I went to my local garage this morning - the one that has looked after
MOTs and welding on all my cars for the last 33 years - and it has
changed hands.

The mechanic who has looked after my daily driver Triumph since I bought
it 24 years ago, (and done most of the repairs for the last two after my
joints got a bit too creaky) has retired. Instead of someone taught in
the traditional ways, who really liked to work on pre-electronics cars,
I was meeting someone who reminded me of a Qu**k F*t fitter.

I have booked the 2000 in for an MOT anyway, but whether he knows that
the test is to different standards for pre-1974 cars remains to be seen.
Whether he wants to do any work on it if any is needed remains to be
seen. Whether I trust him to do it properly at a reasonable price if
anything needs doing is also bothering me.

How does someone find a garage that can be trusted with old machinery
these days? Any suggestions?

Jim

"Jim Warren" wrote in message
. ..
I went to my local garage this morning - the one that has looked after
MOTs and welding on all my cars for the last 33 years - and it has
changed hands.

The mechanic who has looked after my daily driver Triumph since I bought
it 24 years ago, (and done most of the repairs for the last two after my
joints got a bit too creaky) has retired. Instead of someone taught in
the traditional ways, who really liked to work on pre-electronics cars,
I was meeting someone who reminded me of a Qu**k F*t fitter.

I have booked the 2000 in for an MOT anyway, but whether he knows that
the test is to different standards for pre-1974 cars remains to be seen.
Whether he wants to do any work on it if any is needed remains to be
seen. Whether I trust him to do it properly at a reasonable price if
anything needs doing is also bothering me.

How does someone find a garage that can be trusted with old machinery
these days? Any suggestions?

Tell us where you are Jim, someone may know of a trustworthy garage in your
area. Personal recommendation is way better than any advertisement!
Badger.

Badger wrote:
"Jim Warren" wrote in message
. ..
I went to my local garage this morning - the one that has looked after
MOTs and welding on all my cars for the last 33 years - and it has
changed hands.

The mechanic who has looked after my daily driver Triumph since I bought
it 24 years ago, (and done most of the repairs for the last two after my
joints got a bit too creaky) has retired. Instead of someone taught in
the traditional ways, who really liked to work on pre-electronics cars,
I was meeting someone who reminded me of a Qu**k F*t fitter.

I have booked the 2000 in for an MOT anyway, but whether he knows that
the test is to different standards for pre-1974 cars remains to be seen.
Whether he wants to do any work on it if any is needed remains to be
seen. Whether I trust him to do it properly at a reasonable price if
anything needs doing is also bothering me.

How does someone find a garage that can be trusted with old machinery
these days? Any suggestions?

Tell us where you are Jim, someone may know of a trustworthy garage in your
area. Personal recommendation is way better than any advertisement!
Badger.


I am in Bath. The garage I used is Midland Car Company, so
recommendations wanted other than that one.

I have a couple of options. There is a body shop in Bath that
specialises in MGBs but will tackle anything of similar age, and he
doesn't do MOTs so he must have someone he uses for that. And there is
the Morris Minor Centre that has recently moved from Bath to Bristol,
but they might have a recommendation in Bath. So I can ask around, but
any suggestions from the NG gratefully accepted.

Jim

HI Jim

On Wed, 09 Apr 2008 13:36:08 GMT, Jim Warren
wrote:

Badger wrote:
"Jim Warren" wrote in message
. ..
I went to my local garage this morning - the one that has looked after
MOTs and welding on all my cars for the last 33 years - and it has
changed hands.

The mechanic who has looked after my daily driver Triumph since I bought
it 24 years ago, (and done most of the repairs for the last two after my
joints got a bit too creaky) has retired. Instead of someone taught in
the traditional ways, who really liked to work on pre-electronics cars,
I was meeting someone who reminded me of a Qu**k F*t fitter.

I have booked the 2000 in for an MOT anyway, but whether he knows that
the test is to different standards for pre-1974 cars remains to be seen.
Whether he wants to do any work on it if any is needed remains to be
seen. Whether I trust him to do it properly at a reasonable price if
anything needs doing is also bothering me.

How does someone find a garage that can be trusted with old machinery
these days? Any suggestions?

Tell us where you are Jim, someone may know of a trustworthy garage in your
area. Personal recommendation is way better than any advertisement!
Badger.


I am in Bath. The garage I used is Midland Car Company, so
recommendations wanted other than that one.

I have a couple of options. There is a body shop in Bath that
specialises in MGBs but will tackle anything of similar age, and he
doesn't do MOTs so he must have someone he uses for that. And there is
the Morris Minor Centre that has recently moved from Bath to Bristol,
but they might have a recommendation in Bath. So I can ask around, but
any suggestions from the NG gratefully accepted.


I bought a used Moggie traveller from the MMC in Bristol - and based
on that experience, I'd thoroughly recommend them.
Much more 'traditional ways' than 'quickfit'....

Equally - anybody in Bath that they were to reccommend should be OK...
g

Hope this helps
Adrian

Adrian wrote:
HI Jim


I am in Bath. The garage I used is Midland Car Company, so
recommendations wanted other than that one.

I have a couple of options. There is a body shop in Bath that
specialises in MGBs but will tackle anything of similar age, and he
doesn't do MOTs so he must have someone he uses for that. And there is
the Morris Minor Centre that has recently moved from Bath to Bristol,
but they might have a recommendation in Bath. So I can ask around, but
any suggestions from the NG gratefully accepted.


I bought a used Moggie traveller from the MMC in Bristol - and based
on that experience, I'd thoroughly recommend them.
Much more 'traditional ways' than 'quickfit'....

Equally - anybody in Bath that they were to recommend should be OK...
g

Hope this helps
Adrian

I will see what the MOT results are, and get an impression of the
mechanic from the way he describes what he found. And if he doesn't
find anything unaffordable wrong, I am inclined to let him do the work
and judge him by how it is done. After all, he will be putting his name
on the MOT certificate afterwards.

But if I do think I have to go somewhere else, I will speak to Charlie
Ware (he lives in Bath, and I often see him around), pass on your
appreciation, and see what he has to say. Thanks for the recommendation.

Jim

HI Jim

On Wed, 09 Apr 2008 16:01:06 GMT, Jim Warren
wrote:

Adrian wrote:
HI Jim


I am in Bath. The garage I used is Midland Car Company, so
recommendations wanted other than that one.

I have a couple of options. There is a body shop in Bath that
specialises in MGBs but will tackle anything of similar age, and he
doesn't do MOTs so he must have someone he uses for that. And there is
the Morris Minor Centre that has recently moved from Bath to Bristol,
but they might have a recommendation in Bath. So I can ask around, but
any suggestions from the NG gratefully accepted.


I bought a used Moggie traveller from the MMC in Bristol - and based
on that experience, I'd thoroughly recommend them.
Much more 'traditional ways' than 'quickfit'....

Equally - anybody in Bath that they were to recommend should be OK...
g

Hope this helps
Adrian

I will see what the MOT results are, and get an impression of the
mechanic from the way he describes what he found. And if he doesn't
find anything unaffordable wrong, I am inclined to let him do the work
and judge him by how it is done. After all, he will be putting his name
on the MOT certificate afterwards.

But if I do think I have to go somewhere else, I will speak to Charlie
Ware (he lives in Bath, and I often see him around), pass on your
appreciation, and see what he has to say. Thanks for the recommendation.

No problem.
To jog his memory - it's the Almond Green '64 Traveller that he sent
to the stained glass guy in south-west Ireland......
....that should narrow it down a bit g

Good luck
Adrian

Adrian wrote:

On Wed, 09 Apr 2008 16:01:06 GMT, Jim Warren
wrote:


But if I do think I have to go somewhere else, I will speak to Charlie
Ware (he lives in Bath, and I often see him around), pass on your
appreciation, and see what he has to say. Thanks for the recommendation.

No problem.
To jog his memory - it's the Almond Green '64 Traveller that he sent
to the stained glass guy in south-west Ireland......
...that should narrow it down a bit g

Good luck
Adrian

I met Charlie on Monday and passed on your message.

He didn't say anything apart from Oh yes I remember that one, but he
looked really pleased.

Jim

HI Jim

Jim Warren wrote:
Adrian wrote:

On Wed, 09 Apr 2008 16:01:06 GMT, Jim Warren
wrote:


But if I do think I have to go somewhere else, I will speak to
Charlie Ware (he lives in Bath, and I often see him around), pass on
your appreciation, and see what he has to say. Thanks for the
recommendation.

No problem.
To jog his memory - it's the Almond Green '64 Traveller that he sent
to the stained glass guy in south-west Ireland......
...that should narrow it down a bit g

Good luck
Adrian

I met Charlie on Monday and passed on your message.

He didn't say anything apart from Oh yes I remember that one, but he
looked really pleased.

Jim

Ah - that's nice.....
Never met him in person - but we've spoken several times on the phone,
and he seems like one of those people who knows their stuff on Moggies...

Thanks
Adrian

Adrian wrote:


Ah - that's nice.....
Never met him in person - but we've spoken several times on the phone,
and he seems like one of those people who knows their stuff on Moggies...

Thanks
Adrian

He is a very interesting man to talk to, though he always seems
incredibly busy and never chats for long at any time.

He was once a millionaire who fought (and won) a running battle with the
council who wanted to demolish a row of Georgian houses that they had
deliberately allowed to go derelict to make them worthless. Charlie
stepped in and bought them from under the council's nose, restored them
and then forced the council to rethink their development plans because
what they intended to demolish was no longer unfit for habitation. He
sold them on and used the money to buy up another set of derelicts and
restored them. Unfortunately at that time there was a property price
crash and he lost most of his money because this latest batch sold for
less than it cost him to restore them.

Having found himself with insufficient cash to restore property he
decided to start restoring something else and settled on Morris Minors.
And as the business grew and became more profitable, he bought another
Georgian terrace, restored that and used it as his business
headquarters. He also started up a factory in Sri Lanka which now makes
his parts for his restoration business.

Before the second World War, there were several garages named Ware's,
most of which got bombed. I don't know if they were his family or not -
I have never asked him - but my guess is that they were, and he grew up
in an environment where cars were repaired. He certainly knows a lot
about classic cars which would have been current cars when he was
growing up.

Jim

Hi Jim

Jim Warren wrote:
Adrian wrote:


Ah - that's nice.....
Never met him in person - but we've spoken several times on the phone,
and he seems like one of those people who knows their stuff on Moggies...

Thanks
Adrian

He is a very interesting man to talk to, though he always seems
incredibly busy and never chats for long at any time.

He was once a millionaire who fought (and won) a running battle with the
council who wanted to demolish a row of Georgian houses that they had
deliberately allowed to go derelict to make them worthless. Charlie
stepped in and bought them from under the council's nose, restored them
and then forced the council to rethink their development plans because
what they intended to demolish was no longer unfit for habitation. He
sold them on and used the money to buy up another set of derelicts and
restored them. Unfortunately at that time there was a property price
crash and he lost most of his money because this latest batch sold for
less than it cost him to restore them.

Sounds like a man after my own heart !
I'm running a campaign at the moment the bring back the Swansea-Cork
ferry - which is a vital link for tourism & industry out here in the
South-West of Ireland

www.bringbacktheswanseacorkferry.com

with an online petition if you or anybody you know is interested....



Having found himself with insufficient cash to restore property he
decided to start restoring something else and settled on Morris Minors.
And as the business grew and became more profitable, he bought another
Georgian terrace, restored that and used it as his business
headquarters. He also started up a factory in Sri Lanka which now makes
his parts for his restoration business.

Ah - that's interesting - have heard mention of a factory out that way
that's making Moggie spares - didn't put 2&2 together though....

One day when I'm rich I'm going to get Charles's organisation to biuld
me a new Moggie - but then - that'd take away all the fun of patching up
the odd hole in my 'original' one g



Before the second World War, there were several garages named Ware's,
most of which got bombed. I don't know if they were his family or not -
I have never asked him - but my guess is that they were, and he grew up
in an environment where cars were repaired. He certainly knows a lot
about classic cars which would have been current cars when he was
growing up.


From the few chats I've had with him he's certainly a mine of
information on the Minors...

Regards
Adrian - West Cork, Ireland