Our resident guru for structure and bodywork repairs is Paul who has been with us for many years. He has been repairing rusted and damaged vehicles for decades, so knows the best way to make long lasting virtually invisible repairs. His ability to work magic with damaged stainless steel is a bonus as most of the "chrome" on classic Citroens is actually stainless steel.
Labour rate: The body shop labour rate varies depending on the size of the job we are asked to do. Generally, the bigger the job, the lower the hourly rate. The rate will typically be between £60.00 and £75.00 excluding VAT and this reflects the above average quality of repair we do.
The chassis of most classic cars were never made to last a long time and classic Citroens are no different. The DS in particular has a nice strong chassis, but it was never sealed and protected properly at the factory which is why they are often a bit rotten now. Unfortunately a lot of well-meaning repairs done to the chassis over the years haven’t been any better and have only made the problem worse.
Our chassis and structure repairs replace rusted steel rather than patching over, resulting in a stronger and better protected structure than it has ever been from new. We always try to make the repair as tidy and invisible as possible and of course they are always properly sealed and protected inside and out. There’s no point spending money to do the repair if it’s only going to get a bit of aerosol black squirted over it as it will be rusted again in 6 months meaning you’ve wasted your money.
Whether it’s the chassis underneath, the windscreen surround, roof frame, bumper mountings or any other part of your Citroen, we can fix it better than new and guarantee it will last longer than the original factory finish. In the case of a 2CV, many times longer!
Have a look at our Flikr page for examples of previous repairs we've done to chassis and see for yourself. Why not contact us and arrange to bring your car down for an estimate on repairing it’s structural deficiencies?
Due to the unpredictable nature of old cars, we run a queue system for booking body shop work. It is usually not possible to know exactly how long we will need to complete larger jobs, so you join the waiting list and when you get to the top of the list we contact you to arrange to bring the car in. Generally we can give about 2 weeks notice. For smaller jobs we are usually able to slot you into the queue between larger restoration jobs.
Contact us to discuss when we can fit your job in.
The bodywork is of your car is the bit that everyone sees and judges the car by, so for most people it’s important for it to look good.
Our body work is done to the highest standards by a craftsman with over 20 years experience restoring cars. We use traditional metal forming techniques coupled with modern technology and materials to provide the best possible repairs.
By paying particular attention to detail we make sure that the panels are thoroughly de-rusted using mechanical and chemical means, repair sections of the correct shape, either bought in or made in-house, are then let in and then the welds cleaned up to get rid of all traces of oxidisation. The clean shiny bare metal is then epoxy primed as soon as possible to prevent the surface oxidising. Ideally we will not leave bare metal even overnight as it will begin oxidising invisibly and if not cleaned off will cause problems later on.
Panels are then profiled by hand to get the correct shape and curves and all seams sealed before being 2K primed and painted. Profiling by machine as most body shops do, is faster, but with much poorer results, often leaving a finished panel looking like it’s been trampled by a herd of Wildebeest before being painted! After painting and the paint has cured, the surface is then made very smooth with extremely fine (2000 grit) wet or dry paper and polished to leave a mirror like surface. You know its right when your reflection in the paint is sharp and clear, not rippled and wobbly
But that’s not the end.
When we refit the panels to your car, we always make sure the locks are clean and lubricated, the windows are adjusted and work correctly and the finished panels are thoroughly rust proofed. We often get cars in that have recently been “professionally restored” and none of the windows or doors line up properly, let alone actually lock, and usually when fixing these problems we find the nice new door bottoms are already rusting on the inside because the welds weren’t cleaned up and no wax was applied anywhere. It’s like restoring a house and then not putting a roof on – you just wouldn’t do it would you?
Our restored panels come with a lengthy anti corrosion guarantee, in some cases a life time guarantee, provided the protection we apply doesn’t get damaged.
We think that if you, the customer, is spending your hard earned money to make the car look nice, you’ll only want to spend that money once, so we do a good job that lasts a long time. Simple.
For some jobs, we’ll even collect the car from you and drop it back again afterwards if required, free of charge. This can be particularly useful if you are very busy, too far away or the car isn’t roadworthy. Please ask for details.
We offer a complete rustproofing service to protect your car from the elements. This is best done when the weather is warm, but we can do it any time of the year.
All our repairs get comprehensive rust protection as standard, but if your car is in good condition and you wish it to stay that way, come and see us to get it protected.
To comprehensively protect your whole car, we will need the car to be clean and dry and we will need the car for a couple of days. To do a DS properly everywhere takes more than a day and consumes many litres of different types of wax. The product used in exposed underbody areas is different to the product that we use inside box sections and panels.
Citroen Classics
Unit 8, Tims Boatyard, Timsway
Staines upon Thames
Middlesex, TW18 3JY.
United
Kingdom