January for so many businesses is quiet and I am told a slightly miserable time of year. Never for us. Thirty years of customer research has clearly shown that us car nuts are ever the optimists. Despite the perpetual heavy rain fall of a month ago and as soon as the Christmas decorations were packed in the loft, the phone started to ring and the emails started rolling in. Already plans were being made for those exciting and sometimes quite challenging events, road trips

Although we did not personally inspect this E46 M3 prior to our customer purchasing the car, we did spend a long time on the phone to our customer offering buying advice and informing him where the E46 Achilles’ heels lie. We also sent him pictures and videos of where to look and some of the problems seen on other E46 M3s, especially when it comes to bodywork corrosion. We are always happy to offer as much advice as we can. He listened and as a result this lovely example in

The owner of this stunning low mileage AMG SL55 has been a customer for over 25 years. We have cared for his BMWs for that time but he has struggled to find somebody to apply the same level of care that he likes to the SL55 AMG. The car has spent a week in the workshop for a thorough inspection. Some small oil leaks rectified, new brake discs, some suspension bushes, front shock gaiters and the all so important underside clean and rust prevention program which is so importan

This rare BMW M635 CSI Motorsport is with us for a few months. Although cared for exceptionally well by the current owner, like so many cars of this generation that had a low value a decade or so ago, some of the previous repairs are to a low standard that represented the value of the car then. Although not too bad, this M635 did have corrosion in all the normal E24 bodyshell Achilles’ heel areas. Being one of the late Motorsport cars, it was time to do it properly once and f

Some of you may have seen this car recently pass through the Brooklands Historic Auction at Ascot. We were asked to carry out due diligence on the car enabling our customer to bid with an in-depth knowledge of the good, the bad and the ugly of this car. No doubt, this BMW 2500 is one of the best left in existence and represents an opportunity to own one of the finest and most original E3's in the UK. The structural condition of the car is extraordinary and has never been weld

Calling all BMW fanatics, we need your help! One of our loyal customers recently dropped off his very low mileage (and extremely cool) BMW E31 840Ci Sport Individual for us to carry out a full inspection and attend to any maintenance or corrosion issues that might be present. We opened his car's door to find this very unusual patterned carpet staring back at us, which we believe to be based on engineering drawings. Obviously fitted from new, however when we reviewed the origi

Sometimes, we do not know what we will be dealing with until the work is well and truly underway. We thought we would share these pictures with you. This is a customer's 3.0 CSL that came in for some cosmetic paintwork. It was decided that the inner wing tops should be resprayed. Immediately it was clear that the tops of the front inner wings had a lot of body filler applied. Once this filler was removed it was very clear why this cover up job was necessary. Some very unpleas

The E46 M3 has truly reached cult status amongst car enthusiasts in all its forms. It makes for a fabulous hooligans delight retaining that rear wheel drive analogue feeling we love. It rewards us with incredible usability and affordable running costs if the right due diligence is done as part of the initial purchase. The E46 M3 was at the bottom of its depreciation curve about 4-5 years ago, hence some examples ended up with slightly dubious owners and many of the exceptiona

Isn’t it funny, when we buy a new car the last thing we spare little or no thought for are the accessories it comes with. Over the years, kids pilfer them to repair their bikes, never to be returned or, we use, abuse and lose them with not a care in the world. But as time rushes by and our pride and joy transitions from new car to classic car, our thought process changes. That one missing spanner, screw driver or original first aid kit is the only thing left to think about.

I remember the launch of the E39 as if it was only yesterday and yet it’s actually 23 years ago. Can you believe it? 23 years already. Makes me feel old. I was a hardcore E28 fan having owned many 525e, 528, M535 and M5s. I did fall in love with the shape of the E39 immediately, but I recall convincing myself that it would never be the same quality drive that the E28 provided. The first example I drove was in 1997 and it was the first diesel version, a 525 TDS. Well, I was

Despite winter well and truly approaching and the clocks going back next week, the thought of us being able to put our feet up for a few weeks after an exceptionally busy summer, is now looking rather unlikely. In fact, we appear to be busier than ever over the coming months. Discussions with customers are well underway about the activities planned for their cars next spring and into the summer of 2019. Our new workshop building is fully operational and it never ceases to am

BMW 840 Ci Sport. Luxury GT or Sports car? The fact is that the 840 Ci did both exceptionally well especially when blended with the Sport pa

I sold this M5 Touring to the current owner in 1997 and have been responsible for its care ever since. There can be no other M5 Touring to have had such an interesting and cosseted life. Since 1997 the car has done very few miles each year having only been used during the summer for special road trips. During this time the car has been permanently garaged. Anybody who has knowledge of the E34 model, will know the terrible corrosion problems these cars suffered from especially

Many of us more senior hardcore motoring enthusiasts wanted to hate the 1M at its launch in 2011. I was lent the Valencia Orange press car by BMW and instantly fell in love. Although clearly a car from the modern digital age, M had managed to capture an old school motoring, analogue feel that harked back to the E30 M3 compactness and balance that we all fell in love with. This true driving experience was helped by a proper limited slip differential, rear wheel drive, front e

Our workshop has seen a number of 2002s pass through it of late. This one owner from new 2002 Tii is in with us for some very light bodywork restoration work. The car is left hand drive and supplied new to our British customer when he was living in Switzerland in 1974. The structure has survived better than almost any other 2002. This is surprising as the car was used as daily transport for the first 25 years of her life. She was used for school runs, work, family holidays an

It was a pleasure having the very rare Schnitzer ACS3 E46 M3 in our workshop for the first time. The incredibly rare car has been in the hands of just one owner since she was one year old. Due to that the car has never fallen in to the wrong hands and has always been maintained regardless of cost and cherished. Despite the exceptionally low mileage for an E43 M3, the owner bought it to us to ensure that she is 100% up to date with all the age related maintenance. He is plan

I am hugely privileged to get to drive some of the world’s most exotic and exciting cars and yet every so often, one comes along that leaves a really deep impression on me. This particular car is one of those. I covered about 100 miles in the car over about 2 weeks and found it very hard to let it go back to the lucky owner. The Alpina B10 V8 was based on the standard BMW 540i. Alpina worked their magic and took the 540i to an even higher level enabling them to offer a more

I remember the launch of the V12 850i like it was yesterday. I was an enormous E24 6 series fan and was extremely excited about the arrival of the 8 series. BMWs aesthetic design of their new flagship coupe was never in question. You could not help but fall in love with the shape immediately. However, when the first generation 850i hit the showrooms, they quickly fell in to the hands of journalists who in truth gave them a slightly hard time. Ride quality and sportiness where

Few letter combinations get the pulses of BMW enthusiasts racing like CSL. And the first of the breed was the legendary E9 3.0 CSL from 1971. Coupé, Sport, Leichtbau - the concept was to strip the E9 BMW 3.0 CS of unnecessary weight and make it eligible for competition in the European Touring Car Championship. Even though the 3.0 CSL was not an official 'M' car, it was BMW's competition division that drove the CSL's development. This department would later be formally establi

Following the purchase of two stunning E30 M3s from us, our customer then let on that this “hooligans delight” was also sitting in his garage at home. He had already had some fun with the car since its purchase, but knew she had some problems. He decided to book her in for one of our health checks and report. Working with the owner, a programme of work was drawn up. This was to rectify problems known by the customer and areas highlighted in our report. Although the car was a