Classic car mechanic’s weekly motoring – 'Ready when you are'

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

We live in interesting times and of recent there has been a fair amount of focus on the motorist. Not the driver as such, but the implications of the focus ultimately end there.

A month or so back we talked about the likelihood of rolling out the ban on new petrol and diesel-engined cars as being a shade optimistic giving the slow pace of roll-out of charging infrastructure. And so it has come to pass. The Prime Minister recently pushing back the date by 5 years… much to the anger of the automotive industry who have to look forward decades and invest heavily in new infrastructure for this sort of regulatory change

You have to feel a level of sympathy with them at the ever-moving goal posts of such a basic element of car production as the chosen powertrain. Completely changing this is like changing your mind in a restaurant just as the waiter has placed your spag bol in front of you and instead of asking for parmesan, you ask for it to be Bakewell tart and custard instead. A simple tweak it aint….

I'm not against electric power, but my main gripe as a true motorist is that it pushes cars more toward the realm of transportation and away from the pure pleasure of driving. Whilst they have rocket-like acceleration, the joy of driving is so much more than the increasing rate of velocity. I've said it before, classics are here to stay.

Eric and I's most recently acquired classic, the 1970 Silver Shadow, is about to embark on its recommissioning. Both Duncan the Wizard and Keithy baby have cast laser-like eyes over the latest purchase and both had raised quizzical eyebrows. I've promised Eric that in future I won't go and buy anything without one of them present. When I look at a car my mind says 'oooo look at that, that's nice'. Both of those 2 look at a car and can spot a 1mm panel gap difference and the slightest of subtle paint shadings from 40 yards. It's genuinely impressive and a little humbling. Keith walked me through one of our more recent customer cars which was super-tidy, and whilst it was indeed an almost immaculate car, he could immediately point to an area which had previously had a 'good, but not perfect' repair.

Both Duncan and Keith can't quite wrap their heads around 'good'… they just see 'short-cut'.

Eric and I are going to have to tread carefully with this Roller as it’s a tidy specimen, but perfection is in the currency of arms and legs. I think we've got an approach worked out that Duncan and Keith will be comfortable with, but our techs always (always) lean toward the proper job being done.

Lewis has started the recommissioning of the mechanicals with new spark plugs and new brake lines (a job-and-a-half on these hydraulic monsters). I can't wait to get it out on the road.

Much more important news though is our new MOT facility. Roy is manning the station and we've also got Keith stepping, all trained up and ready to go. It's been a while coming but we are absolutely powering through them and it's a really important service that we can now offer customers.

We can MOT as well as fix and prepare cars for the annual test. A guy Eric and I used to work with (back in the day) would describe it as a 'soup to nuts' service. I got the gist of what he used to say but always thought to myself 'I've never ordered nuts for pudding'…… anyway, I digress.

In the wider classics scene the auction market appears to still be relatively soft. The Classic Car Auction (Everyman classics) has just kicked-off online and I'm watching with interest. There's a 1985 Rolls Silver Spur with only 7k miles coming later on. It's guided at £18-£20k. I can't quite believe that. It strikes me that this sort of car will be worth significantly more in 5 years. Whilst chatting with Eric I couldn't dwell on the subject for too long as I could see us combining two lots of man-maths to make an answer that even a small child would have questioned…..I've had another quiet word with myself 'no buying stuff unaccompanied'….and then abandoned my auction registration midway through, proving that I can display nun-like temperance when needed (well, that may be overstating things a tad..).

Next week sees a further addition to the tech squad at CCM as we welcome Kaspars to the merry gang, taking our tech count to 10! We've come a long way over the last coupla years, we really have.

Finally, a lil shout out to Ingrid who has been absolutely nailing the social media activity recently. Check out our Instagram feed and you can see some of the time-lapse footage of 'day-in-the-life' activity at CCM towers. Watch this space for further developments!

Drive steady people and get out an enjoy your classics whilst the weather is still with us.

And so to this week's photos.

Justin pokes an Morris with a small stick

This week we redefine the word 'clean'. Honestly, you could eat your lunch off almost any surface...

.... I don't think it has ever seen rain

We've had a few engine re-builds of recent. Lewis in full-on concentration mode

Jim, doing something I don't understand to something I don't recognise.....

A moment of magic as Keith pulls a 2p piece from Simon's ear. It's his favourite party trick and never ceases to amaze

Eric about to bid at another auction (....probably)

Iconic Renault GT Turbo landed this week. Very pretty

Faffing with the Roller's leather. It's the only thing I'm allowed to do on the basis that it's not a customer car and I can't hurt anyone or break anything....