• Car Dealer Plus
No Result
View All Result
  • Latest
  • Used Cars
  • Live
  • Forum
  • Power 2020
  • Used Car Awards
  • CDX
  • Knowledge
  • Suppliers Guide
  • About Us
  • Latest Issue
  • Top 100
  • CD Plus
  • Latest
  • Used Cars
  • Live
  • Forum
  • Power 2020
  • Used Car Awards
  • CDX
  • Knowledge
  • Suppliers Guide
  • About Us
  • Latest Issue
  • Top 100
  • CD Plus
No Result
View All Result

Big Mike: My chat with Cecil, and a hefty restoration bill

Car Dealer Magazine by Car Dealer Magazine
October 29, 2015
0
Home Big Mike

I HAVE a guilty passion. I love banger racing.

Much as I love cars, and have a genuine affection for old, well-preserved classics, there’s very little as exciting or thrilling to watch as a circuit full of battered old family saloons slamming each other into the barriers at great speed. It’s a miracle, quite frankly, that the drivers survive the impacts, let alone that the cars keep on going.

It’s also, I find, a great way of determining what makes a good car. Thanks to banger racing, I’ve learned that Volvo 240s, Ford Sierras, Nissan Bluebirds, Rover 200s and Toyota Previas (yes, really) are among the absolute toughest and most indestructible cars ever made and, on the basis of such demonstrations of strength, I’ve owned each and every one of them as my own personal transport with the exception of the Toyota. No car dealer worth his salt would keep a Japanese people carrier for himself if he lives in a town with taxi operators…

Anyway, I digress. For the first time in my life, I’ve decided to restore a classic. Yes, I’m going off on a tangent here, but bear with me.

The car in question is a Jaguar XJ6. I sold it for the first time in 1992, when it was six years old. It came back to me in 1998 as a part-exer, and I sold it on again. Ten years later, it returned, still in respectable nick, albeit frilly round the edges. That was 2008, and I advertised it as a £995 px to clear, not expecting to see it again. I sold it to the chap who originally bought it in 1992, and who had regretted selling it ever since. He’d seen it in the paper, and was round like a shot. He continued to use the car until earlier this year, when ill health meant he had to give up driving.

So guess what? He phoned me up and asked me if I’d like to sell it on again. I decided that, as the car had been in my possession more times than it had anyone else, there was an omen there, so I offered the chap a fair price for what was, essentially, a spares or repairs car and decided that now was the time to finally do what I’d always fancied doing, and restore a car I’d always liked…

Well, I say restore, but technically I’m outsourcing all but the simplest of jobs to a specialist. The Jag is surprisingly solid, but it needs a mechanical overhaul, the electrics sorting out and a proper quality respray, so I’ve left it with a trusted local company that was recommended to me by one of my regular customers, who has a collection of classic Fords.

There was a Ford in the workshop when I drove the Jaguar over there, the day before its MoT expired. The car in question was an early 1977 Mk 4 Cortina finished in a colour I’m reliably informed is called ‘Aquatic Jade’ – a kind of lurid metallic greeny blue, that’s very of its era.

The paint had just gone on, and the trim was in the process of being refitted, its newly-rechromed bumpers giving it an almost factory-fresh appearance.

It’s ages since I saw any Cortina, let alone the Mk 4, with its smaller tail lamps and skinny chrome bumpers, so I was naturally drawn to it. There, leaning against the wall and also looking at it, was a substantial and heavily-tattooed individual, who would be best described as someone you ‘wouldn’t want to mess with’.

‘Like it?’ he grunted, in a broad Midlands accent.

‘Yes, of course,’ I agreed, because disagreeing with Baldy didn’t really seem like a good idea.

Books, covers, etc., after half an hour, Cecil and I (after I’d successfully managed not to laugh at his name) were having a whale of time, spinning yarns about some of the best cars we’d ever owned and loved.

‘I raced a few of those,’ Cecil told me, nodding towards my Jag. ‘Tough old birds they are, all fur coat and no knickers as you grind ‘em off the Armco.

‘I bloody love the V12s.’

Cecil, it turns out, was a banger racer. A man who had, single-handedly, prematurely depleted the classic car population of the West Midlands by more than 300 units, against the barriers of Hednesford Raceway.

The Cortina was his stab at redemption…

‘I’m a bit like the Dukes of Hazzard,’ he told me. ‘They destroyed 300 Dodge Chargers when they were filming, and now the bloke that played the soppy one restores them for a living (this much is true, I checked it on Wikipedia).

‘I’ve spent the best part of ten grand on this thing,’ he pointed to the renascent Ford. ‘And I don’t regret a penny – I owe it to the Cortina to preserve a beautiful one after all the fun I’ve had wrecking them…’

I like that in a man. I’m not looking forward to the restoration bill for the Jaguar, though…

Who is Big Mike? Well, that would be telling. What we do know is he’s had more than 30 years in the car trade and picked up some incredible tales along the way.

MORE: New Audi S4 blends luxury with RS performance

MORE: Best-ever quarter sees Carlow go from strength to strength

MORE: Mazda unveils new sports car concept

On SuperUnleaded.com: Play Gran Turismo, Get Invited To FIA Awards Dinner

Previous Post

New Audi S4 blends luxury with RS performance

Next Post

New stores give huge Ford range room to breathe

Related Posts

John Clark Motor Group sees losses deepen to nearly £2m
News

John Clark Motor Group enjoys profit rise to £12.8m despite lower turnover

January 13, 2021
Consumers confused by car finance terms, according to new research
News

Car repossessions allowed to recommence on January 31, despite FCA extending help for mortgages

January 13, 2021
Scottish government looks to phase out new petrol and diesel cars from 2032
News

Click-and-collect to be banned in Scotland from Saturday for car dealers but hope deliveries will still be allowed

January 13, 2021
Dealers to be given free advertising across eBay Motors Group in February
News

Dealers to be given free advertising across eBay Motors Group in February

January 13, 2021
New car sales to increase in 2013, suggests Trader Media
News

Renault Retail Group sells flagship London West showroom for £39m

January 13, 2021
BMW ad banned because ‘no-dazzle’ claim was misleading
News

Five people arrested after BMW dealership targeted twice by thieves in the same morning

January 13, 2021

Want to receive the latest news?

Sign up to the Car Dealer daily news briefing for the latest news and advice during these unprecedented times.

Subscribe Now
Car Dealer Top 100 – The list in full of the most profitable car dealers in the UK
Car Dealer Top 100

Car Dealer Top 100 – The list in full of the most profitable car dealers in the UK

December 21, 2020
Used Car Awards Shortlist: Find out who made it through mystery shopping and are now in running for our gongs
News

Used Car Awards Shortlist: Find out who made it through mystery shopping and are now in running for our gongs

January 6, 2021
Investigation: Should car dealers be selling and delivering during lockdown?
News

What do we know about online used car dealer Cazoo? Who is Alex Chesterman? And will Cazoo float on the stock market?

January 5, 2021
Become a Car Dealer Plus member and get more out of this website including free legal advice
News

Become a Car Dealer Plus member and get more out of this website including free legal advice

January 5, 2021
Used car dealer Cazoo accused of online-only U-turn as it sets up physical sites and closes Imperial dealerships
News

Comment: Why Cazoo founder was naive to label this used car sales business as ‘flawed at every level’

December 1, 2020
Car Dealer Power

Car Manufacturer of the Year – Where did your manufacturer rank in Car Dealer Power 2020?

November 23, 2020
Investigation: What do car buyers want from online car sales? New research reveals customers’ likes and dislikes
Car Dealer Live

Investigation: What do car buyers want from online car sales? New research reveals customers’ likes and dislikes

November 28, 2020
Car Dealer Power

The best car dealer suppliers named in the Car Dealer Power Awards 2020

November 26, 2020
  • Latest
  • Used Cars
  • Live
  • Forum
  • Power 2020
  • Used Car Awards
  • CDX
  • Knowledge
  • Suppliers Guide
  • About Us
  • Latest Issue
  • Top 100
  • CD Plus
Call us: 020 8125 3880

© 2020 Blackball Media

No Result
View All Result
  • Car Dealer Plus
  • Latest
  • Used Cars
  • Live
  • Forum
  • Power 2020
  • Used Car Awards
  • CDX
  • Knowledge
  • Suppliers Guide
  • About Us
  • Latest Issue
  • Top 100

© 2020 Blackball Media

Log In
Register
Register
Server C