Back in January 2019, the mission to move GBH and its vast stock from Devon up to our warehouse in Malvern began. Brian Hayes, who founded GBH over 25 years ago, had been keeping his collection of new-old stock of pistons, ring gears, bearings, crankshafts, oil seals, gasket kits and much more at his place in Devon.
Relocating literal tonnes of stock 200miles up the country was a brave task to say the least, but now it is nearly all here in Malvern. We’re now finishing the lengthy process of unloading, stock checking, and creating a new website for GBH so we can go live with a handful of products.
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The majority of GBH’s stock is new-old stock, untouched in its original packaging, meaning our shelves are a striking plethora of colours. 

​Each year, the Rolls-Royce and Bentley Enthusiast Club hosts their annual rally at Burghley House. This year we had the opportunity to have a trade stand there, get the new gazebo out, and meet some of our customers in person. But, perhaps more interestingly, it gave us a chance to check out some of the finest kept vintage Rolls-Royce and Bentley vehicles in the world attending the concours event. Below are some of our favourite pictures taken.

​When Vintage Supplies moved across to its new home in Malvern in June 2018, the companies Model Y was still being restored. Since moving, the car has had a refreshed engine, a complete respray, and custom "Vintage Coachbuilding Supplies" sign written onto it. We believe it looks just as good now as it did when it rolled off the production line in 1937. The van Was registered on 31st December, after the company ceased production of the Model Y on 30th November 1937. Meaning the van is likely the last model Y ever made.

The van is powered by a perky little Ford 8hp engine and doesn't take long to get up to speed on main roads - so long as you can withstand the bouncy ride! The handling has been described as "challenging and exciting, however, a lesser man would find it terrifying".

As the van has been rebuilt to factory specification, we have been fortunate enough to supply most of the components needed to restore it. See smallfordspares.co.uk to take a look at some of what we have to offer for pre-war Fords through to late 60's icons like the 105E Anglia.

July 2015, 20 months from when the car was purchased. The Anglia is complete with a rebuilt engine, new bespoke interior with new carpets, seat belts and the original seats are re treated and installed. All the electrics are working. Mechanically it is brand new, new brake cylinders and drums have been fitted and everything is greased and ready to go. The car is even taken to Pit Stop for a new muffler to be fitted.
Throughout the entire restoration process, Lyndsay had been keeping track of every penny spent on the Anglia. The final budget was more than double the initial one, but they maintain that “the end product is worth every dollar”
 
The Ivory Anglia now celebrates its 50th birthday in true style.
Lyndsay and Barrie have been married now for 46 years. Their honeymoon car was a rather quick 1963 105E Red Anglia, time for them to reminisce and enjoy their second Anglia!

Fast forward a couple of weeks and the bodywork is completed, a small rust patch on the fire wall is repairs and now the bodylines are smooth and true. Now it was time to source some new lights, indicators, lenses, body badges, body line fixings and name badges. This led Lyndsay and Barrie to Small Ford Spares in the UK. They placed their orders and 6 days later they had arrived, 11,555 miles across the globe to their door step.

Soon the car is off to paint, in the meantime, Barrie organised a room in a small shed on Thames Street to keep the car in while it is being painted. Fortunately, it was being painted across the road at Tony Fergusson’s shop, making transport easy.
The doors, body panels, bumpers and a few other bits were then fitted, and the car was loaded onto the trailer once again to be taken to Napier Auto Upholstery. It is there that Malcom Wilkie could start to refresh the Anglia’s interior. A new head lining and interior door panels are fitted and styled as close to the original design as possible.

While the aesthetics of the vehicle were being finalised, the engine to be used was being stripped down and rebuilt. The engine itself had an interesting history, Craig had told Barrie that it originally came out of a farm hack that was used in the onion fields in Pukekohe, so a new life in the Anglia was to be something of special meaning.

Initially, the engine was set to just be checked over, cleaned and reassembled. However, Tony at Bay Auto Rebores 2000 was set to ensure the engine would be done properly. After all, if it was worth doing, it was worth doing well. New pistons and various other components were ordered from Small Ford Spares UK and after a little work, the engine was ready to be fitted into the car.

Before the engine is fitted, the Anglia had its new gearbox fitted and the driveshaft is worked on. Upon test-fitting the driveshaft on the car, Barrie discovered that it was 75mm too short. Adding to his growing list of hiccups, Barrie had the petrol tank sandblasted only to discover it was full of holes and finding a spare tank for sale was going to be a challenge to say the least.
On a return trip from Craig’s, Lyndsay and Barrie noticed an Anglia parked up in a paddock a short distance from TePohue. As they still needed a fuel tank, they contacted the owner to ask if they were interested in selling just the tank – unfortunately, the owner was only interested in selling to entire car. Naturally, they pulled the plug and before long they were in possession of a second Anglia to be used as a donor vehicle and valuable reference source.
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The donor Anglia’s fuel tank was removed and a repair to a small hole at the top of it was made before it was fitted into the restoration project. The donor vehicle had to be gone within a month, so it was stripped of all other valuable parts before Craig bought it off them – he says he has a use for it. Finally, some cash back to Lyndsay and Barrie!
 

Based in Napier, New Zealand, Lyndsay & Barrie Browne have recently finished restoring a 1965 Ivory Ford Anglia. This is the story of how, over 20 months, a tired shell of a car has become one of New Zealand’s cleanest examples of a 105E Anglia.

It started as just an idea inspired by an Anglia they spotted at the 2013 HB Vintage Car Clubs Homestead run. Lyndsay encouraged Barrie to chase things up and see if they could get one for themselves. As it turns out, a quick web search revealed a stripped-down Anglia based in Papamoa. So, after a short consideration of logistics and costs, they were on their way back to Napier in their trusty Bongo van with their very own Anglia following behind on a trailer.

Prior to picking up the car, Barrie had already been up to Papamoa to collect spare pieces and a couple of engines which were included with the car. This made towing the car back a little less stressful for the Bongo, although as the car didn’t have any windows or doors, it didn’t exactly weigh a lot!

The car looked to be in good shape, clean and white – like a blank canvass. It came with a couple of engines and numerous body parts and interior pieces, but not all of this was usable. As Barrie wanted the Anglia to be as original as possible, neither of the 1500cc cross flow motors were appropriate for the age of the vehicle, this meant sourcing a little 997cc 105E engine was in order.

Now that the car was back in Napier, the work could commence. Barrie said he “did not envisage the extent of work or the magnitude of challenges this little car would put before us” after visiting several panel beaters to get an estimated cost of completing the panel work and having the car resprayed. He was told the white paint on the car was in fact entirely incorrect and would have to be stripped off…

Although it presented itself as a challenge, Barrie was determined to keep the project moving forward. So, with the help of the Jones Transport family he began stripping the paint of the car, after hitting it with a hot water pressure washer the paint peeled off. Fairly straightforward he thought, but it also revealed what the paint was hiding – many hours of sanding the car by hand to get a surface finish a sprayer would be pleased with.

Some panels needed more work though. Fortunately, Peter Couper, a retired ex Wairoa panel beater came to the rescue. Barrie brought the car over to Peter’s place at the Pask Winery Sheds so Peter could work his magic.

NZ is also home to its own Anglia Owners Club. The community within it is very helpful to Lyndsay and Barrie and extra panels, an engine, a gearbox and other spares were sourced from Craig Chamberlain – an Anglia expert who not only supplied some of the spare parts needed for the project, but also picked up some of the bits no longer needed for the project.

With more parts being sourced and the car starting to take shape, the project was off to a magnificent start. Tune in next week for part 2! 

Having managed to get the Popular back to our base in Malvern, the project to supercharge it can finally commence. With forced induction, the stresses placed on the engine’s internal components can be huge, often with devastating results if not correctly tuned. So, naturally the project will start with a great deal of research. Finding a genuine ‘era appropriate’ supercharger for the Popular is not going to be an easy process, and even then, it would most likely still need to be stripped down and rebuilt. Therefore, the most time effective way to tackle this issue is to source a newer one, hopefully improving both reliability and efficiency. 

It comes without saying that supercharging a vehicle is not something which can be done overnight, and it doesn’t take long for things to spiral out of control as interfering components have a knock-on effect on each other. Fortunately, The Pop’s chunky rear axle and upgraded fuel pump ticks off a few things of our list. This leaves us to address the changes we must make in order to mount the supercharger and pulley system and creating a custom intake system for the supercharger to feed into the block.

Aisin have been making aftermarket supercharger systems for several years. An older model of theirs, the AMR500, looks to be an ideal candidate for the Pop. This is a style of supercharger is known as a “mini roots” supercharger, meaning all the basic plumbing and efficiency of a traditional roots supercharger, but with the compact packaging and smaller displacement a more modern centrifugal supercharger has to offer. For the 1172cc engine, finding an appropriate pulley ratio should not be too difficult as these were designed for 1.0 - 1.2L engines.

Obviously, the rest of the engine will need some form of modification. The exhaust manifold will need adapting to avoid excessive back pressure, the intake manifold will also need to be completely redesigned to fit to the supercharger, and the carburettors may be replaced with a single larger one (preferably 1”3/4) to allow for more fuel.

Make sure to follow the build process and see our latest product updates on our Facebook page!

​After the recent relocation of Vintage Supplies, the company has expanded and pushed itself further in the ever-growing world of vintage automobiles. The company’s small fleet of veteran vehicles has seen a similar expansion, especially with the introduction of its newest member – Mabel, a 1956 Ford Popular boasting a spritely 100E conversion alongside a host of other upgrades. Renowned in the trials racing scene in part to its upgraded E83W rear axle and E83W brakes, nothing can stop Mabel from chugging up nearly any hill in any condition.

Gone but not forgotten, Mabel has been unused for nearly two years despite her impressive setup. Joe, the car’s previous owner, acquired the Pop back in 2001 and has kept the vehicle in splendid condition. With some fresh fuel and a turn of the key, Mabel runs like she was driven yesterday.

While some may say, “Don’t fix what isn’t broken”, Vintage and Classic Spares begs to differ. In our minds, Mabel could benefit from a burst of power. Over the course of the year, she’ll see the addition of a newly developed in-house supercharger kit hopefully gifting an extra fifty percent increase in horsepower.
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We are excited to have this underway very soon. Follow this blog to gain an in-depth look at the project as well as any of Mabel’s future adventures.

Vintage supplies was based in Norfolk until June this year, when following Paul Beck's retirement, the business relocated to Malvern in Worcestershire. Just prior to the move, Vintage was presented with the opportunity to acquire the sVc brand and product range, as Ed and Steve Taylor also looked towards retirement from the industry. Stafford Vehicle Components has been a longstanding supplier of parts and accessories for classic and vintage cars, kit cars, specialist sports cars and hot rods to a high specification for over 30 years - offering a large range of products including lights, electrical items, fans, heaters, mirrors and wiper systems from many major accessory brands.

The acquisition provides Vintage with the opportunity to offer an expanded range of products and services to the growing classic car market; and look further forward.....as planned over the next 18 months with the new Classic Ford range for Consul, Classic Capri, Corsair, Zephyr, Zodiac and Cortina Mk1 - building on the success of Small Ford Spares with its comprehensive collection of parts for the Ford side valve vehicles

In addition to our developing range of vintage and classic accessories as well as Ford parts, Vintage now also offers an extensive range of engine spares for vehicles from the 1920s to the 1980s - following the further acquisition of GBH Spares from Brian Hayes. As well as needing to look their best, all cars need a working engine! We hope this new capability will allow us to be of even greater service to our customers, car restorers and engine rebuilders.