Restoration
We look back on a year of huge restorative endeavours, from vintage sports cars to modern-classic technology. Vote for your favourite and you could win a workshop’s-worth of quality tools too
Author SAM DAWSON Photo credit STUART COLLINS, JONATHAN FLEETWOOD, JONATHAN JACOB, LAURENS PARSONS, ROSS PERRY & IAN SKELTON
In association with
Every month, Classic Cars celebrates the skills that keep the old-car world alive. Epic Restoration sees complete wrecks brought back from oblivion, iconic cars brought up to a level of perfection not even their manufacturers envisaged, and motorsport and car-industry heritage saved.
But the stars of this regular feature series are not really the cars, but the craftspeople who build them. It’s in their wide range of skills, artistic abilities, technical precision and mastery of often-ancient and forgotten techniques that the real key to these cars’ salvation lies.
Now, in Epic Restoration of the Year, we’re giving you the chance to nominate your favourite renovation project featured in the last 12 months. And together with Machine Mart, the chance to win the kind of quality tools to enable you to undertake an epic restoration of your own – or just get round to that job you keep putting off.
‘The craftsmanship and attention to detail in the restorations are as impressive as the quality of the overall finish, and the difficulty of the projects has been completely jaw dropping! All of the entrants really should be incredibly proud of their work’
James Lewin, Machine Mart
‘We had to get it finished for the Goodwood Revival’
Year: 1977 Make: Alfa Romeo Model: Alfasud Giardinetta
RESTORED BY: HC CLASSICS
RESTORATION HIGHLIGHTS
Seventies Alfa Romeos are notorious for rusting away. However, HC Classics is always up for a challenge, especially when unusual estate cars are concerned. Not only was its subject an Alfasud, it was a South African-built Giardinetta estate model.
This complicated things enormously. Naturally, it was thoroughly rotten and demanded ‘welding, welding, nothing but welding!’ as restorer Ilja Szklinski put it. But in addition, the unusual two-box coachwork necessitated rare trim and suspension parts that simply aren’t readily available even through the usual Alfa channels. New old-stock parts ended up being tracked down as far afield as Japan, Argentina and the US.
It also drew HC Classics out of its comfort zone. Usually, Richard Carp’s team specialises in British luxury cars, in particular Bristol, Range Rover and Bentley. With this in mind, working with vinyl, rubber and plastichrome was a huge departure for the team, which is itself divided between sites in the UK and Poland, with restoration projects travelling between countries depending on which specialists are required next.
Despite the apparently humble subject, the restorers embraced cutting-edge technology when restoring the Alfa, using a mobile high-pressure water blaster instead of chemical dipping to avoid weakening the structure while de-rusting it, and using a 3D printer to replicate unobtainable parts for the heater unit.
‘The only way to rectify it was to go back to square one’
Year: 1962 Make: Maserati Model: 3500GTI
RESTORED BY: PROJECT HEAVEN
RESTORATION HIGHLIGHTS
Few exotic classics have been quite so badly bodged as Will Tomkins’ Maserati 3500GTI. As well as having a misshapen bodyshell clearly full of filler, it also transpired to have a rear axle from a Reliant Scimitar, upside-down rear halfshaft bearings, a Toyota gearbox, a piece of garden hose standing in for a fuel line, an air conditioning unit from a house, and, perhaps most surprisingly, the engine’s gaskets were discovered to be artfully made out of cardboard cereal boxes stuck down with bathroom sealant. Originally intending to restore it as cheaply as possible, Tomkins soon realised that starting from scratch actually made more sense than trying to rectify such amateurish bodges.
Thankfully, he could call upon Project Heaven to build his dream Maserati. The finished result has an electronic fuel injection system hidden inside the original Lucas mechanical-injection housing, and a modern ZF five-speed gearbox made by the same company whose original transmission had been supplanted by the Toyota unit.
The sheer craftsmanship involved in completing the Sixties Maserati coupé has been exquisite. From having to mix the Blue Sera paint colour itself as no commercially available shade is sufficiently accurate, to straightening out and re-welding the maze of steel Superleggera tubes lying beneath the aluminium bodywork, Project Heaven’s result is both usable and show-worthy.
‘I really wanted to do one last big project’
Year: 1968 Make: Alfa Romeo Model: Giulia GTA
RESTORED BY: COLIN WILSON-BROWN, TIM DOYLE, MICK MITCHELL, VIN SHARPE
RESTORATION HIGHLIGHTS
Having failed to get Alfa Romeo restorer Tim Doyle to sell him his Giulia GTA to restore, Australian enthusiast Colin Wilson-Brown tracked down his own. He found the perfect candidate on eBay – an Autodelta race-prepared GTA Junior Corsa, with period race history at Daytona. But, it was in New York.
Undeterred after GTA expert Vin Sharpe verified its authenticity via photos, Wilson-Brown bought it without seeing the car in person. When the project arrived in Melbourne, salt water had somehow got into the shipping container and damaged the crankshaft and various suspension components beyond repair. The original engine was later tracked down to Atlanta, Georgia.
During the stripdown, Doyle realised that the bodywork was misaligned, thanks to a poor repair following a serious frontend racing smash. The entire front end of the car needed removing and reforming on a genuine original Alfa Romeo factory repair jig, and the thin-gauge, racing-specification aluminium bodywork needed double-TIG welding.
The resulting restored GTA hasn’t just won awards at both the celebrated Motorclassica in Melbourne and Auto Italia in Canberra classic events, it’s also returned to the track, taking on Phillip Island and Eastern Creek. So much so that Wilson-Brown doesn’t really use it anywhere else. ‘As a race car, it’s really not very happy on the road,’ he admits.
‘The damage was worse than we first thought’
Year: 1936 Make: Fiat Model: Balilla
RESTORED BY: DTR EUROPEAN SPORTS CARS
RESTORATION HIGHLIGHTS
After Craig Jones’ son crashed his rare 1936 Fiat Balilla 508S at Prescott while trying to beat his father’s best time up the hill at a Vintage Sports Car Club event, Jones returned it to the specialist he bought it from originally – DTR – for repairs. Unfortunately it didn’t take long to reveal that the damage was far more severe than originally anticipated, and years of racing had resulted in a scruffy, hacked-about car. As one of just 20 survivors from a tiny 36-car production run, Jones realised the responsibility of returning the Balilla to its best condition.
After DTR’s Rob Reed re-jigged the crash-bent chassis, he set to work on the elegant aluminium coachwork, soon discovering that at some point the bulkhead had been removed to lighten the car for racing. Looking for a suitable former, he beat out a replacement panel over his thigh. Meanwhile, workshop manager Andy Warboys delved into period Fiat tuning archives to fabricate parts for the rare 995cc engine. The result is reputedly capable of 100mph.
Will Jones find out if it’s true though? The gleaming finished article has since returned to Brooklands, but not quite VSCC competition events – yet.
‘I agreed to buy the car without even seeing it’
Year: 1967 Make: Ford Model: Mustang 390GT
RESTORED BY: CONCOURS SPORTSCAR RESTORATION
RESTORATION HIGHLIGHTS
Were it not for a quick-thinking worker at a Canberra tip and household waste site in 1970, this Ford Mustang definitely wouldn’t have stood a chance. So far as previous owner-racer Chris Brauer was concerned, it was a crash writeoff good only for stripping its usable parts and junking the rest.
But this was one of the most famous racing Mustangs of all, Bob Jane’s 1967 Bathurst winner. The rescue allowed for a second life as a dirt-track Speedway racer only for it to deteriorate again. But collector David Bowden was determined to track the car down and restore it – even if the remains of the bodyshell split in two when he picked it up from the farm where it had sat rotting since 1978.
After the decision was made to get it race-ready again, Bowden and Gavin King of Concours Sportscar Restoration tracked down magazines, newspaper articles and period photos to get as many details correct as possible. The salvageable remains of the rotten bodywork and chassis rails were grafted into a replacement Mustang monocoque, while John Garuti of Cobra Automotive built a big-block V8 to the correct specification – on the opposite side of the Pacific. Now it pounds round racetracks again – Bob Jane would be pleased.
‘The biggest issue has been working out where to stop’
Year: 1987 Make: Ford Model: Sierra RS500 Cosworth
RESTORED BY: PAUL LINFOOT RACING
RESTORATION HIGHLIGHTS
How do you preserve such rare, incredible originality? This was the daunting question facing Paul Linfoot when rally champion David Annat presented him with his Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth to restore. Annat had bought the car new in 1987 and used it as his daily driver for a few years. But in the Nineties, rallying intervened and for want of a new exhaust, it had been pushed into the back of his mechanic’s garage. There it had remained for 27 years until Annat had a change of heart – he wanted it restored in time to celebrate his 80th birthday.
Linfoot had to tread a very fine line between restoration and preservation, given that the car had never been crashed, repaired, welded, modified or rebuilt. Having ensured the engine ran, Linfoot and his colleague Steve Norris retained as much as they could of the car. The bodyshell underside was painstakingly stripped before being wire-brushed and steam-cleaned on a rotisserie. The preservation quest meant every original bolt was sandblasted and zinc plated so they could be reused.
Cleverly, rather than a stripdown and respray, Linfoot’s team was able to retain the original paint. Steve Wood carefully removed the bodyshell’s dents, while detailers Adam Peel and Tim Walker used deionising wash to decontaminate the paintwork, before meticulous polishing followed by a ceramic coating. Sure enough, the car was restored in time to be presented to David Annat – and the public – at the Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show at the NEC.
‘It’s so good to be able to share the history’
Year: 1978 Make: Ford Model: Granada MkII estate
RESTORED BY: AKR
RESTORATION HIGHLIGHTS
Not even the most fervent of Ford Granada enthusiasts would be sufficiently moved to take a 1978 MkII estate that had been sat, rotting and unused, for 16 years. But the project that owner Mick Lower presented model specialist Julian Peapell with was no ordinary Granada. Adorned with motorsport livery, a custom roofrack and harbouring an unusual fivespeed, fuel-injected V6 specification, it spent its early life supporting Ford’s all-conquering Escort MkII rally cars, hauling spare parts and following all the action between the service parks.
Having rescued a parts-donor estate from a banger racer, Peapell set about swapping over the better examples of more generic Granada parts, including the doors, bonnet and tailgate. New rear wings, however, needed making from scratch in three-piece sections.
A difficult combination of sheer size, period rally livery and in-period partial resprays complicated the painting of the Granada. Dave Boggiani had to use a spectrophotometer to get the exact colours right for the stripes, which were directly painted on rather than stickers, and had to be evenly sprayed to avoid sitting proud of the Diamond White coat.
Perhaps the toughest job was the car’s defining feature – the rally-support equipment on the roofrack. Peapell needed to completely refabricate it, addressing original design flaws which had damaged the original roof and doors.
‘We’re not buying another dismantled car again!’
Year: 1962 Make: Jaguar Model: E-type Series 1 3.8 coupé
RESTORED BY: CLAYTON CLASSICS
RESTORATION HIGHLIGHTS
Early Series 1 3.8 Jaguar E-types represent the purest of the line. So when the opportunity came up for Clayton Classics to buy one that had been stripped down and interred in a lockup garage since the Seventies, proprietor Dean Allsop leapt at the chance. It had been offered as a parts donor, but Allsop banked on the ‘boxes upon boxes of bits’ that accompanied the stripped-down bodyshell containing the rest of the car. Unfortunately, they didn’t. Trim was notably absent, as were the engine’s ancillaries; lights and wheels were beyond saving, and the car’s floor was completely rotten.
As Nick Reeves discovered, fitting replacement body panels after cutting out the rusty ones wasn’t straightforward either. Hammer-work was needed to get them to fit, and once restored the panel-fitting process was painstaking.
Phil Beveridge rebuilt the worn-out, incomplete engine, and the E-type was reworked with a five-speed Tremec gearbox and air conditioning.
The car was taken round shows as a demonstrator, and sold to its owner mid-restoration complicated matters, as Allsop had held off choosing colour or trim options until the buyer picked them. At one point, the bonnet was painted three different shades – blue, green and gold – so a decision could be made.
‘Years take their toll on Mokes more than other Minis’
Year: 1965 Make: Mini Model: Moke
RESTORED BY: CRAFTED CLASSICS & TUNING
RESTORATION HIGHLIGHTS
This Mini Moke had been a cherished member of the Hickman family since 1978. Despite some remedial work in 2004, it had seriously deteriorated, and then in 2020 the cylinder head gasket blew. But what began as a few fix-up jobs for Chris Hamilton’s team at Crafted Classics & Tuning became a complete restoration.
The engine was the main concern. Unusually for a Mini Moke, thanks to a previous owner, it packed a 998cc Cooper engine. A worn cylinder block and crankshaft meant the replacement head gasket soon became a full engine rebuild. In the meantime, the shotblasted body tub revealed a patchwork of old repairs, most of which were holding, but the body needed hammering, shrinking and heat-treating to get it all straight again.
Stephen Blower carefully built up a new set of subframes away from the car, waiting until they were reunited with the monocoque before fitting and finetuning the suspension; and finishing touches included a new windscreen to replace the cracked original. At the end of the process, what had started out as just a replacement head gasket had turned into a diligent quest for perfection with a pricetag of tens of thousands of pounds.
‘You can’t just go and buy spares for these cars’
Year: 1994 Make: Nissan Model: Skyline GT-R
RESTORED BY: ANDY MIDDLEHURST
RESTORATION HIGHLIGHTS
Andy Middlehurst has built this Nissan Skyline GT-R twice. First time around, it was from a kit of parts sourced via Nismo and Janspeed in order to create the car which delivered success in production-saloon racing for three consecutive years. The second time, it was rescuing the Japanese car from a second life of brutal modifications and motorsport abuse.
Middlehurst re-acquired the car via a part-exchange at his dealership on a new GT-R, and his old racer became a parttime project alongside his main business selling, repairing and race-preparing Nissans. He knew the car intimately from his days racing it, but restoration meant rectifying drastic weight-saving measures and hunting down the original, but worn-out, engine and rebuilding it.
But the GT-R landscape had changed drastically. Whereas once parts were available off-the-shelf, Middlehurst found himself scouring Japan for rare Nismo bits, as well as rebuilding the incredibly complex gearbox with its complicated G-sensor-controlled and electronically-switchable four-wheel drive system, and recreating the unique Gordon Birtwistledesigned suspension from memory.
The result is a sought-after showstopper chosen to represent the R32 GT-R model at the NEC when its 35th anniversary was celebrated at Autosport 2024.
‘The car had arrived in more than 30 crates’
Year: 1981 Make: Ford Model: Escort XR3
RESTORED BY: TOLMAN ENGINEERING
RESTORATION HIGHLIGHTS
Tolman Engineering is best-known for its radical Peugeot 205 GTi restomod, with digital dashboard, 16v engine and 140mph potential. But the aim of this 1980 Ford Escort XR3 restoration was very different – one of complete originality.
A restoration project given up on after the owner had the bodyshell acid-dipped only to find it peppered with rust holes, it presented Tolman with a potential clean-sheet. The car had already been stripped, but was in a very bad way. The structure had been weakened both by rust and a rear-end impact, corrosion had been made worse by the acid-dip, and bodywork specialist Victor Ronan had to cut huge chunks out of the structure to refabricate and reweld once on the jig.
Elsewhere, even after rebuilding, the original CVH engine turned out to still be fitted with one of a faulty batch of pistons which needed re-machining down to stop them ticking against the cylinder head, and an original-style carburettor took days to track down in Germany.
The internal steel channels of the sunroof needed transplanting from a physically identical donor MkIV Escort after the XR3’s originals deteriorated beyond repair, and rebuilding the dashboard included having to repaint the faded instrument needles. The seats were even retrimmed with NOS fabric. Tolman’s next Escort is an XR3i restomod, but this XR3 proves they can commit to total originality when they want to as well.
‘In 1958 it had been put in a barn which then collapsed on it’
Year: 1931 Make: Austin Model: Seven Swallow Sports
RESTORED BY: IAN LE RICHE AND CLAYTON CLASSICS
RESTORATION HIGHLIGHTS
For any Jaguar specialist, the opportunity to restore the vehicle which marks the very origins of founder William Lyons’ car-building ambitions is irresistible. So when Dean Allsop of Clayton Classics came across a barn-find Austin Seven Swallow Sports at auction, he had to place the winning bid.
However, what arrived at his workshop was really in such a dire state, it had the very restorers who would resurrect it wondering what their boss had done. The car had sat in the remains of a collapsed barn since 1958, and by the time the team’s investigative stripdown was complete, the quantity of rust flakes swept up weighed almost as much as what was left of the car itself.
Allsop called in master coachbuilder Ian Le Riche, custodian of Swallow Sports body-bucks, to save what was possible of the bodywork and recreate what wasn’t. In the end, only the bonnet could be saved; the incredibly complex ‘bumblebee’ tail needed recreating in the old manner, with English wheels, hand-shaped aluminium as well as an air seasoned ash frame.
In the meantime, Allsop’s team set to work on the rusty chassis, seized engine and dangerous mystery-source brakes, all in time for the car to get to Coventry MotoFest under its own power, even if it was a hair-raising drive.
Cast your vote for the chance to win irresistible prizes
of Machine Mart premium workshop kit from a prize pot of more than £2500
FIRST PRIZE
CLARKE PRO396 222-PIECE TOOL SET WITH SEVEN-DRAWER TOOL CABINET
With a pull handle and swivelling castor wheels it’s easy to move around your garage or workshop and its seven drawers keep more than 200 tools laid out in moulded inserts so you can easily find that spanner when you need it. It comes with three sizes of socket set, three wrench sets including Torx, offset ring spanners, screwdrivers, pliers, hex keys, cutters, tinsnips, pincers and punches.
CLARKE CWB1205P FIVE-DRAWER WORKBENCH
With a useful working space of 1.2m x 0.6m and a 38mm-thick composite worktop, this steel-structure bench is ideal for tackling everything from delicate carburettor rebuilds to hefty cylinder head work. Underneath, there’s a lockable cupboard to stop the family walking off with your most precious tools as well as five storage drawers on roller-bearing runners to supplement the storage shelf.
CLARKE CP185 SANDER POLISHER
Thanks to its six-stage adjustable speed and D-handle, it can be used with the 180mm synthetic lambswool bonnet and backing pad for polishing and compounding tired paintwork like a professional. For more serious jobs, the backing pad’s loop and Velcro mounting allows the polishing bonnet to be easily changed for a range of abrasive pads, and a power lock-on feature will spare you of finger fatigue.
CLARKE CTJ1800AB ALUMINIUM RACING TROLLEY JACK
A versatile design combines a shallow saddle – designed to slip beneath low cars – with high lift to give a comfortable working height once secured on axle stands. A wide rubber contact pad makes lifting safer and avoids damage to the car underside, and its progressive twist handle allows precise control of the hydraulic piston. Aluminium construction keeps weight down, despite a large 640mm x 300mm footprint for stability.
CLARKE JETSTAR 1950PSI PRESSURE WASHER (230V)
A lightweight and compact pressure washer, the Jetstar delivers a maximum flow rate of 400 litres per hour with a maximum pump pressure of 1950psi. It includes a lance with adjustable nozzle to tailor the water jet for cleaning off heavy dirt or gentle rinsing of sensitive areas. Ideal for shifting salt and mud or keeping your classic looking its best in between use, it also has a large detergent tank and auto-stop function.
CLARKE RAIDER 15/1050 14.5CFM AIR COMPRESSOR (230V)
Powered by a V-twin, 3bhp pump, this 100-litre direct-drive air compressor can be used to power tools like paint spray nozzles, nail guns, heavy-duty staplers, powerful polishers and sanders. It features twin air outlets so two tools can be powered simultaneously, and generates a maximum working pressure of 116psi.
CLARKE DEVIL 370SPD 2.8KW REMOTE CONTROLLED QUARTZ HALOGEN INFRARED HEATER
This compact heater has the power to make your garage a warm and pleasant place to be as the season turns colder. Its halogen lamps use infrared light to warm any solid object in its path rather than attempting to heat the entire garage. And 95 percent of its energy turns to heat. Features include six heat settings, remote control, and a directional swivel head.
CLARKE JSM1200 1200A JUMPSTART
Powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, this award-winning compact jump-starter weighs just 498g and incorporates a torch. Its portability brings a sense of reassurance that you can jump-start a car with a flat battery wherever it lets you down. You can also use it to check how much power is left in a car battery via its digital screen once it’s hooked up. It also has a pair of USB ports to charge more than just your car, such as your phone.
CLARKE CEOBDPRO ENGINE DIAGNOSTIC/ EOBD FAULT CODE READER
This compact fault code reader is an essential weapon in solving problems on classics built from 1996. Its connector allows you to interrogate the engine’s ECU, retrieving fault codes to help diagnose problems. It can also clear codes after repairs are complete, or check for genuine recurring ones. Live data and VIN-retrieval functions also feature.
THREE SEPARATE RUNNERS-UP PRIZES
CLARKE MIG107 NO-GAS/GAS 100-AMP WELDER (230V)
This unit makes welding simple, with its 13-amp three-pin plug-and-play operation, generating 100A and 4140W. It’s hard-wired to a MIG torch, so no need to buy any accessories to start welding. It can be used with or without shielding gas, has an adjustable wire feed speed, and can weld steel, copper, magnesium, silicon bronze and nickel to a material thickness of 0.8-4mm.
CLARKE PRO389 62-PIECE ½” & ¼” DRIVE SOCKET AND BIT SET
This 62-piece tool set comes in a carry case packed tools. The extensive range of ½-inch drive sockets is supplemented with ¼-inch drive to help work on smaller fittings or when space is tight. The reversible ½-inch and ¼-inch drive ratchet spanners feature quick release buttons and there’s a range of extension bars. Hex, screwdriver and Torx bits will cover most sizes and there’s a pair of spark plug sockets.
CLARKE CHT805 METRIC/IMPERIAL COMBINATION/ STUBBY SPANNER 32-PIECE SET
This 32-piece CHT805 combination spanner set from Clarke brings huge versatility to your hands. Not only does it cover all of the most popular metric and imperial sizes, but 12 of them are duplicated in short-handled stubby format, just like you see in professional workshops and garages. Perfect for when there’s insufficient space to turn a full-size spanner.
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