News

Building our Jaguar race-replica engine

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Popped in to see the Ady and the guys at Scholar this afternoon to catch up on a few tasks we are working together on. Whilst I was there I managed to get a few pictures of our 1967 Jaguar E-Type race-replica engine being worked on and looking incredible.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”10592,10591,10590,10589,10588,10587,10586,10585,10584,10583,10582,10581,10580,10579″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Our rebuilt Jaguar 4.2 Engine

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]If you visited The London Classic Car Show at the Excel in London a few weeks back you may have seen our beautiful engine on display. Our now complete Jaguar 4.2 engine which has been completely rebuilt to exceptional standards and sympathetically upgraded to our customers specification. The beautiful Weber carbs, polished manifold, linkages and trumpets […]

Re-Chroming the Twister Window Frames

Here we have the window frames from a 1960’s designed classic yacht The Twister. The Twister was designed by internationally renowned naval architect Kim Holman who was one of the founding members of Suffolk Yacht Harbour. Peter has come in to us with a request slightly out of the ordinary for us but certainly something that we […]

All About The Twister Class

Sources: Peter from twister.org.uk and Suffolk Yacht Harbour and Classic Boat The Original Twister Conceived by ‘Kim’ Holman in 1963 the original Twister of Mersea was designed to optimise the rating rules of the time. Based on his experience with the Stella Kim designed the Twister to have more draft, carry more sail and yet ‘rate’ the […]

New steps for our 1960 Jensen 541S

We are so close now to being able to remove the shell once again and paint the chassis. Tommy is very happy with the new steps, the doors line up as they should, the measurements are mm perfect so Tommy can now move on to the next stage.  

Preparing the Mercedes W123 bodywork.

We are now busy preparing the bodywork on our 1984 Mercedes W123 300 TD. As the car spent many years in the states the hot climate has been a huge help keeping the underneath in fantastic condition. The damage to the arch is now being rectified and the existing paint is now being flattened ready […]

Aston Martin AMV8 work at Bridge Classic Cars

We had a successful day yesterday working through our list. With the majority of the smaller tasks complete, today we tackled the possible oil leak and oil change. The boot lock is now repaired, the windscreen wiper blades are now working as they should, the wiring problem that was preventing the aerial from working properly […]

Rebuilding the 5 speed gearbox

Our 1967 Jaguar E-Type road race car will be fitted with a Rover SD1 5 speed gearbox. The gearbox has been stripped, cleaned and repaired. We have sandblasted the steel casings and aqua blasted the alloy casings. The full set of bearings have been replaced as well as the bulk rings and selector forks. The […]

Getting started on the task at hand

It’s Monday morning and the first job for the team is to discuss the work for the week ahead. With a workshop full of projects, all in various stages, the whole team are busy working separately across the projects. Asa has taken control of the work to be carried out on the Aston Martin AMV8. […]

Devin Brugman, A Chevrolet and Sunshine

…what more could you ask for? Source: Instagram @devinbrugman Meet Devin Brugman, co creator of @ABikiniADay & @MondaySwimwear, she’s an entrepreneur, blogger and designer with over 1.3 million followers on Instagram. We love a good classic car shot and here is Devin looking beautiful in front of a classic Chevrolet in Palm Springs, California

Craig is working on the TR7 body preparation today…

Due to our workloads, we have not been able to give our 1982 Triumph TR7 our undivided attention recently but that’s now changed as Craig has started working on the front area getting her ready for paint. Although the previous owner had carried out an amazing £16,000 full ‘nut and bolt’ restoration, when it arrived […]

Aston Martin AMV8 arriving at Bridge Classic Cars

This morning we took delivery of our beautiful 1978 Aston Martin AMV8. And, of course, as you’d expect the heaven’s decide to open up just as Chris set off from the other side of Ipswich to bring her to us. A few remedial jobs to do on the car to get her ready for the summer.  

Mercedes 300TD the stripping continues…

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]More pictures from today as we continue to remove the external components of our 1984 Mercedes 300TD estate. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”10379,10380,10381,10382,10383,10384,10385″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Coming in next week – 1978 Aston Martin AMV8

Coming in to Bridge Classic Cars next week is a 1978 Aston Martin AMV8 Mk 4 saloon. Having recently undergone a full gearbox rebuild the customer would like a number of remedial jobs to be carried out to get her ready for the Spring/Summer show season. Looking stunning at Ipswich waterfront…

Nice surprise at Motts Body Repair

This afternoon, Craig took a trip over to Essex to have a little catch up and a coffee with Lawrence at Motts Body Repair. A very nice surprise greeted us as we walked into the workshops, two Jaguar E-Types.

The first stages of our Jaguar E-Type in prime

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Here we have our 1967 Jaguar E-Type having been put through the first stages of primer. The first primer stage gives us a good visual to work to when finding the areas we now need to address. Stage one of primer highlights certain areas that need extra work. Once our thorough assessment takes place we then […]

Jaguar E-Type Carbs

The triple carbs are now completely refurbished and awaiting completion of the restoration of the manifold to allow the final fitting to the engine.

Mercedes 300TD starts to be stripped

We’ve started to strip our 1984 Mercedes 300TD today. The front end is our main concern so this is the first sections to be removed, that way we can fully assess the damage that will need to be addressed to the offside front caused by an accident on the Californian roads.

And the Gipsy heads off to Belgium

Today we bid farewell to our 1966 Austin Gipsy as she makes her way over to start a new life in Belgium. Guy, the new owner, spends the majority of his time in the middle east for work but he intends to have the Gipsy fully restored locally to his home in Belgium. Hopefully we’ll […]

Polishing the dash surround and centre plates

We’ve been debating over the issue of whether to polish and re-chrome the dash of our 1949 MGYT. There was no question on whether to recover the leather as this was very much needed but the metalwork was debatable. It looked tired but were we about to open doors to more issues if we start […]

A temporary refit

With the chassis rebuild progressing very well it is time for us to temporarily refit the body to ensure all alignments are accurate. Whilst the body shell is in place Tommy will continue to work on the areas of the chassis that still require welding work but needed the body to be in position. The […]

Jaguar E-Type Back Axle Rebuilt

Our 1967 Jaguar E-Type back axle cradle which houses the refurbished “Limited Slip Diff”, new discs,  calipers and stub axles. As you can see, the unit has been totally stripped, blasted and repainted to compliment the refurbished and new parts fitted.

Getting the Jensen body ready to be refitted

The sun is shining over Bridge Classic Cars HQ and here we have our 1960 Jensen 541S bodyshell back in the workshop ready for it to be temporarily fitted to the chassis to ensure that all dimensions are accurate in looking perfect!

Repairing the Jensen 541S chassis

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]We’ve managed to successfully tackle the main tasks of our 1960 Jensen 541S prototype chassis rebuild. As you can see, we have had to replace one side of the chassis with new but we have managed to save certain areas of the other side which is great news. The rear tube has also been replaced, […]

Repairing, Blasting and Painting the Hood

With the hood removed from the car we are planning to repair the areas that require attention. When this work is carried out we’ll clean up the entire frame to remove all grit, dirt and grime that has built up over the years before finishing in a beige.

Mercedes 300TD – Phase 1 begins

Work is now underway on our 1984 Mercedes 300TD. We first looked at the car back in October 2016 in a view to carrying out a sympathetic restoration. To freshen up the paintwork, improve the overall appearance and protect the exposed areas for many more miles and years to come. As we reported back in […]

Jaguar V12 E-Type at The London Classic Car Show

Was only last week we said goodbye to our 1972 Jaguar E-Type V12 Series III in Olympia, London and yet we’ve already bumped into her once again. Here she is looking stunning at The London Classic Car Show. Scroll through the official gallery here for highlights of the third London Classic Car Show including Historic Motorsport […]

Final stages of body preparation on our 1967 Jaguar E-Type.

Here we have Carl and Ryan working on the final few areas of the body of our 1967 Jaguar E-Type 2+2. The next stage will be getting it ready for primer before the full black respray. Strange that as soon as the camera comes out, Carl and Ryan seem to disappear, it’s like they have […]

Work is now underway on our new offices and customer toilets

At the beginning of February 2017 Bridge Classic Cars took over the reigns of one of Ipswich’s longest running MOT and vehicle repair workshops. MD Thorp has been occupying the site on Deben Road for many many years and over those years the premises has offered various different services. As Derek Smalley on Facebook shared […]

Insurance Valuation – 1974 De Tomaso Pantera

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]In the Bridge Classic Cars workshop this afternoon we welcomed a stunning 1974 De Tomaso Pantera for an insurance valuation assessment. Quite often insurance companies require advise from an independent valuer, this can be a Car Club Official, Restorer, Valuer or Specialist Dealer. With the classic car market changing so rapidly it is important for […]