Classic Car Garage

Today the Classic Car Garage welcomes a number of cars that have the mechanics pondering on the question of what exactly makes a car a classic. Does it simply come down to the age of a vehicle, or can you have a modern classic with styling nods from the past? How about replicas and kit cars – are they classics? 

A 289 AC Cobra comes in with an intermittent indicator issue but has the team scratching their heads about the provenance of the car, just as much as how to solve the indicator problem. 

Is it a pristine original model or a top-notch replica? Amand discovers the answer before heading to The Classic event at the historic Silverstone race track with the car’s owner; Colin helps the owner of a car that’s often mistaken for a Lada, a 1972 Fiat 124 Special T, to fit wing mirrors; Mark tries to get to the bottom of what’s causing a 1968 Daimler to sound its horn at all the wrong times; Nick gets a pair of sisters involved in working out what’s up with the fuel gauge on their 1986 Morgan 4/4; and a 2007 Morgan Aero proves quite the talking point, with all the mechanics dissecting if a 2007 vehicle should be in the Classic Car Garage at all. 

The garage sees a Nissan Figaro with sticking seatbelts which Colin has an unexpected remedy for. Mechanic Amand helps the owner of an imported Vauxhall Wyvern Ute with the stiffest clutch he's ever seen. Bodywork expert Gary gets his mitts on an extremely rare 1931 MG M Sportsman Coupe and electrical whizz Mark unravels the untidy wiring of a customised Austin A40 Devon to be ready for Santa Pod Raceway.

Today the garage welcomes Afro Classics, the classic car club that Colin and Amand

are members of. The club use their dedicated tinker day to prepare their vehicles for the

club’s debut outing at the Bicester Scramble event in Bicester Heritage, Oxfordshire.

The tinker team are on hand to help with whatever the club members’ motors are

needing; Colin checks in with his friend Calvin, who has roped in a bunch of other fellow club

members to fit some new exhaust units to his twin-exhaust 1974 mark 3 Jensen Interceptor

– but is it as straightforward a job as it first appears? Nick helps a serial classic restorer

reuse some reclaimed door cards on his latest project, a 1970 VW Beetle; Mark gets a new

apprentice in the shape of 1967 Jaguar 420 owner, Emile’s daughter Amy – and they try and

unravel dad’s previous rogue handiwork on the car’s wiring; and can Amand get a reluctant

tinkerer’s 1971 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia horn working again in time for the club’s upcoming

event?

The Classic Car Garage sees all varieties of vehicles coming through its doors, and

today’s no exception, with star turns from the fast, the slow and the furious. From vintage race

cars to an electric milk float, a 1950s military survivor and even a 1990s supercar, the team get

stuck into helping keep these commercial vehicles, pleasure cruisers or aspiring racing

champions in fine fettle.

In the garage Colin embarks on a personal mission to keep a sustainable business on the road, it’s a repurposed Smith’s Cabac Milk Float that’s been serving the local community, or it was until it had a problem with its steering; Mark discovers a dangerous issue on his dream supercar – a 1997 Lamborghini Diablo – specifically around its gearbox; a military enthusiast brings in his 1957 Hotchkiss M201 Jeep – an acronym for ‘Just Enough Essential Parts’ – for some regular maintenance on its oil, to get it battle ready for a re-enactment event; and Nick helps prep a track focused 1963 Lotus Elan 26R, before fulfilling a life-long dream and joining the car’s race team in the pits at The Classic race event at Silverstone.

In the Classic Car Garage, teamwork really does make the dream work, whether that’s collaborating over the best way to tackle a troublesome tinker job or tapping into a teammate’s specialist expertise.

Today Colin tries to help a 1978 Austin Allegro’s owner with their wonky suspension but needs to call in the cavalry when a piece of specialist kit packs in. Elsewhere Amand is on hand to work with a father and daughter who’ve brought in a 1959 Ford Zodiac convertible, that they’re taking to the Classic Car Boot Sale event at Kings Cross in London, but has a temperature gauge that might end up for sale on a stall if they can’t fix it; Porsche superfan, Nick, helps a Porsche 911 owner with an idling issue; Mark is on hand to help a self-tinkerer with the windscreen wipe electrics on their heavily modified 1972 Mini Clubman; and bodywork expert, Gary Ross, is on hand to advise how to stop the rot on the doors of a 1960 MKII Jaguar.

In today’s tinker session Colin and his tinker team open the doors of the Classic Car

Garage to a massive American cruiser, a souped-up hot hatch race car, a German classic with

a nifty party trick and a once commonplace, but now treasured, 1960s British-made runaround.

On their mission to get the classic car community tinkering together, in the garage today we

see; Mark enlighten the owner of a Lincoln Continental, as he delves into the inner workings of

the car whilst investigating an apparent fault with the headlights. Amand is set the challenge

of getting to the bottom of a puzzling hot start issue on a 16 valve Mk2 Golf GTi – but will it be

working for its track-driving instructor owner’s next event at Brands Hatch? 

Nick is tasked with fitting a new number plate to a Mercedes-Benz 280 CE coupe, but it proves to be anything but a simple switch. And, Colin kindles a tinkering passion in the owner of an Italian designed,

but British built Mark One Austin A40 Farina, who needs to get their ‘sad’ engine bay into a showable state, so it can be displayed at the Thames Traditional Boat Festival.

From using tried and tested techniques to carrying out cutting edge customisations, the

team see the old and the new coming together in the garage today, as Colin takes on an

unusual task that is something far bigger than any tinker the garage has ever seen.

In today’s tinker session: can Colin bring a rare 1953 Ford Zephyr into the 21st Century, as he

sets out to fit custom power steering to the classic so the owner can carry on enjoying it even

with the onset of arthritis; Nick puts his old school knowhow to the test to tune a 1970 VW

Beach Buggy by ear; Mark discovers an unconventional tool for keeping the bonnet open on a

Jaguar XJS as well as helping the owner of a 1989 BMW E30 325i figure out why his electric

windows aren’t working; and Amand supersizes a 1966 E-Type Jaguar’s custom air filters as it

is readied for its star turn at the exclusive Hampton Court Concours of Elegance event.

Colin invites the members of London’s Waterloo Classics car club into the Classic Car

Garage, as they prepare their cars to attend an unusual new event that celebrates original and

unrestored vehicles, the inaugural Patina classic car show, in the grounds of Lullingstone Castle

in Kent.

The tinker team are on hand to help the club members with their treasured, and somewhat

tarnished cars, looking to win prizes at the event such as; ‘most in need of a polish’, ‘least likely

to get home’ and the award that Colin gets to judge for himself ‘most original’. But, first the

cars have to actually get to the event, and that’s where the tinker team comes in.

In the garage Colin ropes Mark in to help sort out some intermittent headlights on a Britishmade

Standard Super 10 from 1956. Amand wrestles with a rare 1980s vintage Vauxhall Viceroy

that’s having bonnet troubles. 

A tinker on the speedometer of a Mercedes 220 SE poses a costly

conundrum. And, can Mark help a self-tinkerer upgrade their 1967 Morris Minor’s dynamo?

 The team are firing on all cylinders today – supercharged with the added boost of

bodywork expert Gary Ross, who is on hand to help a 1998 Ferrari F355 Spider owner get her car

gleaming for an exclusive event at Hampton Court Palace, the Concours of Elegance. 

Elsewhere in the garage Colin ropes in mechanic Mark to assist with a novel method of diagnosing where a

leak is coming from on a 1990 Mercedes 230 CE pillarless coupe; Amand helps brothers Matt and

Dave get their late-father’s lopsided 1968 Jaguar MKII straightened up; Nick inspires a novice

tinkerer who is having issues with the locking mechanism on their 1989 Porsche 944’s boot; and

Mark looks to liven up a 1966 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia’s lazy windscreen wipers.

 As a busy classic car season draws to a close, we join the team at the Classic Car Garage for

one last tinker session, before the mechanics pull down the garage shutters, hang up their

overhauls and don their finest vintage attire to see the year out in style at the Goodwood Revival

event.

Today the team welcomes back some familiar faces but with different fenders, as well as some first

time tinkerers at the garage; Colin gives his friend and fellow Triumph Stag owner, Richard, the

lowdown on the troublesome drop-top on his 1978 model; Nick helps a 1951 Jowett Javelin owner,

Don, with his intermittent horn’s degraded wiring; Returning tinkerer, Tim, bring his wife Emma and

their much treasured 1960 Mercedes-Benz 180 in to try and get to the bottom of an annoying rattle

on the car that’s been bugging him for decades; Another Triumph, this time a 1976 Spitfire, has Mark

and owner, Jaafar, trying to work out a fiddly fuel gauge fix; and garage regular Darren, brings in an

electrified 1965 Austin-Healey 3000 MKIII that he’s looking to flog at the Goodwood Revival, but will

classic car purist Colin be an electric convert or be producing more fumes than the Healey ever did?