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We reflect on a year of huge corrective endeavours, feauturing a different selection of classics, from classic sports cars to modern-classic technology. Choose your favourite and you might win a workshop's-worth of quality tools, too TONY BAKER, JORDAN BUTTERS, JONATHAN FLEETWOOD, LAURENS PARSONS, ROSS PERRY, DAN SHERWOOD & ADAM SHORROCK Every month, Classic Cars celebrates the vision, ability and large decision that keeps the old car world alive.
This year, we have actually seen an extraordinary range of difficulties and services: glassfibre specials reborn, hot hatches raised to better-than-new, and grand tourers and utilitarian heroes rescued against all chances. Some projects reveal the problems of preserving creativity, while others showcase fresh or technological thinking whether that be extremely comprehensive research, global parts searches, 3D-printed services or engineering updates that permit timeless metal to thrive in a modern world.
Their stories, their fights with missing out on parts and terminal decay, and their exhilirating minutes of triumph. These stand testament to the reality that restoration is always as much about spirit as it is about spanners. Now, as we cast an eye over 12 months of remarkable returns and hard-won victories in Legendary Restoration of the Year 2026, Classic Cars and Machine Mart welcome you to elect your preferred improvement.
Ballot provides you the chance to win a handy haul of the high-grade tools you'll require to make your plans a truth. Information are at the bottom of this page. 'The level of workmanship and dedication to detail in these vintage car repairs is genuinely outstanding. From painstaking bodywork to flawless paint finishes and carefully restored engines, the skill and enthusiasm behind each job is clear to see.
The team managed to source the van from Germany, where it had functioned as a fire engine. Below its tired skin, they discovered rotten sills and missing crossmembers. They removed the bodyshell, produced fresh panels and replaced structural areas to restore strength with creativity. The car department of auction website eBay commissioned Envisage to change the Transit into a versatile mobile lounge and event area.

Isoteak marine flooring was likewise set up together with bespoke cabinets, and luxurious seats cut in hand-stitched leather. Every detail got really attention from adapting off-the-shelf components with custom fixings to handcrafting special folding actions and storage. Well-known designer Peter Stevens even played a crucial function, sketching bespoke outdoor seating and directing the interior design.
Envisage developed a narrower, longer fuel tank to allow new entry steps and calibrated the initial fuel gauge to work with the system. Eventually, the conservators fused modern coachbuilding, traditional style and creativity to give this Transit a vibrant brand-new function. Thanks to their exacting craftsmanship and Peter Stevens' influence, a once-derelict local workhorse now shines as an event-ready event of Ford's industrial car heritage.
He had constantly desired one, so when he was provided this car for 3500 back in 2010, he purchased both the cars and truck and an utilized truck to transport the project home. When Ward began the remediation, he discovered daytime showing through the complex, rusty roofing, while just half of the original interior remained intact.

Mechanical expert Neville Byford cleaned the furred-up oilways and restore the engine with reground crankshaft, brand-new pistons and liners, and previously owned conrods. He restored the transmission, replacing the worn synchromesh. To maintain what they could, as many original suspension components were recycled, Ward also fixing Ruddspeed's peculiarities, moving the rear spring spacer throughout reassembly to provide a correct ride height.
Identifying its conversion to right-hand drive had left the control panel and circuitry in a mess, Ward also sourced a new loom, thoroughly labelled every wire and systematically restored the electrical system. After a particularly tough last assembly likened to needing 'arms like an octopus' he revealed the Giulia at the NEC Classic Motor Show to commemorate Alfa's 60th anniversary, after which he was looking forward to taking pleasure in the automobile out on the open road, justifiably proud of rescuing a true Italian rarity.
How Regional Specialists Secure Vehicle ValueDavid Stubbs and Chris Tye led the effort, stripping the Peugeot back to bare metal. They cut out rusty sills and a corroded rear-seat footwell, welding in new metal to recreate factory contours. The group fixed panels with care, using a shrinking disc and templates from a mint donor 205GTI to ensure correct fit and shape.
How Regional Specialists Secure Vehicle ValueFor the paint process, AutoRara's specialists colour matched the initial Cherry Red using donor panels and painstaking research study. Inside, the team rebuilt the trim, changing damaged clips, broken plastics and tired fabrics with genuine materials.
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