BJ's Speedshop

General information

Having always been around motorbikes/bicycles from a young age and built various go-karts from an even younger age (of the man powered variety) my interest in wheels and going fast has always been there, as far back as I can remember.
After leaving school I found work at the local motor factors/engineering/garage Martin Story Engineering, where I enrolled on my apprenticeship and over the next four years gained my NVQ level 1/2/3 in vehicle motor repairs. I also gained a good deal of experience in the machine shop side of things as well as reconditioning and building a variety of engines, mainly for my own projects - I have always something on the go. From here I moved to Toyota in Uckfield, but the work was very repetitive, and a year here was enough for me. Despite the good wage and bonuses, I didn't find the work terribly fulfilling. The next chapter took me to working for a Sussex based classic car company specializing in MGs and a vast array of classic sports cars and historic racing cars. The garage was well equipped, with a rolling road, machine shop, body shop and fully equipped workshop, and this was a very interesting place to work. It also got me out to a lot of race tracks as a pit mechanic in both UK and elsewhere in Europe.
After 3 1/2 years the time then came for me to move on, as I wanted start something of my own. The next few years were a rocky road. I began starting out as a mobile mechanic before setting up in a small workshop belonging to my dad. I worked for 3 years here, building up a good customer base for day-to-day cars and also undertaking a few restos including a mkl1 Astra GTE, a 66 bug and a mk2 escort rs2000 to name a few. Having a good flow of work has now enabled me to take on a bigger premises and continue the work in the field I love, with a particular emphasis on classic car restos and engine builds.