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Seen it all? Not a chance! Fresh finds at the Classic Motor Show

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Forza Fiesta!

Think you’ve seen everything the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show has to offer? Think again. For 2026, car clubs have been challenged to bring along vehicles that have never appeared at the NEC show before – and with more than 3,000 classics filling seven halls from 13–15 November, there are some cracking reasons to come back for another look.

Leading the way is a 1958 Land Rover Series II 109-inch diesel pick-up, registration UWP 29. Built in April 1958 and first registered the following month, it’s believed to be the oldest surviving home-market 109-inch two-litre diesel of its type, with just 261 examples produced. Chassis number 156800007 makes it the seventh home-market example, and despite its restoration, it retains its original chassis, bulkhead and glass. Discovered in poor condition through an eBay advert in 2006, it’s a brilliant reminder of the detective work and dedication that keep our motoring heritage alive.

Want to see what normally hides beneath the bodywork? A Land Rover 88-inch rolling chassis will reveal the nuts and bolts of a Series Land Rover, from its chassis construction and axles to the suspension and drivetrain. It’s the sort of display that reminds you there’s more to a classic than shiny paint and polished chrome.

There’s a first public outing, too, for a fully restored Austin-Healey Frogeye Sprite that spent its life in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, before being tracked down in 2020. Restoration began in April 2022, and now this little British sports car is ready to take its place in the spotlight.

Porsche fans shouldn’t miss a rather clever take on the 924 Carrera GT. With only 401 original Carrera GTs built, modifying one would be an expensive business. Instead, owner Nick started with a 924 Turbo and set about creating his own version, complete with the distinctive flared bodywork and Carrera GT-style interior.

So far, so convincing – but Nick hasn’t stopped at the looks. With electronic fuel injection, extensive turbo development and a home-fabricated intercooler, his creation produces considerably more power than the original. Better still, it isn’t a garage queen: Nick uses it regularly and enjoys it as intended.

Elsewhere, the Lotus Esprit V8 brings twin-turbocharged performance and unmistakable wedge styling, while the 1973 Aston Martin AM Vantage serves up British muscle in a rather more elegant package. Different approaches, same irresistible appeal.

These showstoppers are just the start – there’s plenty more to discover, so come along, soak up the nostalgia and make some classic-car memories of your own.

**Mike Brewer’s Porsche project takes centre stage**

There’s more than these show-stopping displays to enjoy, with the Meet the Experts Stage welcoming back motoring personality Mike Brewer. Having hosted the show for two decades, Mike is a familiar face across the NEC – and a 2024 Community Ambassador and Hall of Fame inductee.

To mark the occasion, he’s bringing along his custom Porsche 911 Sport Classic, a project he’s currently building with the aim of making its debut at the show. It’s a chance to get up close to the car and hear about the thinking behind the build from the man himself.

**Get stuck in at the Restoration Workshop**

Got a project languishing in the garage? Or perhaps you’re keen to tackle your first bit of classic-car fettling but aren’t quite sure where to start? The Restoration Workshop is the place to head.

The team from Gilbert-Michaelson Ltd, led by restoration expert Mike Coman, will be demonstrating techniques and sharing practical advice drawn from years in the trade. From panel beating and lead loading to getting paintwork looking its best, there’ll be plenty to learn, whatever your level of experience.

And don’t just stand back and watch. The experts are happy to answer questions, whether you want advice on a tricky job at home or simply fancy picking up a few tips to make your next weekend in the garage more productive.

With rare survivors, ingenious home-built projects, fresh show debuts and proper restoration know-how, this year’s Classic Motor Show is packed with reasons to return – even if you’ve been before.

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**The Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show takes place at the NEC, Birmingham, from 13–15 November 2026.**

PLUS, Practical Classics readers can save £2 on tickets by using code **MDPCWEB**.

In our new big 180-page bumper edition of Practical Classics, we gather a group of lost marques to decide which badge we’d bring back from the dead. With plans to resurrect Bristol and Jenson now underway, wet take an in-depth look at some of the most fondly remembered car makers of the past, from Armstrong-Siddeley to Austin and many more.

This issue is packed with restorations of all kinds. We meet Carl Moore, who turned a pile of rusty panels and a partially rebuilt chassis into a stunning Triumph Herald, look at a beautifully revived Autobianchi van and find out how a:a[Ford fan brought a bodged Fiesta RS1800 back to life]{href='https://www.practicalclassics.co.uk/articles/restoration-projects/forza-fiesta/' target='_blank' rel='noreferrer noopener'}. Meanwhile, we meet the couple crazy about their Minx, Dolomite and Golf, and we chat with the second owner of a 1932 Austin Seven with an extraordinary wartime story.

There’s workshop action from our team of writers – from Morris Minor to MGA, while there’s a head-to-head between James’s 2CV and the record-breaking McMurtry Spéirling (yes, you read that correctly)!

There are great road trip features in our bumper December issue, including our blast to the :a[Beaulieu Autojumble]{href='https://www.practicalclassics.co.uk/articles/road-trips/beaulieu-or-bust/' target='_blank' rel='noreferrer noopener'}for a ‘festival of rust aboard four takes on a classic camper theme. Plus, there’s a road trip involving a Renault Avantime and the other with a Volvo 960 estate across Scotland! There are tech tips aplenty, too – from wheel trim dent removal to advice on storing your classic this winter. Phew! No other mag does all this!

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The team blasts across the country to the rusty field of dreams

Every year the **Practical Classics** team heads out on a pilgrimage… destination Beaulieu. We do it twice, in fact; once to the Spring Autojumble, and again to the International Autojumble in September. The magazine is media partner for these unique events, so it’s a professional duty, but members of the team don’t really see it that way, because we get to meet _you_. All other pleasures are multiple and varied: deciding what to take and sell, deciding what to drive, choosing the route to get there and then enjoying the weekend – it’s like going on the perfect petrolhead holiday.

This year we have decided to head to the international event in four different takes on mobile camping. Our friend Maz comes with us in his superbly patinated VW bus, and we rock up in our own mobile hotels. James is aboard Hotel Berlingo, Matt is on the roof of his land Land Rover and Danny in his Transit camper.

**DANNY HOPKINS**  
**2000 Ford Transit Auto Sleeper**

I’ve always loved the idea of a classic camper, but sometimes the reality doesn’t quite live up to expectations. The reality being, most of the time, where do you store it when not in use. James has nailed this conundrum by making a camper out of his daily driver. Matt’s Land Rover has similar dual use and our friend Maz just loves his Volkswagen bus, it’s his pride and joy classic. With a large, purpose-built camper though, you need space… or you need to use it regularly for it to make sense.

Previously I have enjoyed the services of both a Sherpa and a Mercedes Benz T1 camper. The Sherpa was my home for a summer when I was on a tour of the south-west in a theatre company. This was back in the Nineties. The Sherpa Dormobile was a compact and easy to live with van, known as Calypso, and it was a budget conversion, with a lift up roof and an O-series engine. I loved it. The Merc was a more recent solution – a 207D Auto-Trail Sioux – and it was a post-Covid purchase. Classy and _huge_, I cant pretend it wasn’t a mistake. I didn’t use it enough and it needed plenty of work. There wasn’t a single big trip I did in it when there wasn’t a problem, but the biggest issue was speed. It was catastrophically slow. About 55mph tops was all it could manage and hills slowed it down, really not good on a motorway.

Arrival in the beautiful New Forest National Park.

So, the Transit. I don’t own it, I borrow it from my friends Phil and Denise, repaying them with wine, whisky and full tanks of diesel. It is the perfect arrangement. The Auto Sleeper design is unitary, no joins, so no leaks and the 2.5-litre turbo diesel engine is noisy, but rugged. Most importantly, I can sit with the HGVs at 60mph on long trips, making distances achievable. It makes the journey from my home in Royston to meet the guys at our rendezvous point near Nether Wallop a two-hour breeze. Music on, trucker brain engaged and off we go – van stacked with bits of old car to sell. Why Nether Wallop? Well, that’s the home of the Army Flying Museum, a superb facility stuffed with brilliantly displayed artefacts and airborne contraptions. Meeting there in our ground-based contraptions immediately makes the car park look untidy, but no matter, we have helicopters, aircraft and gliders to look at.

Lynx was first chopper to complete a barrel roll.

Unique collection at the superb Army Flying Museum.

**MATT TOMKINS**  
**1988 Land Rover Ninety**

Ears ringing, bum numb and somewhat later than anticipated, my Land Rover Ninety and I lumber into the car park of our rendezvous point, the Army Flying Museum in Middle Wallop, Hampshire. It has been a long run down. The 19J 2.5-litre turbo diesel lump in in the Ninety was the only power unit never ordered by the MOD, its failure to impress necessitating the rapid development of the awesome 200TDI units that launched the Defender name. Laden to the roof with relegated parts from projects past in the hope of recouping some car tokens for use on the current tranche of overbudget projects, progress had been much slower than usual, while the mass of six Defender wheels and tyres joining the Terrafirma roof tent up top meant handling had been blunted, too.

Dusk arrives and the team settles down for an evening beer.

By the time I arrive, Danny and James are already acquainting themselves with the many fascinating exhibits on display, which chart the five main branches of Army Aviation: Royal Engineers (1878-1912), The Royal Flying Corps (1912-1918), Air Observation Post Squadrons (1941-1957), the Glider Pilot Regiment (1942-1957) and the current Army Air Corps (1957-to date). I joined them inspecting an Airspeed Horsa. This enormous, flimsy plywood troop-carrying glider was integral to Allied success on D-Day, however its construction really is beyond basic. The bravery of anyone on board, gliding unpowered to France amid a barrage of enemy fire, send shivers down our spines.

> ‘We head south to the Festival of Rust’

A symphony of diesel and an air-cooled VW.

Drawn by the lure of an engaging audio/ visual display around a selection of impressive army helicopters, we are joined by friend of the magazine, Simon ‘Maz’ Marriott, who would be joining our merry collection of classic campers at the festival of rust. His VW Type 2 Microbus, in gloriously patinated order, would go on to be a huge draw to the stand, but not before our merry convoy waved goodbye to the Wallops and we meandered our way south towards the waiting fields of dreams.

I do love my Land Rover – it’s been a dependable workhorse since I returned it to the road in 2022 – however since I wimped out and bought a 2006 BMW X3 for longer distance towing work, it’s lived a more sheltered, local life. Chasing Danny’s Transit as it pulls away from me up every hill, the novelty really was wearing thin by the time errant forest cows, donkeys and ponies slowed progress, faith only restored by a glimpse of a shop window reflection. In convoy with the VW in particular, the Ninety really does look the part as a classic camper and lugger of loads…

**JAMES WALSHE**  
**2003 Citroën Berlingo**

Look at my posh colleagues and their sophisticated setups! I poke my head into the cabin of Danny’s Transit motorhome and discover a real home from home. He even has a toilet in there, but I’m not brave enough to investigate that. Towering above us all, the roof tent of Tomkins looks impressive, but I have arrived at a stage of life when the ‘middle-of-the-night pee’ is often necessary. Negotiating a spindly ladder at 3am really isn’t my thing, thank you very much.

No, I am quite satisfied with my solution to the Beaulieu camping conundrum. The ‘mini camper’ setup is simple, convenient and cheap. It involves a non-permanent modular unit called a ‘boot jump’ – a small hinged wooden table that’s tucked away in the boot when not in use. Drop the rear seat back and the unit folds out and down the length of the cabin to form a platform on which to roll out your mattress. It’s more ‘sleeping pod’ than camper van, but with the single bed version of my Camperize boot jump, the unoccupied side of the cabin allows me to store luggage and there’s just enough space to dress oneself in the morning. I made the window covers out of thin sheets of reflective plastic.

The car itself was bought nearly new by _Autocar_ Editor-in-Chief Steve Cropley. He, like me, enjoyed its smooth ride and pin-sharp handling (it is a Citroën Xsara/Peugeot 306 underneath), so the whizz to Beaulieu from my home in the Cotswolds, via the scenic Marlborough Downs, is an enjoyable one. These days, clubs exist far and wide for the Berlingo and sister Peugeot Partner; the model celebrating 30 years of production in 2026 (they’re still making this version in Argentina).

Hackpen white horse in the Marlborough Downs dates from 1838.

Once parked up on a bustling Beaulieu field where exhibitors busily set up shop, I retrieve my Horlicks from the drop-down roof locker, and we settle in for the night. Next morning, the ‘jumble rumbles. I bump into father-daughter duo Alan and Sara. Alan has attended every single year except for the first. We’re all thankful for a sunny 2026\. ‘One year, people’s tents floated away in the rain!’ Alan, like us, enjoys being around fellow autojumblers. ‘There was this one fellow who’d turn up with an empty table on the Friday, spend the day buying from other traders, set his wares out on the Saturday and then leave with an empty table on the Sunday!’

Back at the **PC** stand, Matt’s Defender and Maz’s VW get all the attention from visitors, but I’m happy with my ‘pound shop camper’. It serves me anonymously most of the month as passenger transport, with occasional trips to the tip. But, in this 30th year of Citroën’s little MPV masterpiece, I can’t help but love Hotel Berlingo. Like the three-million fellow owners across Europe – from bakers to butchers, farmers to florists – I honestly don’t know what I’d do without it.

Alan (right) has been attending since the Sixties.

**1957 VW Type 2 Microbus with SO23 Camper conversion**

After moving to the US in 2010 to train in Automotive Restoration at McPherson College, I needed wheels. So, a friend and I drove 2000 miles from Kansas to Idaho to pick up this bus I’d seen online. I paid the guy cash and drove it back to Kansas via Mt. Rushmore and Yellowstone – quite the baptism of fire. It had been painted blue in the Seventies and had been used as a school bus. Back then, it was just a basic van,with just a midway seat. I fitted the SO23 camper conversion later.

I restored it to how it is today in a lockup garage. The original paint was underneath the blue and, following advice I’d seen online, I used oven cleaner to remove the blue paint and reveal what lay beneath. I soon learned to leave the oven cleaner on for no longer than five minutes otherwise it would eat the original paint. I worked around the whole vehicle, stripping it back, then rebuilt the gearbox and brakes and upgraded it to a twin circuit master cylinder for safety. It’s had new window seals all round to keep it dry, too. I brought it back to the UK in 2013 and it’s now used regularly including for family holidays – I’ve even fitted ISOFIX for the kids’ Image car seats.

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**INTERVIEW** DANNY HOPKINS **PHOTOGRAPHY** MATT HOWELL

I found it at Anglia Car Auctions back in 2015. We’d gone there on the way to the Hunstanton and I had mistakenly told my wife that I'd secretly been saving up for a Jaguar XJ. She said, ‘you cannot have one of those. They're too big to push!’ But she told me I could have this instead. Who was I to refuse? £3300 later, I owned the car. We've had it for about 10 years now.

Back then, I knew that it needed work. It'd been messed around with, it had the wrong wings, not the early wings, with the square repeaters. Then one day I started restoring it. It took three years to do and finding parts was the hardest thing. A Nineties Ford is a tough ask when it comes to finding bits, but I had collected stuff over 10 years, as I knew one day I would set it right. I had found New Old Stock Ford lights and other rare parts. Front wings were nowhere, genuine Ford front wings from the correct era and slam panel (it was bent) – really tricky. I eventually found them in Italy. All the screen rubbers, and door guides and rubbers are genuine Ford and again from Italy. The roof rails, mint ones to replace the scabby items? Italy. The furflex around the opening sunroof had shrunk.. I bought two sets. From Italy – again!

I collected all the bits, they're all New Old Stock – the centre console, the wheels, genuine ones with the right hub caps, and the bumpers – with the inserts. I did all of this before the stripdown. As you can imagine, I was aiming to get as close to what this car was like when it left the factory as was humanly possible. I left the interior as it was, because it really didn't need much. The sponge scrim on the rear seats had dried out, but that was all they needed. So, it just needed redoing.

Then, with the help of my son James, I took it all apart. Stripped it down. The tank was taken out, everything off so I could repaint everything, then I undersealed it underneath. The suspension components were all freshly powdercoated and then rebushed. To start with I left the suspension it had, lowered springs and dampers, only by an inch, which I thought it might actually look OK. It looked alright, but then once I started loading the car up, with the engine, interior etc, it just sat too low – horrible. So, I ended up hunting once again. I found a set of genuine Ford dampers. Guess where? Yep, Italy!

I did a little bit of welding work, just at the back end of the sills where they turn up into the rear wheelarch and underneath one of the wheelarch backs, where it started to rust because they're screwed on with inset bolts that just rot and then pull out. I took the engine and ’box out. It wasn't leaking, it ran fine, and it had only done 70,000 miles. But I did a service while it was out because it is so much easier to do the belts and clutch etc. I fitted new seals on the gearbox and CV joints, too.

Then I got the shell repainted professionally in Ash Black. I had toyed with the idea of changing the colour, I thought of that Ford Electric Blue from ten years ago. I also thought about putting some more pep into the engine by changing the ECU. The current one is only an EEC IV. You can't really do anything with it, but I thought, ‘no, just keep it’. And having done this car I’m really glad, because I’m getting the showroom-fresh experience.

It drives a little bit better, too. I fitted modern soundproofing everywhere. The trickiest part of the whole restoration was remembering where I’d put stuff! I had acquired a big old post office letter rack. I used it to bag stuff up with a post-it note, then hung it on it in a bag, in each of these little pigeon holes. In the sequence that I took it apart. But no end of times, I had forgotten that I'd bought something new already, and then I'd buy it again!

**Engine**  
Low mileage and was running perfectly, but David removed it and replaced all the seals and belts. Out of the car, allowing for a full respray of the bay.

**Seals and rubbers  
**David searched Europe to find the correct original rubbers and seals. The richest source was Italy. For instance, he found two furflex seal sets for this original Ford sunroof. The ‘showroom fresh’ ambition was strong.

**Wheels and trim  
**David resprayed a non-original set (RS turbo wheels are slightly different), then found these originals in Italy. He also deployed original New Old Stock lights and rubbers after respraying the car in Ash Black.

**Interior**  
Needed a thorough clean and the rear seat foam needed restuffing. Everything was out though to make sure the shell could be resprayed. The entire car was covered in modern soundproofing before refitting.

**Practical Classics Restorer of the Year 2027**

David & James are entered into the 2027 Restorer of the Year competition. You can vote for your favourite in a future issue of **Practical Classics** magazine.

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In 1972, Eric and Vera went into their local Volvo dealership and bought a pre-facelift 144s. Twenty-five years after Vera passed away, grandson Chris Horton restored it

**WORDS** CRAIG CHEETHAM **PHOTOGRAPHY** JONATHAN JACOB

When Chris Horton starts a project, he gets properly stuck in – but Eric and Vera’s Volvo took a while to get going due to other projects in the way. He has previously restored a Rover SD1 and revived a rare MG ZT development car in just a few months, but the 144 was the most special of the lot, restored in a way that preserved some deeply personal memories.

After his grandma passed away, the Volvo sat in Chris’s garden in Prestatyn for 25 years.

‘It has only ever left Wales four times, I think, in its entire life,’ says Chris Horton. ‘My grandparents drove it to Birmingham once, I’ve taken it to Wrexham twice – where you have to cross over the border and come back in – and my grandma once took it to Liverpool to pick my grandad up from the docks when his ship came in.’ Eric was in the Merchant Navy – the crest of which still sits on the Volvo’s badge bar, and there are other things that Chris discovered in the car when stripping it, such as a half-empty pack of Players No.6 cigarettes in the glovebox, and Vera’s old glasses in the door pocket. They’re still there, as are other remnants of the car’s past life.

You see, this is no perfect restoration. It was never meant to be. That’s not to denigrate Chris’s efforts at all, because the amount and quality of work put in is no different to that which you’d put into a concours rebuild. There’s new metal everywhere – and a lot of it, because plenty was needed. We’ll come to that. But there was also a huge desire from Chris to retain as much of the car’s authenticity as possible.

‘I’ve tried to leave it as it was in my childhood. I’ve got some cinefilm in the loft of me learning to walk, with this parked in the background. That’s the kind of thing you can’t buy, and it’s exactly why I’ve restored the car to how I remember it, not back to perfection. There are bits of it that look a bit scruffy – but that’s how I wanted to preserve it’. Chris highlights the chrome strip on the front of the Volvo’s bonnet. One end has a crease and the other is slightly mangled.

‘The garage at their house was quite small, and there was a workbench at one end. The more squished end of this is where Grandma misjudged it a few times. The smaller damage at the other end is from the workbench itself. I could have found a new chrome strip, but I’d also be removing one of my memories from the car. Likewise, a small dent in the passenger door. ‘I got a right rollicking for that when I was 10,’ recalls Chris. ‘I was in the passenger seat and opened the passenger door on Rhyl Promenade against a gale force wind – it snapped the check strap off and blew the door wide open into the wing. It’s part of the car’s story. I can’t repair it’.

Then there’s a Beetle-inflicated crease in the rear panel behind the bumper. The rear lamp unit with a cracked surround. ‘Look closely and you’ll also see a shallow indent in the rear quarter. It was stoved-in when someone bumped into it in the church car park, and we pulled most of it out. There are bits of damage all over the car, and most of it I know the stories behind. Nobody else is ever going to own it while I’m alive, so I don’t care that it’ll never be perfect’.

> ‘All the damage is left on there deliberately’

All of which makes Chris’s car sound a bit shabby – but it’s far, far from that. ‘Grandad bought the car new from Pensarn Motor Company, but barely drove the car at first as he was away from 1972 to 1974 on the ships, then he sadly passed away in 1979,’ says Chris. ‘The car went to my grandmother, who stopped driving in the late Nineties and passed it on to me to use. I was a young lad back then, and the Volvo was just an old car. I drove it for a year or so as my daily driver, then the radiator started leaking and the water pump packed up, so I parked it up and, like a typical mechanic, never got around to fixing my own car’.

Work started in October 2022, with the first job being to get it running and onto a trailer. For 22 years, AUN 461L was sitting in the garden. ‘It’s moved house with me three times on a trailer’.

Alas, gardens and car storage are not good bedfellows, and for Chris the big challenge would come in the form of replacing all the rotten metal. A _lot_ of rotten metal. It was the passing of his paternal grandfather in 2022 that finally gave Chris the nudge he needed to resurrect the car. ‘He died and left me a bit of money – not a huge amount but it was enough to make a start on it.

Chris did most of the work in a small lock-up at his workplace, with other jobs completed on the driveway at home – and almost every panel has seen some welding. ‘I’m a mechanic, so I wasn’t fazed by the metalwork at all,’ says Chris. ‘I grew up in the Eighties when everything used to rot, and welding was just something you did to keep your car on the road, so I’ve got pretty good at it over the years’.

It’s a good job, too, because on the driver’s side of the car the inner and outer sills and rear wheelarch had practically disappeared, the rear quarter panel below the C-pillar had a gaping chasm in it and weeds had grown up through the front scuttle panel via holes in the bulkhead. It was, to anyone but Chris, a total basket case. Unfortunately, the start of the project was tinged with sadness thanks to a light-fingered ne’er-do-well.’ I had several boxes of parts stored in the car, including original purchase receipt and stufflike that. Irrelevant to anyone but me, but a part of the car lost forever’. This made Chris even more determined to crack on, and a late-night eBay discovery proved the perfect shot-in-the-arm. ‘I found a 144 on Anglesey that had sat in a hedge for 10 years. It gave me the panel below the windscreen and loads of little body cuts. It stripped it, then put something out on the Volvo forums explaining what was left and saying that anyone could come and take anything they wanted from it.’

> ‘It’s a car that was built to be used, so of course I use it!’

With the body cuts, including a complete lower side panel for the driver’s side, Chris began welding in earnest. ‘I had to replace sills, outer and inner on both sides, outer and inner rear arches, both lower quarter panels, the spare wheel well, front scuttle panel, the top of the bulkhead the boot lid – the last of which isn’t immaculate, but was the best I could find. I got a lot of stuff from eBay and also from Brookhouse Volvo Parts, who were brilliant.

‘Brookhouse also found me a new-old-stock bonnet, which was great because the old one was shot. But some of it still lives on. The floorpans are in two pieces, you can get toe-boards from Brookhouse Volvo parts and rear ones. I filled the gap with some of the old bonnet, so it’s original in a way – I’ve just relocated some of the old metal that was in the car to start with and seam-welded it in! The two toughest parts were the driver’s side lower body section and windscreen scuttle and bulkhead areas. ‘On the driver’s side, the entire lower body had pretty much disappeared. The panel where the door apertures meet the sill was gone, I took the whole section from the other car, and I welded the entire bit in – I don’t like cutting through posts, so I took the middle part of it, welded it in and skimmed it so it didn’t affect the structure at all.

‘I did similar with the windscreen surround – the whole section came from the donor car and it had to be inch-perfect so I could get the screen back in’. But to Chris, the welding wasn’t as daunting as making the car look good on top. ‘I thought I’d have a go. It wasn’t done in a booth, it was painted outside, on a tarpaulin in a gravel car park. It came out way better than I expected!’

After that, it was a case of reassembling everything although much of which had succumbed to the teeth of rodents over 22 years of standing in the garden. ‘An eBay hot rod wiring harness designed to fit a GM small block V8 was a godsend,’ says Chris. “It cost about £100. It was so much easier and cheaper to put this in the car than find a replacement 144 loom. The only modification I had to make was to fit a button for the headlight flash and full-beam, as I couldn’t use the original relay from the column stalk’. Mechanically, the 144 was then given a brake overhaul, but the 66,000-mile engine itself was untouched. Chris has modified the cooling system, though. It now runs a Volvo 240 radiator, though he did have to be a bit creative to make it fit.

‘I had to modify the front chassis leg a little bit to get the bottom hose to fit in, but the whole setup cost me less than £100, whereas it was six times that for the 144 system’. The only other difference from standard is the choice of tyres: 195/65/15s, common to more modern cars. With the car back on the road – entirely rebuilt in just seven months – Chris added one final, deeply personal touch. ‘I had these badges on the wings made up – underneath the 144 wording, that’s my granny Vera’s signature, on display, on her car’. So, with the Volvo being such a precious member of the family, does it now lead a pampered life after its 22-year slumber? ‘No, not at all,’ says Chris. ‘I use it as much as I can. I do the grocery shop in it. It’s a car, it’s designed to be used!’

**1\. OCT 2022**  
**Where is the metal?**

Project evaluation begins and, as you can see, there wasn’t a tremendous amount of metal to play with in the lower part of the car’s bodywork.

And if you thought the sills were bad… the front windscreen scuttle panel was a horror. Chris found a scrap 144 on eBay to provide a repair section.

A complete sill section form Brookhouse Volvo Parts goes on to each side, with body cuts from the donor car making up the shortfall in metal.

New toe-boards are fitted from Brookhouse, while rear section of the floorpan is made up from parts of the old bonnet.

An eBay hot rod wiring loom was a godsend – it was all clearly labelled and allowed Chris to match up switches and relays to the fuse box.

It’s quite unnerving to think that I’m the first person to drive AUN 461L who isn’t a member of Chris’s family, but he seems genuinely delighted to pass me the keys, pointing out that the smaller steering wheel and wider tyres make the steering pretty heavy. He fitted the smaller wheel to give himself more elbow room, and being a mechanic he’s not short of forearms, but I don’t find it that bad – after all, I once owned a Land Rover Series 3, and this is nothing by comparison.

There’s something immediately likeable about it otherwise. You sit upright, but it’s comfy and there’s a commanding view over that flat bonnet. The 2-litre engine is pleasantly willing and the four-speed gearbox is easy enough to use, although the ratios are fairly widely spaced, so you soon get into the habit of letting the engine do the work, thankfully, there’s loads of torque and it makes a lovely noise. The ride is comfortable, and it feels particularly at home once it settles to a cruising speed – you can see why it felt very special in 1972. It’s easy to appreciate how these cars earned such a strong reputation for being dependable family transport. There’s nothing flashy about the 144DL, but that’s its charm. It is comfortable, spacious and wonderfully uncomplicated. But much more than that, this car is a part of a family’s history, and the fact it has been brought back to life while still wearing hints of many of its stories is truly wonderful.

Restorer of the Year celebrates the shed heroes who, every year, produce extraordinary work breathing life back into basket cases and bringing classics that are going nowhere back to the road. With our sponsors Anglia Car Auctions, we’ll scour the land to bring you the very best then, early in 2027, you get to nominate your favourite restos. From your top ten nominations our panel of experts will select the top five nominees so that you can meet the winner at the **PC** Classic Car and Restoration show at the NEC next March.

Special Swede

We, like so many others, are followers of the big Ford coupé. But which would you worship?

The American dream, evolved at Dunton, UK. Parts bin underpinnings clothed in a stylish, muscular body, and all aimed at a Seventies Man desperate to demonstrate his groovy attitude, not to mention his hairy chest. With their long snouts concealing anything from a puny 1.3 to a full fat V6, there was a Capri for everyone. 1969’s original was very much a Sixties style coupé that incorporated many of the Mustang’s styling cues. This was the Euro version of the people’s sports car, after all. Refinement came with the second generation, and, in its third incarnation, the Capri grew into a desirable range that saw it through 18 years and sales of 1.9 million. There are plenty of examples still out there to buy, so we’ve even helped you with some sound buying advice. But which Capri is for you? Our writers had a rummage through the range and picked their favourites.

1973 Ford Capri MkI 3000GXL  
**COST NEW** £1824  
**VALUE NOW** £4750-£27,500

1983 Ford Capri MkIII 2.0S  
**COST NEW** £3664  
**VALUE NOW** £2250-£15,000

1987 Ford Capri MkIII 2.8i  
**COST NEW** £7995  
**VALUE NOW** £3000-£24,500

1974 Ford Capri MkII 3.0 Ghia  
**COST NEW** £2444  
**VALUE NOW** £4000-£25,500

1969 Ford Capri MkI 2000GT XL  
**COST NEW** £1087.53  
**VALUE NOW** £3500-£20,000

Capri conundrum

**Matt Tomkins** demonstrates how to strip, assess, re-bush or replace your MGA trunnions at home

**TIMING** With the high cost of new kingpins and trunnions, you may wish to plan to tackle this job over a couple of weekends, ordering only the parts you’ll need after the initial stripdown (steps 1-12). We ended up replacing the trunnion bushes, distance tubes, spacers, lower wishbones and bushes. Your experience will likely differ.

OEM ‘top hat’ lower wishbone inner bushes wear rapidly. A common upgrade is to use the Metalastik items found on an MGB V8. It’s worth changing these while you’re in there.

Horizontal trunnion bushes are of bronze construction and require pressing in and reaming to fit. Steel cross tubes act within them, supported by a film of grease.

Rubber seals hold in grease and keep out moisture and dirt. If they’re split, wear will be accelerated. It’s an MOT failure, too.

#### **MATT’S JOB CARD**  
MGA TRUNNION OVERHAUL

Today I’ll be inspecting and repairing the trunnions and kingpins on an MGA. It’s a similar setup to many classics, and one that requires regular inspection and maintenance. I’ll start by removing the upright, before inspecting trunnions and kingpin. I’ll also be replacing the inner wishbone bushes while the coil spring is decompressed. Use this guide alongside your factory workshop manual.

#### **EXPLAINER**  
WHAT GOES WRONG AND WHY?

The MGA, like many cars of its era and before, uses bronze bushes and spacer tubes through its trunnions. These wear, especially if regular greasing is neglected, and require reconditioning to restore proper function. The MGA uses the same setup as the MG TD and Y-types, but this guide will be applicable to a range of cars that use solid bushed trunnions. Levering and wobbling the wheel and joints with the suspension in droop, as in an MOT, may show up wear - however note that spring pressure may mask an issue. Excessive wear may manifest itself as stiffness in the steering (kingpin threads), knocks over bumps (spacer tube bushes) or even excessive camber (both). Regular greasing is essential, however so is periodic strip down and careful assessment which should catch issues before the issue becomes dangerous (seized trunnions/ kingpins can snap causing loss of control). The top trunnion can be removed easily, however the bottom one requires the hub, disc and caliper (or drum and backplate) to be removed for access. It’s the bottom trunnion – that is often subjected to moisture and salt ingress – where wear most readily occurs.

Costs can soon add up for replacement MGA kingpins and trunnions. Some owners choose to upgrade to MGB kingpins/stub axle assemblies, which are available new off the shelf and benefit from the factory development over the originals. Hailing from within the Abingdon stable, the upgrade facilitates a wealth of braking upgrades, including the option of four-pot RV8 calipers.

Jack and support the car on axle stands under the chassis. We’re working on a two-post ramp for ease of photography, however this is by no means essential for this job.

**Loosen wheel nuts before raising the car off the ground.**

Remove the road wheel and start the inspection. You’re looking for perished seals, obvious damage and, with a lever, any play in the top and bottom trunnions or inner wishbone bushes.

Place a jack under the spring pan and raise to compress the spring, releasing pressure on the trunnion cross bolts. Take care not to destabilise the car or lift the it off the ramp/axle stands.

Remove brake backing plate then unbolt caliper. Suspend on cable tie or wire. If your car is fitted with drum brakes, remove the drum then hub (next) then unbolt/suspend the backing plate.

**Take care not to strain the flexible fluid hose.**

Release the hub cover and nut split pin then release the hub nut itself, noting that the left hand side of the car uses a left handed thread. Use a suitable puller to remove the hub and disc.

With the spring pressure released, the top trunnion through bolt may now be released (once its split pin and nut have been removed). It should require nothing more than a light tap with a punch.

**It's worth ordering new hardware with any new components, in case of damage on removal.**

Release the anti roll bar drop link (if fitted), release the track rod end from the steering arm then break the taper. Lower the jack supporting the spring pan to release spring tension.

**Beware flying springs. It’s a good idea to wrap a ratchet strap or simillar around the spring and top damper arms in case anything goes wrong.**

Release the lower trunnion. You may need to slacken both bottom arm inner fixings and the bolts which hold them to the spring pan. Inspect the spring pan for corrosion. Replace if imperfect.

Feel for play in top and bottom trunnions, then unscrew from kingpin. Inspect and remove grease seals, thrust washers and seal support washers.

Remove distance tubes from the trunnions and inspect them for damage/wear. Clean away old grease and rock the distance tubes in their bushes. They should be a close sliding fit.

While the kingpin is bare, it’s worthwhile checking it for straightness. Damage can be caused by a heavy kerb hit or accident damage. A straightened kingpin may crack. Replace if imperfect.

Check the threads in kingpin and trunnions for damage/corrosion. Lower threads are often ruined if seals have failed allowing moisture ingress. If play was detected (step 9), find and replace the source.

If kingpin replacement is required, you’ll need to remove the steering arm before pressing out the kingpin. The steering arm locates and locks the kingpin in position within the stub axle assembly.

You’ll need a press for this step – or take the assembly to a friendly engineering ’shop. Soak with penetrating fluid first. Support the hub carefully to avoid damage, then press out the kingpin.

**Always use correct PPE including eye protection when using a hydraulic press. We've simply mocked up the process here.**

Know your trunnions

**1929 Vauxhall 20-60 Kimpton saloon, 1990 Westfield, 1996 IVECO Daily 4912 MkII, 1999 Toyota Yaris, 2000 Suzuki Jimny:** Peter Kirwan, Jersey

Meet the restorer who just can't help himself!

Peter loves each and every one of his project cars.

‘Yes, but everything is coming together nicely. All the cars are at various stages, and each serves a purpose. The Westfield is on the road and putting a big smile on my face. I’ve had it since 2011 and have raced it here and there. The engine is out of a 1978 Escort MkII 1600, which I rebuilt in 2013. The other cars are all nearly there – and are keeping me busy!’

Turbocharged 2.5-litre Fiat engine ready for action.

‘I sold my first car when I was about 12 — a Singer Gazelle. My dad was working at the scrapyard at the time when the Gazelle came in. I paid a fiver for it because it needed a clutch! Before I took early retirement a year ago, I’d been working as a technician for 22 years at a local independent Porsche specialist and having an eye for quality is obviously part of the job. So, I apply that level of attention to all of my own cars.’

**It’s clear your work is meticulous.**

‘Well, it makes sense, doesn’t it? The Jimny is a case in point. It was going to be scrapped because of the clutch. It had been reasonably well looked after, but it was showing signs of age. The windscreen wipers had duct tape wrapped around them! The Jimny rots badly, especially underneath, so I took it right down to bare metal with a grinder and wire brush. When it’s done, I’ll put it on the back of the IVECO and take it to shows!’

Peter’s daily is a cherished early Yaris diesel!

**And what of that incredible Vauxhall?**

‘This a 1929 20-60 with a genuine Mulliner body that, we think, was a display car at the Olympia Motor Show. It has a six-cylinder 2.9 – a beautiful engine. The car was brought to Jersey in 1935 and survived WWI, when so many vehicles here were taken away on barges. The Nazi occupiers used the Vauxhall for a short time, but it ended up on a local farm after the war, where the guy had two of them. This was his ‘Sunday best’ transport. The other one went for scrap in 1960. She has been in my family since 1964, when I was just a year old. I used to play inside it as a child and thought it was the most beautiful car in the world. And to be honest, I think that now. I love it. When you consider what era it’s from and what it has been through in its life.’

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