Classic car mechanic’s weekly motoring – Restoring drama

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

You wouldn't believe the effort it takes to get from left to right. Not one of our restorations, but you get the scale of the journey!

Last week was a busy one in the workshop. Eric, Ingrid and Izzi were all away on a well-earned break, leaving Siobhan with the unenviable task of cracking on with this quarter’s VAT return amongst many other things. When they get back later this week it’s immediately off to the annual Festival of Speed at Goodwood (for Eric at least). I should imagine that there will be continental sweet gifts showered on the team for this outrageous liberty of back-to-back leisure time (this isn’t a hint Eric (liquorice all-sorts… that’s the hint)).

The Festival of Speed is my own personal favourite day of the year. Whilst there is more of a focus on modern machinery, and in recent years a big up-tick in EV interest, there is always plenty of great classics to see. Even in just the car park. A few years ago, on the walk into the grounds I spotted a lovely BMW 635 in Misano red. Exactly the same model as one I used to own in the late nineties. I sold it for a pittance as it had fairly high mileage by the time I had come to move it on. As I got closer to this particular 635 I noticed that is also had the same reg as my old one…..it was my old one! What are the chances! It looked great.

This year I’ll be on the lookout for any old Jag XJs. Eric and my project XJ is moving on at pace with Duncan the Wizard’s deft touch on all things fabrication (supported by me, having just been promoted from rubbing down paint, to rubbing down filler. It’s a big promotion and my mother is very proud).

Progress is great and even as a complete amateur in this game (hence the separation of me from customer cars - maintained by a thinly veiled threat of violence) I am stunned by the level of effort needed to prep a car for paint. It wouldn’t surprise me if the time ratio was something over 10/1 prep vs paint. Probably higher. When we get classics in to do body work and fabrication, you would be shocked by the quality of earlier work we uncover at times. In one way I can understand it. Previous owners keen to patch something up so it looks good superficially and can be moved on quickly - so short-cuts are taken. But when it comes to our customer cars and our own cars, we can only do the job properly. Standards are standards.

My experience with the Jag is that there are no cheap short-cuts. Restoring classic cars is not a cheap business and the chance of a ‘buy it cheap, restore, sell for a profit’ are slim at best.

Most of our customers are not in that game though, they are restoring something they love, many for sentimental reasons. We try and give an accurate estimate of costs, but until we get into it, it’s often difficult to fully assess until the work is underway. As always, we keep our customers up to date with progress, and are always more than happy to walk you round what we’ve found and agree a plan.

Out there somewhere is the next owner of our Jag. That person is likely going to get a restored car at much less than the cost and effort it took to get there. I can’t bring myself to think of that though, I’m just enjoying the process of seeing this restoration up close and can’t wait to drive the finished product.

We’ll be back to a full office shortly when the Wickers return from their jet-setting, in the meantime the team are cracking on doing what the team does best. (The Wicker reference will likely be lost on anyone under 45!)

Take care out there and maybe see some of you at Goodwood. And remember, if you have an old classic in need of some love and attention, give us a call for a chat.

Have a great week.

Olli

Duncan the Wizard was all over this lovely looking drift car. A fair amount of welding work needed. Looks great when all cleaned up. Soon it'll be sideways

The average human is 50% water. This week Keith has had me on a 2 litre a day regime. Did you know that an avocado is also 50% water. Apparently bananas are 74% water. I feel more banana than I have done in a long while....thanks Keith!

I've always loved the 200SX. Nineties Japanese design had a curvaceous beauty to it, don't you think?

This colour suits this car soooo well

This is the sort of thing the Wizard tackles every day of the week. It frightens me

Jag week at CCM. Is this the longest Jag ever made? Parking at the supermarket only advisable with advanced notice to berth

More wizardry at work

Eric's latest 'off balance sheet purchase' has been rumbled and a quick throttling is delivered to remind him of the correct pre-purchase approval process

Duncan puts it on.... I take it off..... a day in the life of filler skim

I think he nicked the wand of Harry Potter. Duncan spent the rest of the day using it to make me put the kettle on

Final Jag pic, I promise. When we sort stuff, we sort it properly. (Note: I had no hand in any of this magic)

This week's 'what the hell is that' picture is from Alfie. Yep, I've absolutely no idea. Looks important though

This modern classic comes with a throttle warning.... more about this soon

In an unashamed move to curry favour, I sent the lovely Mrs Olli a present this week. It went down well (although I'm waiting for the 'ok, what have you done' interrogation). I insisted she named it after the gaffer. She refused. 2 hours later she text me to let me know she's now named it Erica. Close enough I thought...