 3mm foam glued onto them first, before adding the new leather on top and glueing underneath. The rest of the panels just had the new leather glued directly onto them.

More stages of the prep work for the Honda Integra!

July 30, 2021

Lydia has been helping Chris in the paint shop with the 1998 Honda Integra Type R panels.

Chris has been priming them, and then Lydia has been coating them in black guide coat, which shows the imperfections in the primer surface when sanded down. She sanded each panel down until no guide coat could be seen anymore. This was done with a mixture of blocking, using a DA and sanding by hand. Lydia then went over each panel with a grey scotch pad lightly and cleaned off any sanding dust with pre-clean.

New stereo box for the 1954 Jaguar!

July 30, 2021

Tamas has fabricated and welded together a new stereo box for the white 1954 Jaguar Mk VII. Kath has then covered it in dark red leather, ready to go in the car!

The start of the Aston Martin seat fitting!

July 30, 2021

Kath has been starting to fit the front squab seats and their carpet backs to the frames.

She began by stapling the sides of the front squab to the wooden part of the frame. She then trimmed back the foam on the flutes, to lay nice and flat on the back. Then she stapled the front of the squab to the wood of the seat frame, making sure it fitted nicely. Piping was then stapled around the back edge. The carpet back was placed on top of this, just inside the piping.

The first front squab is now ready! Exactly the same process will be carried out for the second one.

Headlining work continues for the Vanden Plas!

July 30, 2021

Brian has been finishing the restoration of the headlining for our 1981 Rover 3500 SD1 Vanden Plas.

Once he’d finished getting all the old foam and glue off the board, he cut a piece of nylon foam headlining to the required size and proceeded to glue it onto the board. Brian had to do this in sections because the glue went off too quickly.

Brian has had to glue new headlining fabric to the sunroof section as well. This didn’t have a board, it was just glued straight on. He’s just got to fit the headlining board in the car now!

Don’t forget, you can win this car! Just head to our website by clicking on the following link, which will give you more information about the car and tell you how to enter the competition! https://www.bridgeclassiccarscompetitions.co.uk/product/1981-rover-sd1/

Re-freshing our Range Rover CSK

July 30, 2021

The transformation is now underway as Colin from Viper Auto Valeting has been working his magic on our Range Rover.

The exterior and interior has been given the once over to get rid of all the nasties that have been living and growing in and around the car.

When we get a space in our workshops the next step will be to carry out a full assessment to see what is required for the recommission.

Jensen finishing touches

July 30, 2021

John has now fitted the new steering wheels

…and has been adjusting the throttle linkage and gear change linkage.

Over-heating issues continue on HMC

July 30, 2021

It appears that changing the thermostat has not resolved the issue of over heating. Having carried out various tests upon fitting the new thermostat we thought we had overcome the problem but no. The HMC is now back with us for further checks.

We will do some further investigations but this may be more serious than first thought. We will see…

Bridge Classic Cars are award winning Classic Car Restoration and Maintenance specialists. Your pride and joy is in safe hands with our expert Classic Car Technicians. Take a look at our awards here.

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