We weren’t kidding when we said we’re Jensen specialists! We’ve welcomed another beautiful Jensen into the workshop this week. This 1959 Silver Jensen 541R has come in for a diagnosis on the engine.
We’ve assessed the vehicle and have discovered a list of faults including the need for new core plugs, new rocker shaft and for an oil leak to be corrected. We’re are glad to find that the engine starts despite the faults. We are currently in conversation to see if the client wants the engine to be taken apart and refurbished or not.
After speaking to the client, we’ve decided to start addressing the faults without carrying out a full engine rebuild as this car will soon be used as an everyday car. Ady, out engine specialist, has had the car up and running as well as removing the old core plugs, cleaning the waterways and fitting new core plugs/
The 1961 Navy Jensen 541S is up and running for now however we are waiting on the client to see if they would like any more refurbishments done as this Jensen has been their own project which we’ve helped out on. It currently doesn’t have any brakes and there are a handful of other components missing that need fitting. Watch this space!
Much like our Jaguar MKVII, Ady had to link the battery to the coil to get the Jensen started as there was a diagnosed wiring fault between the ignition and the coil.
Our 1958 Navy Jensen 541R has recently been up and running however we noticed that there was a petrol leak in the float of the carburettor as well as a leak in the clutch pipe. Once these elements have been repaired, we can take this Jensen out onto the road to see how it drives. This beautiful Jensen will soon be up for sale so keep your eyes peeled!
Last week Darren focused on polishing and correcting the body panels of the Jensen, ensuring that the finishing paintwork is perfect.
James has been welding the underside of the Jensen, fixing a hole in the exhaust. This has been done by making and welding a seal over the hole.
January 12, 2021 12:18 pmPublished by Craig Ranson
Our 1957 Grey Jensen is progressing well in its restoration journey with the majority of its interior trim fitted. It still needs its windscreen and Perspex back windows fitted as well as the door panel trims but the current job in hand is to re-align the doors.
We noticed the inner panels of the door were not sitting correctly so decided to investigate and found that some of the elements need refurbishing.
January 12, 2021 12:00 pmPublished by Craig Ranson
Our stunning 1960 Black Jensen 541R is on its final leg of its restoration journey and will soon be returned back to its owner. The recent additions include the oil filter which has recently been re-fitted, the start motor was installed along with a new exhaust. All the components are currently being put back into the car before it has its final paint correction and can then be road tested.
A large part of the final tweaks in a restoration project is reassembling all of the elements after parts have been fitted, which is usually the last stage before the road test.
January 12, 2021 10:58 amPublished by Craig Ranson
Our 1960 Peony red Jensen 541S is making good progress in the workshop. Here are the latest developments.
Fabrication Bay
Our technician Chris has been working on the Jensen body in the fabrication bay. He’s been ‘gapping’ the doors so they look and fit the same around the sides. He’s also cut and ground both sides, added fibreglass to the bonnet to close the gap up and made a boot catch plate. Finally, Chris has marked the holes and tapping them up to make sure all the bolts fitted.
Trim Shop
Brian has been making a new door panel board from hardboard in the trim shop. This has been done by removing the armrest from the pocket section, removing the metal trim and old cover from the armrest and then making a new pattern for the cover.
Once a pattern has been made, Brian can cut it out from leather, sew on the new cover and fit it to the armrest by glueing and stapling it in place. Brian has also added metal trim to the armrest and cut leather out to make a pocket section. This was then glued in place.
The edges have been turned around to neaten the cover and new piping has been sewn in. Brian then needed to glue the inner metal to the foam, and fit the metal in place. The next step was to then glue the rest of the foam to the inner side of the pocket and fit the armrest to the pocket section. Once fitted, the armrest has been secured with screws and riveting support bar to the back.
Kath has also been working on the Jensen. She’s taken off the old cover from the dashboard and removed the old glue as well, ready to the rub down the front and back in preparation for new material.
Once cleaned down, Kath can mark out the new material and glue both surfaces to stick the material in place. To neaten it up, the material is turned over the edges and the dash holes are trimmed around so that the new cover sits comfortably. Once both sides were done and had followed the same process, Kath then glued along where the two pieces of material meet.
The dash top also needed to be refurbished. For this, Kath removed the two old covers and cut out new material ready to cover the dash top element. Once the material had been marked around the top, it could then be glued along one edge, the material turned over and the corners neatened up.
Lydia has also been working on the Peony Red Jensen interior. She’s been focusing on rear squab by measuring out all the leather, assembling the pieces together and sewing it all up. Lydia then prepared for the fitting of the cover on to the foam and board. She marked out new plywood to replace old worn out original. The next step was to then add wadding to the original foam so it maintains a nice shape. After all this was done, it was time to fit the cover over the squab.
Our 1958 Jensen 541R is currently having its suspension fixed and rear suspension bolts replaced as the previous bolts had no locking facilities, meaning they could come loose.
The rear axel straps also need to be fitted but these will be made in our workshop first and then added. We like to make our own elements for the cars as much as we can to make sure the parts fit perfectly onto each vehicle. This ensures that every classic goes away with parts especially made for them.
It goes without saying, 2020 has been tough for everyone but there have been some positives! Bridge Classic Cars turned 16, we welcomed in more unique and interesting cars, expanded the team and took new ventures.
2020’s Winners
This year we introduced our competitions back in May. With an uncertain year ahead of us, we wanted to provide some excitement to our followers, and what better way than to offer the chance of winning a car for less than £20! It wasn’t easy at first, but now with over 21 winners and up to 4 competition cars running at the same time, we’re doing better than ever. So far we’ve given away £561,197.00 worth of classic cars!
This week we’re delivering our latest winning cars, our 1974 VW Beetle that was won by Colin Knight and our 1995 Jaguar XJ6 who was won by Nick Nicola just before Christmas! We’re being careful to make the delivery as safe as possible, complying with tier 4 guidelines but we can’t wait to see Colin and Nick’s reactions!
1967 Jaguar E-Type Series 1 Race Car Replica Completion
Its been a long restoration, but we were delighted to announce the completion of our very own project, our 1967 Jaguar E-Type Series 1 Race Car Replica. Its come a long way from the decrepit shell we started with in 2017. Every detail, right down to the colour has been custom made and designed. This truly is a Bridge Classic Car. You can see it’s story here.
The Year Of The Jensen
We love every and any classic car and are in turn, we’re equipped to fix and restore any classic too, but 2020 for us was the year of the Jensen. We’ve had eight 541R/541S’s in this year, some of which are still with us being completed. With only 193 Jensen 541R’s and 127 541S’s ever made worldwide, to have so many in at all really is outstanding, let alone all at the same time.
The 541R models were manufactured between 1957 and 1960 when they were later replaced by the 541S that ran from 1960 to 1962. Whilst each car is incredibly unique with its story and bespoke restoration, they are also very similar, and as you can imagine, with 8 very similar cars in at the same time, it took a while to get our heads around which was which when referring to them.
Expanding the team
2020 saw the birth of the Trim Shop. Whilst we’d had individual trim specialists working with us before, we were yet to dedicate a department to it! Last year saw the creation of the Trim Shop, giving the speciality its own workshop and team which continued to grow throughout the year. Originally just Kath and Brian, we have welcomed a new face to the team recently. Lydia has now joined us and is another much-valued member of the trim shop. Having our own trim department allows us to continue keeping all our restorations under one roof, limiting the outsourcing as much as we can.
We’ve also had Ellie join this year, adding to the marketing department. Previously we had just Freddie, and briefly Charlotte doing our marketing, but as the company started to grow, we found the need to take on another set of hands for our marketing and visuals.
One of a kind – Chevron B20
We’ve had some very unique cars in this year, including this original 1972 Chevron B20. Its seen top racing drivers, international races and a big crash in its lifetime and nowWe’re selling this on behalf of the owner but in the meantime, we’re enjoying housing this incredible special car. You can find out more about its history on our blogs.
Introduction of editorial shoots
The latter part of this year saw us start shooting some of our cars in a more editorial and creative style. Whilst we’ve always organised high-quality shoots of all our competition and for sale cars, we decided to add models to some of the shoots to make them a bit different.
Now we have both Freddie and Ellie on shoots, it means we can also get behind the scene insights into our shoots.
Bespoke restorations; A tribute
Another interesting and heartfelt restoration this year was our 1972 Jaguar E-Type Series 3 that we restored. In memory of their late uncle, the owner paid to have a commemorative plaque fitted by the handbrake. We also embedded one of their Uncle’s favourite cufflinks above it as well. As we always say, each restoration is special and every car carries its own stories, but this one was particularly special.
Car Show 2020
Last January, we had our open morning car show that proved to be incredibly popular. After having to cancel our 2021 January open morning show, we hope to organise one for later this year.
We’ve taken apart the old rear quarter panels on our 1960 Peony Red Jensen 541s, ready to make new ones. This is done by cutting out new mill board panels, cutting out new plywood panels, fitting new plywood panel to original top wood, glueing & stapling mill board panel to plywood panel, riveting brackets to edge of the panel, adding foam padding to cover panel and then glueing & stapling the leather cover to the panel.
A newly fabricated bonnet has been fitted too.
Jensen glove box door in mushroom interior has been made by Brian in the trim shop. This involved removing old vinyl, cutting new vinyl, sticking it onto the door, trimming around the edge.
The dash has also been renovated. Brian has removed the old cover, sanded it down to remove the old glue and leather, mark out the new material, and glue up the parts. Once the glue had dried it was stretched and the ends trimmed.
December 24, 2020 1:08 pmPublished by Craig Ranson
The front suspension is back together on our 1958 Jensen 541R. The modifications have concluded with the brake flex pipe has been relocated to avoid touching the wheel.
The suspension spring strength had to be reduced to allow work to be done on it to ensure the component wasn’t under too much pressure.
December 24, 2020 9:14 amPublished by Craig Ranson
The suspension on the front of our 1958 541R Jensen is currently being tweaked. The bushings need to be reamed and resized so they fit better. For this, we’re sending the parts away to be completed.
December 22, 2020 4:06 pmPublished by Craig Ranson
The clutch pedal had worn where the clevis pin goes through which allowed for too much movement on the pedal, so the clutch was not releasing as it should.
The remedy was to weld up the elongated slot and re-drill it to the correct size, unfortunately, the whole pedal box had to be removed to do this operation.
The next step is to test the clutch and check its ready to hit the road again!
December 22, 2020 3:29 pmPublished by Craig Ranson
Our 1957 Grey Jensen 541R has had its dash pad rail, roof pad and boot refurbished by our specialists in the trim shop.
Brian has removed the old cover of the dash rail, added more foam and wadding, glued on a new cover, added leather around the brackets and fit it all back onto the dash board.
The ceiling pad has also been refurbished. The old cover has been removed, as have the brackets and vinyl. New wadding has been glued into place over the original foam. Fresh vinyl has been cut and glued on, the edges folded over and the brackets refitted. Once these steps were completed, the ceiling pad was fitted back in again.
The boot lid has had new foam added into its indentations. The carpet has been glued onto the boot lid, leaving holes for the boot support rods and latch.
December 21, 2020 11:48 amPublished by Craig Ranson
Our beautiful Gold and Burgundy 1962 Jensen 541S is now finished and will return back to its owner this weekend. We’re delighted at how shiny and new this Jensen looks again!
Our Jensen empire, once standing at a grand total of 8 is now beginning to decrease again.
December 18, 2020 12:59 pmPublished by Craig Ranson
The Black 1960 Jensen 541R is now up and running for the first time. Our workshop manager, John, took it out for a quick spin to see how it runs and determine what needs to happen next.
After taking it for a spin, all that’s left now is to fine tune the clutch, set up the carburettors and ensure the coolant flows well. This beautiful Jensen is nearly completed and we’re all very excited to see it finished and on the road.
December 17, 2020 4:09 pmPublished by Craig Ranson
Our Peony Red 1960 Jensen 541S is getting closer and closer to evolving into a beautiful Peony Red classic. Before it can be painted, our workshop technicians Paul and Scott are assembling and fitting the parts before its sent back to the Fabrication bay for it to be properly fitted.
Once the fabrication bay has finished with the body work, it’ll be placed in the capable hands of our paint shop pro, Darren, who will begin the paint and prep process.
Here’s a reminder of the colours we’ve chosen for our Peony Red Jensen. It’s going to be dual-toned, with a grey roof and peony red body. These are the colours requested by the client.
December 16, 2020 10:55 amPublished by Craig Ranson
Our 1958 541R Navy Jensen is almost ready to leave again. We’re currently waiting for the wheel to come back after being cleaned as its currently sitting in overspray. We also have a few paint corrections to finish and polish as well as road testing it.
We’ve serviced it for some general faults too which we are waiting on approval or dismissal from the customer. These are faults we’ve found that don’t need immediate attention but could be corrected with a service.
December 15, 2020 9:33 amPublished by Craig Ranson
The grey 1957 Jensen 541R has had lots of small details added whilst in the trim shop such as the new carpets being measured out, glued in, the edge bound and fitted into place. A hole for the gear lever has been made as well as a gaiter to fit around the gear stick. The gaiter has then been sewn onto the main tunnel section.
Others fittings include the sills that have be bound and fitted, the rear matt has been made, and the boot has been marked out, bound and fitted.
Sound deadening has been applied to behind the pedals underneath the carpet.
The seat belt holes have been made and accounted for with the new carpet as well.
The final step on laying the carpets is to attach fasteners and studs to the flood panels and material to allow the carpet to stay fixed down.
December 14, 2020 11:36 amPublished by Craig Ranson
Another week has flown by! Once again we’ve had photoshoots, new arrivals and spectacular developments on our current projects.
Behind the scenes and sneak peeks
On Tuesday we shot the second half of the content for our 1967 Jaguar E-Type Series 1 race car replica. For this, we took it to the track at Bentwaters where our skilled F1 Test Driver, Mike O’Connor, put it through its paces.
We’ve also shot our new competition car, the Jaguar XJ6. Here’s a sneak peek at the XJ6 in motion. For these kinds of shots, we often get Ellie to drive and Freddie to shoot the car in motion. This allows moving shots to be done efficiently when it’s separate to a staged shoot with a model/talents such as the Jaguar race car above.
The XJ6 has already gone live and has proved to be incredibly popular with almost a quarter of the tickets having sold out in one day! Get your tickets quickly as the launch sale is ending soon!
A stunning Jaguar XJ6 auto and a classic 1979 Daimler 4.2 Sovereign XJ6 Series III Automatic have also arrived this week, ready to be a competition cars. You can find more about the Jaguar and Daimler here!
1957 Grey Jensen 541R
The sill and footwell carpet has been cut and glued down as well as the carpet around the gearbox tunnel. Brian has fitted the front and rear footwell carpets on the passenger side too. Metal rails & air vent covers have been fitted to the scuttle panels. The passenger side scuttle panel and front footboard have both been fitted in place this week.
Although a lot of the carpets and back seats have been made, there’s still the front seats to make and fit.
Upon inspection, we identified some modifications needed on the grey Jensen’s doors to make sure all components align correctly.
Triumph TR6
Our 1973 Triumph TR6 has had new speakers and speaker holders made and installed by our technician Mauro who’s been working exclusively on the TR6. Adam, our auto electrics specialist has also been doing some work on the TR6, changing the sidelights to indicators to comply with UK road laws.
Peugeot 504
The new bonnet has been attached on the 504, the latches have been modified, gaps lined, bonnet painted and now fit! It’s so rewarding seeing this beautiful car looking whole again!
We’ve had a rubber mystery in the workshop, but luckily enough Gordan used his detective skills to figure out a nifty solution! The Peugeot 504 was in need of new rubber sills however we couldn’t find anywhere that sourced them. By matter of chance, in our Amphicar box of spare bits and bobs, we found some rubber extras that fit the 504 perfectly! A tip for anyone looking for Peugeot 504 rubber sills, head over to Gordons Imports and get some Amphicar rubber!
The Peugeot 504 has also been started for the first time in quite a while! This was its debut since being reassembled and its sounding good!
Morris Minor
The Morris Minor 1000 is ready for a test drive! It will be the first time it’s been started and driven in a while so it’s going to be an exciting development! To get the Morris ready for its start-up, our engine technician Ady has cleaned the carburettors and given it a pre-startup service.
December 11, 2020 1:37 pmPublished by Craig Ranson
Many of the jobs that are done on our cars seem like very small insignificant elements but if you look at the bigger picture, every single detail is just as important as the larger parts.
The black 1960 Jensen 541R has recently had its spare wheel carrier lowering mechanism altered. The original it came in with didn’t function properly so we’ve lengthened the mechanism in the workshop today.
We have also replaced the fixing bolts on rear bumpers which had become faulty due to damage. We’ve welded in new bolts carefully, making sure we don’t damage the chrome and paint inside.
Some drama in the engine workshop! All was seemingly well with the engine re-build however, unbeknown to us, the dipstick tube had previously broken off inside the cylinder block. If Ady’s keen eyes hadn’t noticed, this would have led to a total engine strip and rebuild in the workshop later down the line!
Luckily he noticed and managed to remove it before it did too much damage. A new one has now been fitted.
The Peony Red Jensen 541S has had its engine refurbished by our engine specialist. A new steel tube has been installed as well as a distributor, water pump and oil filter housing.
November 24, 2020 10:49 amPublished by Craig Ranson
More work has been done on our 1960 Peony red Jensen 541S. The latest instalments are the seat covers and pockets that have been made by our trim shop. This involved marking out the leather for the seats, sewing the piping and side bands on, making and sewing on the skirt, and then creating the pockets. Once all these elements have been carefully created, that can be put together.
Our engine specialist, Ady is in the process of rebuilding the engine. So far the bottom end is done and its awaiting the cylinder heads to be attached.
November 20, 2020 9:06 amPublished by Craig Ranson
This week the centre console trims have been made and fitted in the 1960 Jensen 541R. The first step was to make the top piece, which was sewn and piped by our interior trim technician Kath, before passing it over to Brian.
Once the leather top piece had been passed to Brian, our other interior trim technician, he added foam padding and made the rest of the centre console.
Now assembled, it can now be fitted into the Jensen.
November 19, 2020 10:22 amPublished by Craig Ranson
We were featured in the November-December 2020 issue of Jensen’s Owners Club Magazine for a Jensen 541S we restored a few years back for Ronald Everaert who recently wrote a piece for the magazine about his Jensen.
One of our favourite parts of restoring cars is being able to see the owners enjoy their pride and joys again, ready to make more memories in. It’s particularly lovely to hear from them via photos and articles such as this!
November 17, 2020 3:03 pmPublished by Craig Ranson
As ever, it’s been a busy week here at Bridge Classics. We’ve had new cars arrive like the Mini Clubman, we’ve had a new winner announced yesterday and lots of new developments with our current projects. Here’s what’s gone on throughout the week!
Peugeot 504
Our engine specialist Ady has been working on the 504’s engine by fitting the flywheel and couch before fitting it back into the Peugeot.
The Peugeot has also had a recent trim shop appointment, with new carpets being made and fitted by our expert, Brian.
1960 Black Jensen 514R
The Black Jensen has had new sills made and fitted to give the finishing touch to the bottom of its driver’s door.
1994 Nissan Micra Dot
The Nissan Micra has now been finished! The paintwork has been completed, bumps and scrapes were taken out and it’s pretty much ready to go again! This endearing little Micra would make the perfect first car for someone learning to drive!
1988 Nissan 300ZX
The Nissan 300ZX has come in recently and appears to have some rather severe rust issues on the lower door sills. Among other restorations, that rust and those holes will have to go! You can see the rest of the work here.
1963 Morris Minor 1000
One of our technicians, Scott has been working carefully on the Morris Minor’s dazzling red interior. The door cards, handles, and carpets have all been fitted.
1960 Lilac Jensen 541R
This Jensen actually belongs to Bridge’s director and founder, Gordon Ranson, and is now starting its restoration journey with us! There’s a lot to do but we can’t wait to see the final product!
One of our technicians Anthony has been working on the body, hand making a lot of the elements such as the boot floor.
Barn find Mercedes
Barn finds are like hidden treasures and we love them when they come in. Currently, we’ve got two prospective projects that need cleaning up and assessing before we know what needs to be done. We really hope we’ll be able to work on these two cars!
Over the Pond Austin Healey
This Austen Healey 100 BN1 is currently residing in America but could be ours soon! Keep an eye out on our website and social media pages for updates!
Craig’s new Gastron
When you work with classic cars all the time, sometimes you want to mix it up a bit. That’s exactly what our Director Craig has done! He’s recently acquired this 3 litre speed boat. Fingers crossed for nice weather soon then!
Red Jaguar E-Type
Another prospective project has been viewed recently and it’s a beautiful red e-type that needs some TLC!
November 13, 2020 11:37 amPublished by Craig Ranson
Our 1962 Gold and Burgundy Jensen 541S has had its cylinder head reconditioned after multiple cracks were discovered that was causing water and oil to mix.
The cylinder was removed and sent off for a pressure test at Coltec where the cracks were discovered. The cylinder head was then unleaded and replaced.
November 12, 2020 1:54 pmPublished by Craig Ranson
Our specialist technicians have been working hard on the 1960 Jensen 541S restoration. The latest refurbishments include smoothing and correcting the doors by filling any holes, taking out rust and installing custom made metal pieces.
Our engine specialist Ady carried out a full engine rebuild and has modified the piston holes by making sure the edges are bevelled at an angle rather than a sharp 90 degrees angle. This ensures the pistons fit in neater.
The rest of the engine rebuild has included the rocker fingers being refaced and re-boring with bigger pistons
November 12, 2020 12:07 pmPublished by Craig Ranson
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