Once again the Mille Miglia has been and gone. For the 5th year running Dr Richard Lisman and Clive Doyle entered our old favourite EPE 97 which once again ran faultlessly. I was delighted to receive the following emails: -

Thanks so much for all you have done. EPE was sensational and we finished first amongst the Americans and received a very nice prize for the highest USA finisher. Wonderful time etc. Richard.

Congratulations to all the staff from Richard and I, on another successful Mille Miglia. This was our best effort so far and was a tribute to everyone concerned in the carefull preparation of EPE. Clive.

I was very fortunate and honoured to be offered a drive by Jack Dalessandro in the lovely 1955 Alfa Romeo 1900 SS Zagato that he had bought from Holland just before the event. This car was delivered direct to Brescia from Holland where it had been prepared for the event by the vendor. When Jack and I arrived in Brescia it was the first time he had seen the car and as the photo shows it is incredibly beautiful. The first section of the Mille Miglia is from Brescia to Ferrara and because it is at night, Jack asked me to take the wheel. The car is delightful to drive and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. When we arrived in Ferrara at 2 am all the cars were being held in a collecting area whilst we were sorted into the correct order to drive through the finishing point. This event is quite fantastic for the enthusiasm of all the Italians and even at 3 am a huge crowd was gathered to see us in. Unfortunately during the rather protracted holding period the Alfas engine started to get rather hot and a missfire was noticed. After just a few hours sleep I had a chance to check the car over and we discovered a small hole in the radiator and further investigation indicated a blown cylinder head gasket so it was the end of the event for us. I must say this was a huge disappointment, especially for Jack who had never even driven his car.

The Alfa is now back in our workshop to investigate and repair the problem, so watch this space for a further report.

April 2006

My how the time flies when you are having fun! It seems only a moment ago I was wishing you all a Happy Christmas and here we are at Easter. Mind you the weather here in England still feels like the middle of winter with 2 inches of snow in parts of the South of England.

We are now getting very close to the Mille Miglia and our old Lagonda friend EPE 97 was shipped in from New York at Christmas for the normal pre Mille Miglia servicing and she will go back to the States after the event. Having looked after this historic car for the last 20 years, it always gives me a thrill when she arrives and I can drive him again. On New Years day I took her for a brisk canter, ending up at the birth place of the Vintage Sports Car Club -- the Phoenix in Hartley Wintney where she was much admired as usual. Much to my surprise and pleasure EPE's owner asked me if I would like to drive an Alfa in the Mille Miglia for a friend of his and I am sure that you can all guess my reply and the speed with which I gave it!  Although I have driven in the event some years ago it was a great honour to be invited to do it again and I am really looking forward to it.

Two of the three major rebuilds we have in the workshop are progressing well. The Lagonda M45 Rapide has now been painted and goes to the trim shop at the end of April. The engine is still at the machine shop, but hopefully we will have it rebuilt and ready to fit by the time the car comes back.

The Lagonda we are preparing for the Peking Paris rally has now had all the front suspension, brakes and steering dismantled and sent away for crack testing. It is often forgotten that these cars are now 70 years old and 70 year old metal can suffer from fatigue. Some years ago, a friend of mine had a stub axle break and the car went into a ditch seriously injuring his passenger and this made me realize that it is imperative to crack test all vulnerable parts on every major rebuild. Further work on the car includes making a boot because the originally one had been blanked off some time ago. Once this has been done we will be making an extra removable fuel tank to fit inside the boot to provide sufficient fuel to cover the vast distances in China.

At this time of year we always get all our regular customers bringing their cars in for a spring service but on top of that we were unexpectedly asked to finish the rebuild on a 2 litre supercharged Lagonda whose owner had died. The rebuild had been meticulously carried out over a period of 20 years and just needed finishing. This has now been completed and we have been asked to sell the car by the family. You can see the result on the For Sale page.

December 2005

 A Fantastic Opportunity
&
A Happy Christmas to all our readers.

Now I have your attention, I would like to explain that, next June I will be three score years and thirteen and  want to semi retire and hand over the business, I say semi retire because after a suitable handover period I will be very happy to stay on as a Consultant, if required. I have had a wonderful 20 plus years since starting Cedar Classic Cars, met lots of people who have become customers and good friends. I am very keen to see the business continue and expand and feel it is now time for a younger person to take the helm.

Cedar Classic Cars has gained an international reputation since I started the company in the 1980s, not only for restoration but also for the sale of fine cars.  This is a unique opportunity to acquire a busy and fully equipped car restoration business, situated in a charming rural, riverside situation near Hartley Wintney and it comes with a very skilled workforce, at least that is what they tell me!

So please don't kill me in the stampede!

Having put that idea out just before Christmas, it is time to thank all our customers for their support over the last year and to wish them continued enjoyment with their cars in 2006. I would also like to assure them that it is my intention to ensure that they will receive the same level of service as always and any changes will be to everyone’s benefit.

Since my last update, the 1903 Martini that we rebuilt 9 years ago and have looked after ever since has once again successfully completed the London to Brighton run with no trouble, although the occupants got more than a little wet this year!

The 1926 Vulcan that we are rebuilding for the same owner gets a little closer to completion and the engine is now nearly finished. This project has been a major task, because so many parts were missing and have had to be made in our machine shop.

We are at the moment building two 200 BHP Meadows 4.5 litre engines, one of which is for a car that we are preparing for the Peking/Paris rally. Obviously for this sort of rally everything has to be strong and in first class order. This car was found to need considerable work to the ash frame and the aluminium skin has had to be removed for repairs. Watch this space for progress!

Closer to completion is an M45 Rapide, shown below, that has had a chassis up rebuild to the highest specification and it will be going to the paint shop in the early New Year. This car may well be for sale so if anyone is interested, they could at this stage choose their own colour scheme and state of engine tune. 

September 2005, 

First of all I hope you like the new look web site? We all felt that the old one needed a face lift and handed it over to www.SiteWizard.co.uk to play with. I can highly recommend them as being very helpful, efficient, and quick, but best of all very reasonably priced. We think the site looks great but the huge advantage is that it enables me to make all the changes myself. So expect more frequent updates to the “Whats New”page once I have learnt the tricks! Just recently I have been kept very busy selling Nigel Broderick’s collection of cars as can be seen in the For Sale page and can say that the market seems very strong for our type of cars. I also had a trip out to the States to appraise a low chassis Invicta for a customer and am glad to say that it is now on its way back to the UK after spending over 40 years in the USA. Within the last week I have been asked to sell a low chassis Invicta which is not only an ex works TT car but also a Louis Vuiton concours winner, you can’t get any better than that! See the For Sale page.

The frantic work load of the winter has carried on through the summer with new customers bringing in cars for work. We seem at the moment to be full of Lagondas as opposed to Invictas; however we always look after Murray Smith’s “Speedy” the well known ex works Invicta. After the dyno work on the engine we had to prepare the car for the BRDC race meeting at Silverstone on the 30^th July. It was a two driver race so Murray was sharing the driving with Martin Stretton who used to race Simon Bull’s Invicta so successfully in the early 1990’s. Martin lived up to his nickname of “The Mighty Mouse” because he was also sharing the driving of the race winning BMW so a carefully timed pit stop was needed. Murray drove “Speedy” to Silverstone, practiced and then came 5^th and was only beaten by the Edwards/Stretton very quick BMW328, Brock-Jest’s Alfa Le Mans, Pilkington’s Talbot Daracq and Burnett’s Talbot 105. I think Murray would have been 4^th except for the small whoops! (See first photo) The second photo shows the Mighty Mouse at work! Speedy managed a best lap time of 2.27.283 which was 10 seconds a lap quicker than any of the other Meadows 4.5 litre cars and 6 seconds faster than the Lagonda V12 Le Mans. A very creditable effort, well done Murray and Martin.

The car ran impeccably throughout the meeting and Murray drove it back to Hartley Wintney on the Sunday and all we have had to do was adjust the brakes!

I managed to get away for the annual pilgrimage to the Festival of Speed where I bumped into Nick Harley for whom we rebuilt the engine of his very beautiful Lagonda LG6 Rapide back in the early 1990’s. Nick reported that he has now done over 46,000 miles, the engine has never missed a beat and it is going better than ever. A great testimonial, thank you Nick.

 We seem to have a preponderance of engine rebuilds at the moment and the two photographs show Mike Bowden putting the finishing touches to an LG6 engine whilst Bob MacFarlane is working on a Vulcan engine.

Unfortunately Alan Fiddler has retired at the age of 65 after working with us for 8 years; we miss him and wish him the best of luck in his retirement. Joining the team is Glen Burnage who has raced a Caterham for 6 years and hill climbed an MGB for 5 years, doing all the rebuilding, tweaking and preparation himself. Welcome to the team Glen. 

My wife, Sally and I took Murray Smith’s Invicta “Speedy” to the 75^th Anniversary of the Invicta S Type. This wonderful event was brilliantly organised by Jo Moss of the Invicta Car Club and 30 S Types, out of the 69 known, attended together with 14 other types of Invicta including 3 of the new S1’s. Martin Kolnberger from Germany did a splendid job and organised a convoy of 11 S Types from the continent.  It was fantastic to see all these cars together and for me to be reunited with 19 cars that have been through our workshop over the years.

Finally for this update here is a photo taken at the Lagonda club’s AGM which was a great day out blessed by fine weather.  Three cars we look after won their classes in the Concours. On the left is Paul Collins with his lovely Lagonda LG6 Rapide, in the centre is Alexander Antrim with his 2 Litre and on the right Mike Bowden with Charles Chadwyke-Healey’s V12 Rapide.

June 2005

I cannot remember a year when we have been as busy throughout the winter, with urgent work that has to be finished by a given date. Anyway, I am going to use the pressure of organising this as the excuse for not having updated this page of the web site before now!

On 21st October 2004 we were given the job to carry out a full mechanical restoration and build and fit one of our quick engines for a German client in his low chassis Invicta. The condition was that the car had to be ready to compete in this years Mille Miglia. This effectively gave us 6 months, without at that stage knowing exactly how bad many components were on the car! Anyway, after a full mechanical rebuild and completing an engine that produced 183 BHP on the dyno, the car was collected from us at the beginning of May. The owner competed in the Mille Miglia coming 17th in Class and 76th overall beating all other Invictas and Lagondas entered.

A word here on the power figure achieved on the dyno - the owner stipulating that the car should remain on the original exhaust system accounts for the slightly lower figure than normal.

We were also asked by Murray Smith to see if we could achieve any more power from the engine fitted to dear old "Speedy" but still retaining the two slightly larger carburettors we fitted last year. We therefore took the engine to the dyno and spent 2 days "tweaking" and came up with 210 BHP.

Dr Bob MacFarlane operating in his surgery!

Whilst all the above was going on our old friend EPE 97 came over from the States for fettling so that Richard Lisman could once again use it on the Mille Miglia. No photos yet but Richard has reported that the car went beautifully as usual.

The rebuild on Tony Berkeley's 2 litre Lagonda is now well on the way to completion. This has been a lovely project because we were asked to ensure that all the mechanics were in first class order, but to retain as much of the original patination as possible on the bodywork.

Various cars have been in and out for normal servicing and on a fine Spring day I let all the boys out and they can be seen enjoying a breath of air around a selection in the next photo. Sue who is camera shy refused to come and play!

I think I may have created somewhat of a record by having two Lagonda LG 45 Rapides for sale at the same time so cannot resist showing you the two together! Finally, I cannot close this edition of "What's New" without reporting that I took "Speedy" to the 75th Anniversary of the Invicta S Type. This wonderful event was brilliantly organised by Jo Moss of the Invicta Car Club and 30 S Types out of the 69 known, attended together with 14 other types of Invicta, including 3 of the new Invicta S1. It was fantastic to see all these cars together and for me to be re-united with 19 cars that have been through our works.

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November 2004

These last five months have as always been very busy in the workshop and at the same time somewhat frustrating for me. I managed to fall off one of my motorbikes badly breaking a leg and have spent the last 4 months in an Ilizarov frame. Although I can't recommend breaking a leg as a pastime, the amazing bits of carbon fibre and stainless steel that make up the frame are a huge improvement over a full-length plaster. It most certainly does speed up the bone re-growth but best of all it left the knee free and enabled me to get into work every day. I would like to thank Sue and all the great team at the workshop for putting up with my bad temper. I could not believe it when my surgeon told me that this bit of medical technology cost £17,000! Makes our restoration costs positively cheap! We are seriously thinking of going into production!

Ilizarov frame and a Lagonda M45 Rapide, both ready for panelling!

The Mille Miglia is now of course some time in the past and EPE 97 has been back in the States for many months, but Richard Lisman sent over the two attached photos with the following message:

"Just a short note to thank you once again for the superb care and attention to detail you have given EPE. This past weekend was the first chance I had to use EPE back here since we shipped her to you 9 months ago. Everything was in good order - the car was absolutely superb. Even my wife (who knows only a bit about cars) told me how well looked after EPE appeared. My thanks once again for a job well done."

MilleMiglia 2004

Murray Smith had entered his Invicta "Speedy" for the Le Mans retrospective in July and unfortunately I was unable to go, having just broken my leg. Until a bolt fell out of the carburettor float chamber on the Mulsanne straight, Speedy was going very well in third place. Unfortunately no spare bolt of the correct size could be found so that was the end of the race for this year.

Speedy at Le Mans

After an 18-month rebuild, the very lovely V12 Lagonda Rapide is now finished and looks quite stunning in silver and black, as the photographs show.

V12 Lagonda Rapide

Once again the 1903 Martini we look after for Alexander Antrim successfully completed the London to Brighton run in somewhat better weather than last year!

In the workshop at the moment we are progressing well with the Vulcan, which also belongs to Alexander, as can be seen in the photo. Also getting towards completion is a low chassis 2 litre Lagonda where the brief was to do a thorough mechanical restoration without worrying too much about the cosmetics.

Work is also progressing with preparing Nigel Broderick's lovely LG45 Rapide for the Winter Challenge rally in February. A low chassis Invicta is in for an engine and gearbox rebuild in time for the Mille Miglia in May. Due back from America any day is my old favourite EPE 97 for her annual preparation for the same event. A Lagonda LG 6 Rapide is in for an engine rebuild together with a Derby Bentley for general fettling.

In closing this updated "What's New" I would like to welcome two new members to the team. Rene Poliquin can manufacture anything, as can be seen by the new hood frame on the Vulcan which was fabricated without any patterns and only an old photograph from which it could be scaled. Clive Blakey wears two hats, the first being to assist Sue Wilkinson with all the invoicing, the second to try and make some sense of our stores.

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June 2004

It has been a very busy few months since my last update in April. Our old friend EPE 97 has successfully completed another Mille Miglia with his owner Dr Richard Lisman and co driver Clive Doyle from America. For the event we fitted a straight through exhaust system, which apparently the Italians loved! The car is back with us having a few things done, including refitting the quieter exhaust for the citizens of New York, before being dispatched back to the States.

Always at this time of year customers want a quick service or tune up before going on their holidays or off on some rally, so we all work overtime! Two very beautiful cars arrived at the same time, a Lagonda V12 Drop Head Coupe and the most wonderful Lagonda LG6 Rapide, which looked very impressive outside our works.

An interesting project has been the fitting of three carburettors to a Lagonda 16/80 after a complete engine rebuild. We have not yet run the engine but it will be interesting to see how they improve the cars performance.

Work is progressing rapidly now on the Lagonda V12 Rapide. Before sending the bodywork to the painters, a complete fit up of all parts was carried out to ensure that no problems arose afterwards. We now have a very shiny body back and the really fun and rewarding part is well under way. The car is due to go to the trim shop by the end of June, so we cannot hang about, but at the same time have to be very careful!

I am delighted to report that Nigel Broderick the ex owner of the much rallied low chassis Invicta "Snapper" and the high chassis Invicta with which he and Paula did the African rally are back as customers. Nigel needed a car for the Liege/Rome/Liege rally so bought the most beautiful Lagonda LG 45 Rapide and is in the middle of the rally as I write.

How time flies when you are having fun! It doesn't seem like two years since the last Le Mans Retrospective and here we are again doing some fettling and tweaking on "Speedy", the ex works Invicta, in time for the trip down to Le Mans on 22nd July so that Murray Smith can once again compete. It is a most enjoyable weekend and I would highly recommend any readers to go. This year there will be two other low chassis Invictas as well as Speedy. The ex Donald Healey car I sold some time ago will be there with Mark Knopfler and Alain de Cadenet and Pierre Honnegar will again be racing S133.

An apology!

I have been seriously taken to task about being a male chauvinist pig! Some time ago I gave the names of all the male members of staff at Cedar Classic Cars and failed to mention Sue Wilkinson. Sue has been with us for some 17 years and is our financial wiz kid controller who keeps us all in order, especially me! It is because we have been together so long that I forgot to mention her! What's the saying about "part of the furniture" NO honest Sue I don't mean it! Anyway Sue is the cheerful person who normally answers the phone and can answer or find the answer to any query in my absence.

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April 2004

Many of the winter rebuilds in the workshop have been completed and have left us ready for the new season of motoring.

The much raced and campaigned Lagonda EPE 97 is now completed after a major refurbishment and the photograph shows Clive Doyle taking her away for an extended running in and shake down before the Mille Miglia. The engine was stripped for the first time since we re-built it in 1995. This was done purely as a precautionary measure and it was found to be in first class order apart from some scouring of the bores due to no air filters being fitted. Not bad for nearly 10 years of hard use!

The SS100 Jaguar came to us for uprating the engine performance from the standard 2.5 litre. Boring out to 3 litre together with some of our other breathing modifications has produced a most exhilarating performance and transformed the car which has now returned to France.

The low chassis Invicta that came in for a complete colour change from white to blue together with a thorough mechanical check over has been completed and is shown below being driven away by its owner en route to Monaco.

In the engine shop at the moment the Lagonda V12 engine which was W.O.Bentley's masterpiece, is now nearly complete and will shortly be fitted to the Rapide that is having a ground up restoration.The other view of the engine shop also shows a standard Meadows 4.5 engine which is also close to completion.

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January 2004

First may we wish all our customers, suppliers and readers a very Happy New Year and every success in 2004 whether you will be racing, rallying or just enjoying the countryside in your vintage or classic car.

Our workshops have been flat out for the whole of last year and there seems to be no let up in the foreseeable future with more rebuilds and restorations being booked in. I am glad to report that John Ford has now almost completely recovered from his stroke, but unfortunately he felt he could no longer continue working as hard as he had in the past and so has had to leave us. Bob Macfarlane has taken over as manager of the workshop and I have promised I will not work him to the point of heart attacks or strokes! With this aim in mind, Mike Bowden is working alongside Bob to ensure that everything runs smoothly. The two young lads, Kenny and Nigel who joined us last spring have been tempted away by jobs outside the engineering industry that pay more, but we have been fortunate to find two other highly qualified engineers in Colin Hummerstone and John Campagnoli who have joined the team. I would also like to welcome Bob Mogge, who did his apprenticeship with Fairy Aviation and spent all his life in the aircraft industry. I have tempted him out of retirement to help Graham Tongeman with the very important task of sorting out our stores and ensuring that the 6 engineers get what they want, when they want it!

After the retrospective Ards TT, our much-travelled EPE flew back to the States where her owner Richard Lisman had entered her for the Bridgehampton rally. Quite rightly this wonderful old car had been given star billing on the rally posters! After the rally she once again winged her way back across the pond and is now in our workshop for a little winter maintenance before dashing off to Italy for the Mille Miglia in May. She may be 68 years old but she is still very active!

Once again Alexander Antrim took his Martini for a trot down to Brighton. Unfortunately on this her 100th Birthday the heavens opened and Alexander and his Grandson got exceedingly cold and wet, hence the amusing Christmas card. It was certainly the worst weather for the London to Brighton we have had in the last 5 or so years with horizontal wind on the seafront and monumental waves.

Eleven months ago I showed some photographs of a Lagonda V12 Rapide that had come in for a complete rebuild. The car's body is now back with us after having the ash frame repaired, the aluminium skin replaced and wings repaired. Whilst the body was away, we were able to rebuild the chassis and all moving parts. Now our job is to very carefully re-fit all the chrome work and other fittings to make sure they line up correctly, this must of course be done meticulously before the body is painted for obvious reasons. Once we are happy, they will all be removed again and the body will be removed from the chassis for painting. Watch this space for progressWe are nearing completion of the refurbishment and re-painting of another S Type Invicta and have three of these wonderful cars in the workshop at present.

On the Sales front...

The observant ones of you will notice that the lovely 3 litre Bentley is back in the For Sale section. After putting down a substantial deposit, the purchaser prevaricated for nearly two years, forever just stretching the completion date by a month or two and then finally dropping out. So some other lucky person can now have the opportunity of becoming the 4th Owner of this historic car. We also have an immaculate and totally original Lagonda LG45 Drop Head coupe for sale. This beautiful car has just completed a 3-year restoration, not with us I hasten to add, because unless requested otherwise by the owner we would not take that long! The car has not yet been run in, it is presented in the very elegant colour combination of Grey and Maroon and is now ready for some nice long continental holidays or rallies and perhaps the odd Concours d'Elegance thrown in.

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October 2003

Congratulations to Nigel Broderick in his 1930 Invicta who maintained his Gold Medal throughout the Safari Challenge, won the Vintage class and came 9th overall, beating many 1960's cars!

This lovely car behaved impeccably throughout the rally and we recently sold her.

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July 2003

Murray Smith kindly let Sally and I take "Speedy" the ex Invicta works car that competed in the 1933 and 1934 Ards TT to Ireland for the 75th Retrospective of the 1928 event. We drove up from Hampshire and caught the overnight ferry from Birkenhead to join 47 other cars that had competed in the various TT's. There were also another 130 cars of the right period so Belfast was teeming with old cars for 5 days! The event, which was superbly organised by the Ulster Vintage Car Club, consisted of a wonderful range of events that included Driving Tests, two Hillclimbs, and three laps of the original 13.7 mile TT course. Speedy was in his element and enjoyed a superb dice for 2 laps with Clive Doyle driving the very well known Fox and Nicholls team Lagonda EPE 97. The two cars of course know each other well because they very frequently sleep next to each other in our workshop! Another stable mate from the CCC workshop, namely Alexander Antrim's 4.5 Lagonda, was also taking part in the event and Speedy was able to bed down with her every night thanks to the hospitality of Alexander.

Throughout the trip Speedy behaved impeccably, but we were glad of the excellent twin fuel system fitted to Invictas because the only failure was a modern fuel pump. The whole of the journey home from Ireland was achieved with the assistance of Sally valiantly providing fuel by means of the air pressure system. I will have to watch out because she has built up some strong muscles in her right arm!

The ex Donald Healey S Type has now found a new owner and is to remain in England and Nigel Broderick's much-rallied S28 has also changed hands. The new owner has had two S Types before, competed 3 times in the Mille Miglia retrospective with one of them and has now returned to Invicta ownership. As we discussed the work he wanted doing on the car so that he could beat the Alfas(!) he commented that in his opinion the S Type Invicta is the finest pre war English motor car.

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February 2003

The first signs of spring and better motoring weather have produced a flurry of activity down at CCC to get cars ready for the coming season. We have been very busy over the winter of course and have increased our work force up to six highly qualified engineers to meet the demand. We are delighted to welcome Kenny Smith and Nigel Spender to the team, both of whom have had many years working on Lagondas.

From the snows of England to those of Kilimanjaro

Nigel having successfully rallied his low chassis Invicta for several years decided he needed something with greater ground clearance for tackling some more challenging roads! He acquired an NLC High chassis Invicta that we have rebuilt for the African rally this February. This car is without doubt one of the most delightful cars I have driven, being beautifully appointed and with impeccable handling. (It cost £1050 in chassis form when new which was about the same price as a Rolls Royce!) With the engine tuned to our standard fast road specification and producing 200 BHP, it not only looks good but also performs in a most exciting way! Hopefully it will outrun the Cheetahs as well as the other competitors! The car is now on the high seas for Cape Town, but before it left Nigel abducted Father Christmas to raise money for Paignton Zoo and the preservation of Cheetahs in Africa.

Congratulations to Mark Lewis who, in Simon Bull's S Type Invicta, won the VSCC Ford Trophy and came 5th in the Brooklands Trophy in 2002!

(The 230 BHP engine of this car has not been rebuilt, nor has the head been off since 1995 when it was campaigned so successfully by Martin Stretton, since when it has been used as an everyday car by Simon and raced for the last seven years by Mark.)

Mark Lewis at Cadwell Park (Photo courtesy Mark Ballard)

The V12 Lagonda saloon is now completed and is ready to go back to its owner. It looks very smart in its original British Racing Green after a bare metal respray.

In the workshop at the moment we currently have two 2-litre Lagondas, 2 M45 Lagondas an LG45, an SS100, a Vulcan and a V12 Lagonda Rapide undergoing restoration. This V12 Rapide, which was one of W.O.Bentley's final masterpieces is arguably the most beautiful car in the world. This particular car was sent new to America in 1940 and it now needs a complete but very sympathetic restoration. The photos illustrate the beginning of a full restoration and illustrate how we carefully remove the aluminium skin in order to repair the damaged ash frame. The aluminium will all be replaced once this has been done.

On the sales front, the charming 3 litre Bentley has now been sold and will be remaining in England whereas the very historic works/Donald Healey Monte Carlo winning car seeks a new owner.

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October 2002

It has been a busy and most enjoyable summer with time also to get away to play! On the restoration front we finished the full rebuild of S50 and sent her off to her owner in Italy

Would you trust your car to this Mob!

We are well on the way with a Lagonda V12 Saloon and have now got to the stage of fitting up after a bare metal re-spray.

Nigel Broderick the owner of the low chassis Invicta "Snapper" has bought a wonderfully original High Chassis NLC Invicta 4.5 litre with original drop head coupe body by Mayfair. We are in the process of preparing it for long distance rallying. Nigel plans to go to places where "Snapper's" lack of ground clearance would be unsuitable!

Various Lagonda from 2 litre to 4.5 litres, Bentleys and other cars have arrived and left over the summer after minor restoration or just servicing and a Jaguar SS100 is in the process of mechanical work including an engine rebuild as is a 1929 Vulcan.

Congratulations to Nigel Broderick and "Snapper"!

The car was rebuilt by us in 1997and in the last 3 years has covered 19,000 kms of hard rallying, during which the only trouble encountered has been one water pump failure.

• 2000 Monte Challenge Brooklands to Cannes, 2nd Overall Vintage
• 2000 Classic Marathon Ypres to San Remo, 1st Overall Vintage, Concours Cup
• 2001 Classic Marathon Ypres to Cortina
• 2002 Liege-Rome-Liege
• 2002 Classic Marathon Ypres to Prague, 1st Vintage
  

On return from Prague to Calais, a distance of 1,139 kms was covered in 13 hours, an average 54.3 MPH including stops.

Le Mans 24 Hour Retrospective

Murray Smith had entered his Invicta "Speedy" - the ex works car, much campaigned by A.C Lace, the sales director of Invicta cars, in the 1930's. John Ford and I felt it imperative of course to go and give him support! It was a great weekend with Murray and "Speedy" going incredibly well lapping considerably faster than all the Bentleys and other Invictas. He worked his way up to 3rd place during the night behind Paul Grist's 2.9 Alfa and a very quick Talbot and then a rocker arm broke in the early hours of the morning. A frantic search for a suitable spare was to no avail and we had to retire. Thankfully Murray had switched the engine off immediately and no other damage was done.

For those of you with Meadows engines and considering a rebuild, it is worth having your rocker arms x-rayed. It is apparent with ours that there had been a small flaw in the centre of this component for the last 70 years and this was undetected by our normal crack testing process!

We hope the following pictures will give the flavour of this fabulous French event.

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