Classic car mechanic – Boxing clever

‘In the corner of the workshop, Olli Ragbin sits watching events unfold before him’

When I was young, cars were very simple and straightforward, at least from a design perspective. The common feature across most was that they were rubbish. Well, that’s probably a little harsh. They were all boxy, that’s probably the more accurate description of their shared look.

I started noticing cars from the late 70’s and by the end of the 80’s cars and motorbikes held centre stage in my head, jostling for position with cheap lager, crap suits and poor romantic choices. What drew me most was this boxy design, especially if it has significant road presence.

A big boxy car, big engine, significant amount of cow covering draped over every interior surface. Perfect.

Last weekend I took jnr to Mercedes Benz world at Brooklands, the historic racetrack part of which is now Merc’s high-falutin showcase for its current product range. You can look around the cars, you can get taken for passenger rides around the track and you can spend a resentful £9 for a coffee, a coke and a bag of sweets for the offspring.

Being mugged by a polite lady in an apron at the café was however a small price to pay for the joy of seeing 2 stunning bookend boxy designs from the 3 pointed-star’s factory.

First up was the 600 SWB. In long wheelbase form this car chauffeured dictators and plutocrats around the world. In the short form you see here, it was driven by well-heeled car obsessives and rock stars. Whilst boxy, it has curves to die for. The quality of the interior materials and the tech of the time (hydraulic windows ferchrisake) made it £9-coffee expensive.

Today normal people can’t buy this sort of thing. Mega-money then, mega-money now.

A quick trawl on autotrader though, and I think I’ve found it’s perfect alternative. The massively less fashionable Rolls Silver Dawn from the 90’s. No, it’s not as achingly beautiful as the 600, but I’d bet it had a bigger fleet of cows assisting with its build and the woodwork is perhaps even more lustrous and impressive.

This one has on 9k miles on it and whilst it still has a mid-£40k price tag, at least it is in the feasible (if I sell all the children along with a kidney) range of pricing

At the modern end of boxy there was this stunning SL GT3 race car. Boxy for a reason. It’s difficult to get across just how wide this car is (particularly when the photo is side on) but honestly, this car is close to perfectly square.

At the same time that Mercedes are banging out racing SLs, they are also weaving their magic into the production of the pinnacle of race car purity, the current F1 car campaigned by Lewis.

Again, pictures can’t accurately recreate the utterly gorgeous and almost organic design. Seeing it in the flesh gives you an inkling of the level of achievement involved in building a car to the absolute limit of the rules to do one thing and one thing only. Be faster around the track than anything else. There is nothing superfluous on this machine. Not even a gram of waste. Beauty wasn’t the brief but it was the outcome and whilst I love the old boxy look, when modern is this good it’s difficult not to be stunned into silent awe.

This week in the garage we’ve had a different scale of boxy, but no less impactful. This mini is a family heirloom which, whilst laid up for many a year, non-the-less has great potential. It’s in absolutely the right place to flower into something very special.

Dusty and dirty it may be, but close your eyes and you can still see that deep red paint. This car could be truly wonderful with some love and attention

I'd be stunned if there wasn't a 'please wash me' etched onto the rear window by an adventurous index finger

Back in the 70’s I am pretty sure one of my Dad’s first cars was a green Oxford Morris traveller. A car with wood on the outside. What were they thinking? Still, looking at this example outside the unit this week, it all looks so kinda right. Red leather, cream exterior, wood. It’s simply a beautiful car with all the right lines.

More equipment has landed at CCM towers. Eric the magpie is a nightmare for a new toy. On the plus side the workshop is equipped to do practically any job thrown at it. On the downside we probably need a new workshop just for storage of tech toys.

The spot welder waiting for power and a chance to get angry

A dusting of surface rust and a replacement of a more serious section. The new spotty is going to be busy I suspect

A coupla fellas have been trying to get this stunning 924 up and running for a while. Our techs are now on the case. Be good to report on the progress of this Porker as she’s bought back to life

Can you believe January is nearly over? As we all look forward to Spring on the distant horizon, if you have a classic in need of any amount of love and attention (boxy or otherwise) then give us a call. The workshop is busy, but we have a ruthlessly effective schedule where we can slot in new friends.

Finally, Ingrid is recovering after a trip to the menders (take it nice and steady Ingrid!). We’re all watching Eric very, very closely indeed. Without his much-needed safety net in full action, he is liable to rock up to work in a tank or some other equally ridiculous ‘essential’ purchase. An electronic ankle tag may seem overkill, but in the short-term, it’s saving him from himself.

So from the gang at CCM, Eric, Siobhan, Tasha, Dr Ray, Shrimp-eye Justin, Young Chris, Izzi, Ingrid, Alfie and Will (I aint), have a great week.

Ollie

Eric and Izzi conclude this year’s panto run. Interestingly, Eric still wears the outfit some evenings at home. He says it’s comfortable and his giant hand can hold more peanuts whilst watching 'Strictly'