Triple plating the E-Type seat brackets

Triple plating the E-Type seat brackets

Extensive work was needed on our Jaguar E-Type seat brackets, so much so that a triple coating process was needed to be carried out to ensure the perfect end result. Here they are in the copper plated stage. When we next see them they’ll be 100% perfect and finished in polished chrome.

Fitting and shaping the new carpets

Here we have the first stages of fitting the new grey carpet set to the front Daisy, our 1989 Volkswagen T25 camper.

Fitting the Maserati Merak Interior

What better combination than Indi Verde green against the stunning red leather. It is not so much noticeable on the seats but the entire interior set up has been stitched in green to match the car colour. It is more noticeable on the rear cover. Ordinarily the rear column on the Merak’s are covered in […]

Building up the re-chromed MGYT grille

  Can you re-chrome a classic car grille as one piece? The answer is yes… …but we wouldn’t recommend it. If you want to do a job right, do it properly. It may seem like a daunting task stripping a grille like this into individual pieces but it is absolutely worth it for the final […]

Mr Merson

Received a lovely email this evening from George Merson… “Craig. I just looked at all of the restoration pictures of “Finnigen”, my 51 MG TD. I must say you did a fantastic restoration, the car looks absolutely fantastic. It should be good for another 60 years. I do hope the new owner appreciates all the work you […]

Our 1973 Jaguar E-Type V1 2 Series 3 back from full respray

Here we have the first pictures of our 1973 Jaguar E-Type V12 Series 3 as it returned this week from our paint shop, having undergone a full respray.

The Jensen Chassis Is Painted

With all of the chassis preparation now complete, the gloss black finish has now been applied. We can now move forward with refitting the body that we removed earlier in the build. Once this is fitted we can progress to the paint shop for the fill respray back to the original, factory set, colour.

Seam Sealing our Jensen 541S Chassis

The final task to undertake before the chassis is finished in it’s new gloss black coating is to seam seal all of the edges. Good seam sealing will prolong the life of a vehicle after restoration. Virtually all rust problems on a car will start in the seams. Here is a very informative article written […]

Jensen 541S Chassis in Primer

It has probably seemed a little quiet recently on our 1960 Jensen 541S project but be assured we’ve been very busy making the final tweaks to the chassis ready for it to be painted. Before the chassis entered our paint shops it was so full on for Tommy and Asa working on both the chassis […]

Suffolk Churches – a series of journeys in a Mk 1 Cortina by Bernard Butler – Chapter 3

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]During our recent post on our visit to Morston Hall we mentioned meeting Bernard and his wife who had, at home, a Mk1 Ford Cortina. Bernard told me as a part of his retirement that he travels around Suffolk and visits our churches and photographs his car with the church and writes about the experience. We are very […]

The broken Maserati Merak seat bracket cover

A great example of when having the right tools operated by the right people can overcome anything… Here we have one of the L bracket covers from our 1975 Maserati Merak front seats. Unless you can find a Merak that is being broken (which we only know of one currently) these brackets are no longer […]

Making a PitStop at Makro on Sunday

I’m guessing he wasn’t out picking her his full ‘bulk’ shop for the week but here we have this brilliant track day Caterham parked up outside Makro in Ipswich on Sunday morning.

Mr Goldsmith – Ipswich, Suffolk

“Just a quick message to let you know about the red MGB GT you put a wiring loom in for me. I would just like to say how happy and pleased I am with the work undertaken. Its very nice for everything to be working on the car and not to jiggle the wires round […]

Safe arrivals galore this week…

Three safe arrivals in the same week. Baby Loick joined us Monday. And our Jaguar E-Type and concours Austin Morris Mini Clubman arrived on Tuesday. Brought to our Ipswich workshops from the north of Scotland by Ronnie; the owner of Karr Solutions. We use Ronnie for all our vehicle shipments that don’t require our covered […]

A new arrival to the Bridge family

Congratulations to Bridge owner Craig and his partner Lyndsay on the safe arrival of Loick Ashley on the 23rd April. Weighing in at 7lbs 4.5 oz. Here at Bridge we like always look forward and obviously what every boy needs is a smart set of wheels. Welcome to the family Loick, your chariot awaits

1972 Triumph Stag in for a MOT

It’s lovely to see all of the local classics out and about when the sun is shining. In today, we’ve had a lovely little Triumph Stag in for a MOT.

Cleaning up the E-Type seat frames

We have now started blasting the original Jaguar E-Type seat frames. The seat runners were particularly challenging. With years and years of crud (technical term) built up inside they were near on impossible to release but eventually they came free and we able to be fixed up, repaired, cleaned up and painted.  

Bye Bye Scotland, Hello England

We are very excited to see our newest member of the Bridge family leaving it’s home in Scotland to make it’s way down to our Suffolk workshops. This stunning 1966 Jaguar E-Type will soon be treated to a brand new re-spray before we complete the rebuild that the previous owner had started so brilliantly for […]

Recommissioning our 1974 Triumph Spitfire

Having been overlooked in a garden in Ipswich for many years, we have just been to collect our latest project, a 1974 Triumph Spitfire. Now ready to be brought back to life for a family member she is in with us for a full health check and assessment. The car will be recommissioned to MOT […]

Suffolk Churches – a series of journeys in a Mk 1 Cortina by Bernard Butler – Chapter 2

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]During our recent post on our visit to Morston Hall we mentioned meeting Bernard and his wife who had, at home, a Mk1 Ford Cortina. Bernard told me as a part of his retirement that he travels around Suffolk and visits our churches and photographs his car with the church and writes about the experience. We are very […]

Coming In Soon

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Arriving soon to our Ipswich workshops, our beautiful 1982 Austin Mini Clubman in concours condition. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”11922,11923,11924,11925,11926,11927,11928,11929,11930,11931,11932,11933″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Fitting the new bumpers and over-riders

Although the car has benefited hugely from being safely stored away all year round the chrome bumper and over-riders have started to show signs of wear. Over the years we have collected lots of new and rare parts here at Bridge Classic Cars and it just so happens that on the shelf we had a […]

Our MGB Roadster gleaming in the sunshine

The sun was shining this afternoon outside Bridge Classic Cars and Bridge MOT HQ so John decided to work outside on our 1971 MGB Roadster.

Behind the scenes of our 1982 Triumph TR7 photo shoot

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Although this incredible structure over the River Orwell is one of Suffolk’s largest landmarks, it’s surprisingly difficult to get a car photographed beside the Orwell Bridge. We were all set for a 9am start with a fantastic location all lined up and the necessary permissions all in place to carry out our latest photo shoot. […]

Updated images of our 1973 Jaguar E-Type V12 strip down.

Due to our busy paint shop the full respray on our US 1973 Jaguar E-Type V12 has taken a bit of a back seat. Here are the latest pictures from the strip down.

Fitting up the blue piping

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Today, Dave has been concentrating on fitting up the blue leather piping around the front and rear wings of our 1949 MGYT. With lots of blue fabric options on the market as well as a great choice of dark greys and blacks in leather this turned out to be more of a challenge than we […]

Work continues on the paint preparation

Work continues today on the paint preparation as we build up and re-shape to give our E-Type roadster the perfect lines once again.  

Uncovering the rot in the front inner wing

As you can see from the pictures, we have a lot to tackle with this one. Our 1969 MGBGT came in to us a couple of weeks ago after being involved in a minor accident which damaged the front grille and chrome bumper. By stripping the components ready for the body repair to commence we […]

Jaguar V12 E-Type Paint Preparation

We are now preparing the bodywork ready for paint. At this stage we are expecting the preparation to be approximately 150-180 hours.

Coming soon to Bridge Classic Cars: HMC Sportscar

With the owner’s of this stunning HMC making the permanent move to Australia later in the year, we are pleased to have it in with us to carry out some remedial work before she makes the big trip. Work will begin at the beginning of May 2017. More information to follow. Holmes Motor Company Limited […]