In the U.K we’re very lucky to have a thriving classic car and historic motorsport industries, and a big part of that are the thousands of craftsman across the U.K who work to bring these cars back to their former glory.
The Restoration Showcase is a good opportunity to highlight the work that these people and companies do and the incredible things that can be achieved.
For example Thornley Kelham LTD offer restoration services, modifications (restromodding) and race preparation. One of the cars they brought to the show was this early production 911S which is awaiting restoration. There is a lot of work ahead for the team that will be rebuilding this, but they do intend on bringing it back to life!
Note the daylight visible behind the driver’s seat. This poor car is… tender… to put it mildly.
Hopefully no one was in the car when this happened to the roof. It doesn’t really show that well in the picture, but it was pushed pretty far down!
Then in stark contrast is a restromod they’ve recently finished called the 911 European RS – a car in their European Collection inspired by the 2.7RS.
You can find out more about the European Collection here: https://www.thornleykelham.com/classic-car-bespoke-commissions/
Furlonger Specialist Cars completed an extensive restoration on this Lamborghini Islero GT finished in Verde Metallizzato over a tan interior (that’s a winning combination for me at the moment!)
Turner Classics displayed a 1972 Maserati Bora which has had an extensive nut and bolt restoration totalling 1500 hours.
Hilton & Moss, whose works I’ve most definitely featured on this blog before were showing this lovely 190SL that has just been through a no expense spared restoration that 3000 hours over a three year period.
Lance McCormack, who founded Romance of Rust in 1990, first fell in love with this Citroen SM as a boy in 1975. 40 years later Lance and his team had the opportunity to acquire and sympathetically restore the car.
Finally we Chiltern Aston Centre who were displaying this lovely DB5
Alongside a very special car – the “Sotheby Special” DBS V8 show car that was originally created by Ogle Design for W.D & H.O Wills tobacco company to promote their new “Sotheby” line of tobacco.
The car was debuted at the 1972 Montreal Motor Show, did the show circuit and then was stripped for parts and sold. The new owner held onto it for 43 years before selling it at auction 10 years ago.
The car is now undergoing restoration and hopefully we’ll see it on the show circuit again soon!
Thanks for reading.
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By Richard Francis
