Classic car mechanic – Down the pan

‘In the corner of the workshop, Olli Ragbin sits watching events unfold before him’

(ever been caught short on one of these? We know someone you should thank....)

One of the highlights of the calendar is the Classic Car Show at the NEC in Birmingham and this weekend the Gaffer, along with the lovely Ingrid, trooped off to the midlands to have a nosey about.

Hundreds of cars as well as a good selection of motorcycles meant hours of pouring over every detail and imaginary lists of ‘my top 5’ being compiled and constantly refined throughout the day.

I sat patiently at home waiting for the deluge of photos to come flooding into my iPhone from an excitable Gov’nor.

Hundreds.. surely.

I got 5 shots and a bombshell. (And of the 5 photos sent, one was just a different angle on photo 4)

Master technician, engineer and chief of all he surveys, maybe….but David Bailey he aint.

And the bombshell? We shall get to that presently.

So a quick roundup along with some additional snaps direct from the ‘Silverstone auctions’ website as they were running an event in conjunction with the show.

McFly’s favourite and the older we get, the better this looks. DeLorean made a shocking decision to fit a meek Citroën engine to an overweight car which looked a million dollars but had underpowered shopping trolly dynamics. Still, park this up at Sainsbury’s and you’re gonna get more attention than if you’d turned up with the Minogues.

(Better looking than a Minogue? Handling comparisons avoided.)

‘What a machine’ says I.

‘yep… ‘ muttered Eric nonchalantly. ‘My dad lead the team that designed the gullwing doors on that’ (the DeLorean that is, not the Minogue).

‘What!!??’

‘And he designed the toilet on the Vickers VC10’

You think you know someone. Then out of the blue lands this sort of information. Information which should have been in the public domain many, many years ago.

I’ve had lunch out on much less significant and fleetingly tenuous connections. For instance, my uncles neighbour’s niece’s boyfriend once sat next to Giles Brandreth on a bus in Cardiff. I’ve been trotting that gem out for years when I could have had the ‘DeLorean doors’ story of the ‘VC10 bog’ in my back pocket, ready to leave my company in slack-jawed wonder at my Hans Christian Anderson-esque magicianary tale telling ability whilst I smugly nibbled on my bruschetta.

Thumb and forefinger gripping bridge of nose with eyes closed….let us move on.

(BL’s finest....an oxymoron if every there was one)

Eric sent me this as he knows that my first ever car was a Morris Marina. Mine was a 1.8 coupe. This one is the 4-door. It looks stunning. I don’t own a hat. If that paint was ever an option from the factory, I shall go out and buy one, bring it home and then eat it.

(Morris Minor Millions! One of our favourites and we are lucky enough to look after one ourselves for a valued customer. Here’s 4 of em!)

A little self-indulgent, but this bike takes me back to when I was 18. My best mate at the time and fellow biker was the first of our group to buy a big motorcycle on the passing of his test. This is what he bought. Favoured by dispatch riders at the time and dubbed the ‘plastic maggot’ by the motorcycling press, it was never truly embraced. The years however have been kind and the Honda CX500 is now remembered with fondness and is even used as the basis for the odd café racer retro conversion.

I spent a genuinely terrifying 2 hours on the back of his bike on a trip into North Wales where both footpegs and the main stand where ground down to almost nothing in a shower of sparks. 70-80 mile an hour left handers with metal scraping tarmac, fire and boingy suspension had me shutting my eyes and praying to every god in the book.

Anyway, £3600 would have acquired this low-mileage nightmare from history. Seems cheap!

Another stand-out lot from the auction side of the day. An original 2-door Rangey in the sort of blue that floats my boat. The tiny pram-wheels may be massively out of place in 2021, but this is the car that started a trend nearly all manufacturers now follow. Remember, the Cayenne pretty much made Porsche profitable. Even Rolls are doing luxo SUV barges. Well, this one is the granddaddy of 'em all.

This is my absolute favourite from Brum. This 911SC has had £60k of prep and resto work done. This included a £25k price tag for the engine rebuild!

The hammer price was £38k. Just look at it! Absolutely sensational.

Back at the workshop this week, we’ve had our own classics to fawn over.

80’s middle-management exec barges don’t come much more angular (or more beige) than the Carlton. This was from back in the day when a plastic moulded interior really was a plastic moulded interior.

(You’ve got to admit it… it’s tidy!)

Why is Alfie (who is tall) trying on Dr Ray’s overalls (who is less tall)?

Who knows. I am hoping that somewhere there is a pic of Dr Ray looking like Tom Hanks in Big with Alfie’s overalls on.

Over many years I’ve perfected the art of watching. Finally, my skills have been recognised and the long-lost art of having a good proper long look at something has been passed on to others.

Here the team are taking a moment out to observe something that’s not quite right with the exhaust manifold on this Sylva Phoenix kit car.

(This week Eric introduced his ‘North Korean Management philosophy’. Shortly after this shot was taken, Dr Ray made his pronouncement and the observing techs all stood up and politely applauded before scribbling thoughts furiously into their little black notebooks.)

Finally, one of our long-term commissions and a car you may well be seeing a lot more of.

Again, it’s that shade of blue. A full restoration is about to commence. Updates to follow!

That about wraps it up for another week. Who knows what stories we’ll manage to unearth from the Collins mental archive in the next few days. One thing’s for sure though, we’ll find something. And if we don’t, we’ll make up something outlandish and far-fetched secure in the knowledge that when it outs, the truth will no doubt be stranger.

So until then, from Siobhan, Dr Ray, Shrimp-eye Justin, Young Chris, Izzi, Ingrid, Alfie and gull-wing Kylie, see you next week

Olli