Summer is on its Way

After one of the coldest March’s on record, we are told temperatures will soon be rising and summer will be on its way. We shall see about that!

Ideally you’ve been using the air conditioning (A/C) in your car frequently throughout the winter months. This keeps the lubricating oil within the system moving and doing its job. It helps protect the pipework, seals and other A/C components like the condenser and compressor. Using the A/C frequently helps mitigate any bacteria build up and unpleasant odours too.

Most manufacturers recommend an A/C service and re-gas every two years. And for good reason. This keeps the system in tip top condition and allows for the introduction of fresh oil. After all, you wouldn’t go two years without replacing your engine oil, would you?





Correct A/C service should include the following operations:

• System test and evaluation
• Recovery of any existing refrigerant gas
• Prolonged vacuum (deep cleanse) of A/C system
• Leak detection
• Refrigerant re-gas to vehicle specific weight
• Introduction of correct lubricating oil
• Introduction of leak detecting dye
• Full system test

We are offering an ‘early bird, early summer’ complete air conditioning service for just £66.00 Inc. VAT. This rate is valid until the end of May 2013. If you’d like to take advantage, please pick up the phone and book in with Janine on 020 8965 5014.

We love talking to people! If you’d like any help and advice on your A/C system, please do get in touch.

Andy Fowkes

Invitation!

You may - or may not know - that Tony Fowkes was a bit of a ‘boy racer’ back in the day... I won’t go into too much detail here, but for a number of years he was a fairly handy rally driver…

Mercedes Benz have agreed to ship Tony’s 1977 London – Sydney Rally Car over from their museum in Stuttgart for a reunion at MB World in Brooklands, Surrey. Tony finished 2nd overall in that rally. The factory prepared car is pretty much in its original condition as it was when it returned from Australia all those years ago.

Tony and his co-driver – Peter O’Gorman will be there on Thursday 22nd December for a magazine photo-shoot and an interview that’s been arranged.

I plan on visiting then too, to see the car and experience the other attractions that MB World has to offer – it’s a pretty amazing place by all accounts!

This is an open invitation to anyone who fancies joining us next Thursday. Lots of likeminded people will be there – rally enthusiasts, MB enthusiasts and friends, colleagues and acquaintances Tony has known over the years. I plan on arriving around 10am. Tony and Peter will be there slightly earlier I believe.

Mercedes-Benz World is open to visitors from 10am to 6pm, 7 days a week.

Admission is FREE

See you there!!!

This is where MB World is:

http://www2.mercedes-benz.co.uk/content/unitedkingdom/mpc/mpc_unitedkingdom_website/en/home_mpc/mercedes-benzworld/home/what_is_mercedes-benz/contact_us.html

Posted by Andy Fowkes, 14th December 2012.

Local Business

Ok, last Bentley related post for now then…(Can you tell I like them??)

This beautiful car is owned by a fellow local business owner just round the corner.
We repair his car to the highest standards, 200 yards from his work place and he pays us around half the price of a main dealer!
It really is zero inconvenience for him and great PR for us.
Win / win. Simples!


Right then: Next post – something completely different to ‘high end’ cars.

Spraybooth Service

This is Carl Scattergood in action. He's not actually employed by Tony Fowkes Automobiles. He works for www.sprayboothtechnology.co.uk

Spraybooth Technology installed our booth a few years back and now carry out service duties every six months. Keeping the booth serviced and in tip top condition is critical for producing high quality repairs.
Regular servicing means:

• We have a clean, pure atmosphere for painting, which ensures the jobs come out perfectly every time.
• Paint mist and overspray is effectively filtered before being extracted into the atmosphere.
• Safety is of paramount importance so it’s essential that all gas burners etc. are safety checked on a regular basis.
• Regular servicing helps ensure we comply with current Environmental and Health & Safety legislation.

Spraybooth Technology Ltd are widely recognized as being one of the leading UK providers. Not only are they experts and industry leaders, they are a really nice, ‘feel good’, kind of company and that’s always important to us.
And, Carl fits perfectly. He clearly likes his job....An upbeat, happy chappy - he’s always welcome and generally joins us for tea and breakfast when he’s here!

Bentley Motors

I organised a surprise day out for all my staff last Friday. It was to the Bentley Motors factory in Crewe. They knew we were going out for the day but I kept the final destination close to my chest.
As we boarded the train at London Euston the only clue they had was that the train terminated at Manchester. I thought about telling them we we’re off for a trip around the set of Coronation Street!

I was excited and had been looking forward to this visit for a long time. Bentley exemplifies and stands for everything I strive to achieve in our small garage. The attention to detail and quality of product are the characteristics I really relate to and these details strike a chord with me.
Walter Bentley didn’t actually say this, but his buddy, Sir Henry Royce did:

“Whatever is rightly done, however humble, is noble.”

It really was everything I had hoped for. We were only allowed to take pictures in the initial ‘museum’ section. Once into the factory and production areas, cameras were strictly forbidden.

We learned that it takes on average, 4 hrs to make a steering wheel – hand stitched leather, obviously!

We “anoraks” were keen to check out the body and paint side of things. The basecoat (colour) is applied by hand but the lacquer is applied by robot. The entire car is flat and polished (technique for removing ‘orange peel’ in the paint finish to give a true ‘glass’ gloss). This polishing process included the bumpers too. Hardly any manufacturers flat and polish their new paintwork – let alone the bumpers!


I’d recommend a trip to Bentley to anyone who has an interest in cars / prestige cars / car construction. You can check out their website: www.bentleymotors.com for info on public visits. Beware, it’s a very enticing website – make sure you have plenty of time to spare!

Audi A8 W12 Quattro

Just a straight forward job here for us - replacing the driver's side wing and blending the colour into the door. But, what caught my eye was the size of the engine. Wow! A capacity of 6L, provided by 12(!) cylinders set out in a "W" formation. It's probably the biggest engine we've had here!

Here's the interesting bit: Why W12 and not V12??

The advantage of the W12 engine is its compact packaging, allowing Audi to build a 12-cylinder saloon with all-wheel drive, whereas a conventional V12 could only have a rear-wheel drive configuration as it would have no space in the engine bay for a differential and other components required to power the front wheels. In fact, Audi's 6.0L W12 is actually a bit smaller by overall dimensions than the 4.2L V8!

Mercedes SLK

Just a quick 'spruce up' for this one. It was being returned back to a lease company and needed a bit of a going over to make sure no fines were incurred. (Some lease companies penalise every little mark and ding, whilst others are more realistically minded with respect to their fair wear and tear policies.)
Anyhow, we refurbished 2 of the alloy wheels and repaired some damage on the drivers door. The colour was blended into the drivers side wing.