Expert UK mechanics on keeping classic cars alive

Dave Watkins - Restoshack, Whitestone, Exeter

Like Quantock Classics, Restoshack is another car restoration business soon to move to larger place. Founded eight years ago by Dave Watkins, it’s currently situated at the end of a farm track in a large outbuilding with a workshop and bodyshop. Down the lane is another building housing 20 rare motors, including two Audi Quattros, a Volkswagen Golf Rallye, a Datsun 240Z and a Ford Escort RS2000, all of them at various stages of completion.

While Watkins is happy to take on most projects, he fights shy of anything too exotic, preferring instead to concentrate on mainstream collectibles including Escorts and Volkswagen Golfs. In fact, he has restored 12 Golf Rallyes, and when I visit, there’s the shell of a 1983 Mk1 Golf GTI Campaign being prepared by Harry, his apprentice.

Other workshop talents Watkins can call on include Mick, a former Formula 3000 mechanic; Dan, a Ferrari-trained mechanic who has his own garage; and Steve, a gearbox specialist. The other team member is Richard Miles; the 80-year-old was Sir Jack Brabham’s mechanic and owns Tipton Garage, a legendary name in classic car circles.

The fruits of their combined experience are exemplified in a remarkable Escort RS2000 Custom Mk2, currently in restoration. Its 2.5-litre four-cylinder naturally aspirated engine, which cost £20,000, has a Connaught head and produces around 320bhp. At the back is a fully floating rear axle with coilovers that cost £5000. When it’s finished, the bill will be about £80,000.

“We have around 15 cars on the go, and customers pay for them in stages as they’re restored or modified,” explains Watkins. “They give us free rein to do what we want, but at the same time, we’re under pressure to satisfy their dreams.”

Mark Sargeant - Ford Parts R Us, Weston-Super-Mare

I spotted this restorer of fast Fords last summer, my eye drawn to the row of condemned Escorts parked outside. These provide many of the parts for the hot Fiestas and Escorts that emerge from it regularly. Happily, they’ve since been pushed to the background by three Escorts (an RS1600i and two RS Turbos) restored by Mark Sargeant and his team and driven through heavy rain for my visit by their owners, which says a lot about the daily usability of old Fords and those who buy them.

Inside the workshop are a Fiesta XR2, an Escort Cabriolet with a turbo conversion and, on the ramp, another RS1600i. Sargeant reckons his business is one of the few in the country focusing on 1980s Fords.

He certainly seems to have cornered the market in their second-hand parts; everything from window rubbers and mudflaps to distributors and injection lines spill from the rows of storage racks. “The interchangeability of parts makes working on old Fords such a joy,” he says. “For example, the driveshaft of an Escort 1600 Ghia is the same as that fitted to an RS Turbo.”