Generally, the only upgrades that we recommend are what we would call period upgrades, those that were available when the cars were in production.

There are however a few exceptions to this, cooling is one obvious one or when, for example a vehicle was evidently under engineered. 3.8 ‘E’ Types with brakes in good condition, still do not stop very well.

The key words are good condition. Customers will often upgrade from a specification which if in good condition would be perfectly adequate or better than adequate. Vehicles for competition are a different matter but for normal road use, the original specification is often hard to beat.

The marketing machine has very successfully persuaded people to buy things that they probably do not want and certainly do not need. Why put an expensive five speed gearbox in a Mk2 Jaguar, which means that to get the gearlever in the original position, the engineering is terrible, whereas a Mk 2 with a good all synchromesh overdrive gearbox is a joy.

Why buy an XK120, 140 or 150 if you cannot live with a Moss gearbox? It’s part of the character of the car. If you do not like it, you should really consider buying something else. By all means make your car go faster, we can offer many variety of modifications. If it goes faster, you may need to change some (but not all) suspension and brake parts. You will find most of them were available when the cars were in production.

Some of the recent work we have done is on A, B and C series BMC engines, we are even experimenting with a three bearing MGA ‘B’ series engine with a five bearing crank (more soon, as we get nearer to completion!) We have a fantastic two litre, MGB running with a modified cam, polished and ported head, bigger carbs, long centre branch, probably only twenty brake horse power more than standard, but quite fantastic. The car otherwise is a rubber bumper conversion, all standard (very late cars have a very useful and well engineered rear anti roll bar). Problem is the owner (Erik’s son)wants to put a V8 in, which is a pity really. We have modified 200 bhp Austin Healeys that we have prepared for customers and for out own vehicles, all fairly standard, ally head, 300º cam, triple Webers, six branch, quite a lot of other secrets.

The price of the parts can make this seem expensive, but it is definitely worthwhile. Ours runs in a standard BJ7 without lots of suspension or brake modifications, just very good condition. Remember, it is not a track car.

Obviously we have quite a lot of Mini experience, so if you want your Mini to go faster, we can take you through the mountains of modifications that are available.