The Blog

Things are not always black and white lads… unless you’re here in the garage with a white MGB Roadster and a black one! Speaking of white, with the amount of work being done here the tan is completely gone. Sad times. Actually, did I tell you that the left side of one of the roadsters was fairly rusty and so had to be cut off? Don’t worry, it's all right now.

Anyways enough jokes let’s be serious for a second.

Aaaand that’ll do! So we made it to the Terenure show at the start of the month. Some day out lads, some day…. Well, it would have been if the sun could make up its mind, but sure you know I’m not one for complaining. Plenty of great cars on display and plenty of lovely people came up to look at the stand we had so thanks very much, like the Chinese, you’re a great bunch of lads. There's a photo or two on le Facebook page.

White MGB Engine Bay

The Estate looks fierce well altogether, we’re just waiting on an order from Newton Commercial to come in and then we’ll have a car. In the meantime a few other Minis have come through the doors, one had a fuel and carburettor problem, basically, the carb was being bold but that was soon sorted and the choke was on him…. Gettit? Choke? Joke? Listen if you don’t appreciate my jokes, Cronin’s shop around the corner sells grips – you’d want to get one.

I know I know, I’m an AWFUL divil for not updating the site with photos, but this week I promise. Or next. No no, ok this week! The World Cup kept me busy, was gutted for The Netherlands, but at least the final was a Klose game… unlike that Brazilian game. 7 nil – talk about Lahms to the slaughter.

I can’t be here all day dossing, there’s lunch to be eaten! I’ll throw up the photos on the site and keep an eye on the Facebook page… as is tradition.

All the best. Ok bye bye bye bye… No, you hang up first. No, you hang up first!

Light ‘em up like the fourth of July! With the Terenure car show on Sunday, that’s exactly what the garage has been like – lit up till all hours. Flat out you might say. Understatement of the year I might say.

With the Gone in 60 Seconds playlist on repeat here in the garage, plenty is getting done. Lots of blood sweat and tears. Not mine though, I’m more of a project manager… I’ve given the lads a few glasses of concrete… that should harden them up. Actually, the songs might be affecting one of the lads here though, he’s been muttering ‘Eleanor’ a lot and I’ve noticed a map with different cars lying around the place. Nothing to worry about Guard.

So we’ve got the flyers, banners, a tent, hair gel and we’re just waiting on the cars. But sure I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Leave it with me. Wink wink.

I didn’t know what date it was until I looked at the calendar, standard enough I suppose but to be fair the World Cup has taken over, hence why it's taken a bit longer for a new blog. It's Columbia or The Netherlands for me, Bill.

So the Morris Mini Traveller is looking like it might make an appearance at the show on Sunday, with maybe one or two shiny bits added to it, along with an MG or two. I honestly tried my best to have a few other models there, but they weren’t leaving the bed for less than 10,000. Let me tell you, they might look light but they’re divils to throw out of your bed.

I’ll update this again after the weekend, hopefully with some pictures from Sunday and I’ll throw them up on el Instagram, le Facebook page and maybe even on the website. Maybe. Anyways, as great as it is chatting with you, some of us have work to do and I don’t mean to be rude… but come on like, get back in your car and head home!

All the best, and sure we might see you Sunday, it better not be raining! God bless Merica, yes we can, and I have a dream.

Ahhh the long weekend. Longer than most weekends, but shorter than a week. Here in the garage, the guys appreciate how we try to be different from everyone else… that being said, they probably won’t appreciate working Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Don’t worry, they’ll be given plenty of coffee.

We’ve actually been flat out for the last couple of weeks, from MG’s to Renaults. Actually, I must apologise for the last blog,… In my excitement, I may or may not have called it a 4L, when it’s a Renault 12. Look I panicked. My bad… Aaaand now we’ll move swiftly on. Lovely!

As we’re seeing with both an MGB Roadster and the Renault, there really is no such thing as a quick respray. You either do it right, or you might as well have stayed in bed. We have thrown photos up on the Facebook page of both cars so have a look right…………. Here! I’m a bit behind on updating the website with photos, but I advertised my own personal car for sale, and I’m fairly sure I broke the internet with all the views it got. If you haven’t seen it…. sad.

Tis the season of the car show! I’m like that world-famous cow from that documentary – I’m over the moon! You know the documentary I’m on about, the dish ends up running away with the spoon? Keep up! Anyways, Mondello and Terenure are coming up soonly so plans are afoot. Or at hand. I don’t think any other body parts work well there… We’ll hopefully have a few cars on show, maybe even a stand… I don’t want to give too much away. If you want to know more…I’m a sucker for ice cream though… Just saying.

Holy fleeep, I do love Summer. Driving around, top down thumbs up. I’ve noticed lately on Done Deal that there are plenty of convertibles turning up. Smart fellas with their timing… They know the secret – The top goes down, the price goes up!

So that’s pretty much May done and dusted, there’s a garage being built, there are cars being stripped, restored and rebuilt. Things are moving on nicely. Right, lads, my work here is done for the day. On the website that is, BIG weekend ahead with plenty to do. I’ll be adding to the website over the weekend with what cars, parts, tools and accessories we have for sale as well.

Anyways, I’ve been David, you’ve been wonderful, goodnight, goodbye, good luck!

The diggers have dug, the trucks have trucked and the concrete has concreted. Yes apparently that’s a word, the little paper clip dude didn’t pull me up on it so you won’t have to either. The exciting times just got a whole lot more… exciting. Look I won’t lie, I got carried a little away and wrote excitinger first. But that should emphasise the excitement. If it doesn’t, clearly excitement just isn’t for you.

I know I said summer was my favourite day of the year, but this is becoming ridiculous. I’ve had to put the windows down in the car when I’m driving… for more than one day. We’re talking at least two days in a row. That’s outrageous carry-on. Although, I’m, not really one for complaining.

While getting the traditional farmer's tan at the weekend, I also managed to build a stone wall. Granted it's more a stone pile than a stone wall, but to be honest it's like I always say.

Anyways now that the lads have had their break… from mechanical work I mean, listen they know this isn’t a job, it’s a way of life, we need to get cracking on finishing the cars that are here as that concrete needs a few days to cure before we can throw up the new walls of the garage. One of the new cars we have in is a yellow Renault 4L, so I’ll put up some photos of that in the usual places, Facebook, Instagram and here on the site. Make sure you compliment the tan, cheers.

I’ve no car shows to tell you about this time, but I’ll try to make up for it and tell you something about our Mini Convertible. It’s probably going to be white. Or maybe not. I haven’t decided yet so I’ll have to get back to you. I have plenty of photos to put up of our alignment work on the rear doors of the Mini Traveller, and a few photos of some ridiculously well-polished carburettors, everyone loves shiny things so that should easily distract you while we crack on!

Actually, that reminds me, the Lyons Garages website got a ridiculous amount of visitors for April, which was a great day for us, the Parish and therefore the rest of the world. So to celebrate I’m DELIGHTED to announce that after months of research and testing, Eau du Petrol a fragrance by Lyons Garages is in the pipeline. We found that the diesel scent just wasn’t as appealing.

Now I’m no good at measuring crowds, but I’d say there are at least seventeen million cars waiting to be restored and worked on here so…! Today the digger arrived and that signals the start of the expansion of Lyons Garages. Exciting times people. EXCITING TIMES.

The stretch in the evenings has now been upgraded to “Grand”, and the drying out is fierce so it's the perfect time to get some concrete down and make the main garage a bit bigger. Below you’ll see the preliminary sketch of the new garage.

Admittedly it’s a work in progress, but sure everyone knows that we engineers only make it up as we go along anyways. Trade secret. Keep your head down and say nothing to no one about nothing.

In the garage, things will be slow this week because of the construction work that’s going on, so it gives the cars a chance to get used to the new parts that we’ve put in. On the Lyons Garage Facebook page we’ve thrown up the odd photo or two of the Minis that are being built, as is the tradition so have a look and you’ll see. Brand new brake pipes polished to within an inch of their lives bolted onto gloss black, glistening subframes using ridiculously shiny stainless steel nuts and bolts that even a magpie would lose its mind over… Poetic I know. I’d like to see James Joyce describe something better.

So this weekend, guess where we were! At a car show. I know! I’m as shocked as you are. This was the Practical Classics Restoration Show at the NEC in Birmingham. It's pronounced Biming-hum, and the “r” is silent. I’ve been practising my accents for tv.

It was funny that one of the main attractions at the show was a Silverstone car auction consisting mainly of….wait for it… barn finds! A couple of Aston Martins, Porsches, Pagodas and a very good MGA 1600 project car which sold for £3,000. To say I was barely gutted would be like saying Man United fans won’t be too disappointed if Liverpool actually wins the League. Understatement of the year. Please god, not Liverpool. Or City. Amen.

We'll have photos up on Facebook and a few more on Instagram soonly. Unfortunately, the photo of Ed China (you know, of Wheeler Dealers fame… seriously, where have you been?) signing for us is a bit too blurred so I can’t throw it up……yet. He was delighted with his Lyons Garage t-shirt by the way.

So we packed up a jeep and brought home a good few parts and new tools for the current builds and for the workshop. I’m far too easily distracted by shiny things. Fortunately, customs aren’t.

This is only a short update as I just ran inside to refill my glass and get some more sun tan lotion. You need to take advantage of it while you can sure… We’ll keep you updated on how things are looking both inside and out of the garage, but for now, I must go… I seem to have misplaced my Ray Bans.

No matter how many times I watch Mr Myagi teach about painting up and down, wax on wax off, it still doesn’t prepare the body for the amount of sanding involved in a shell. A car shell, not a beach shell. It’s only Spring people, so head into the game, please.

However! Rebuilding is now well underway on two minis, a custom green 1970 Mini, and a 1981 Mini 1000, and with the Mini Estate almost in a lovely shade of green, these three should be well on the way to being tested on our track on my personal favourite day of the year….Summer!

Our show Mini Convertible has taken a backseat to the other cars in the garage, but fear not, we have not been idle. If you could see the idea and plans that are afoot you’d be as excited… but I’m not showing you right now, so you’re going to have to wait. It’s a secret, sorry.

Now I know you love reading about who we’ve seen and what we’ve been up to (the page views don’t lie), so I have two words for you – Essen Car Show. Look Essen is a German word, not English so it doesn’t count here, so just keep reading and stop nit-picking.

Essen is the largest European Classic Car event (I was going to write world, but I’ve already written European so…) each year. The money, the cars, the tools, and the Blondes. We took lots of photos, a few will be thrown up here on our Instagram page, and more will be put up on the Lyons Garage Facebook page. The quality of the cars on display is second to none – rows of Minis, Astons, and Mercedes-Benz so expensive that your pocket actually emptied after walking past them. We picked up a few parts while we were there as well, yes we’re full-time working. Anyways, have a look at the photos!

We have an MGB Roadster almost prepped for a re-spray as well so we'll get some photos up of that soon. We’re leaning towards a black metallic instead of gloss black, so for the few hours of sun it’ll get, it should sparkle like yer man from those Twilight films. I asked someone for that comparison, don’t judge.

We have a “barn find” Lambretta scooter that is looking like it may get restored. For those of you wondering what “barn find” actually means and why it's so common, basically its where you have a car parked up for ages, it gathers dust and probably rust, but you’ve seen that these barn find cars make more money so you try to flog it as something that you accidentally stumbled upon while cleaning out your long lost uncle’s shed.

The waiting list for cars to come in is slowly growing, so the lads in the garage will be delighted to know that due to it getting brighter, we’re extending the working hours. They don’t know yet though, I might have to tell them over tea. New branded overalls are on their way, so expect to see our pretty mugs in a few more photos from now on.

We survived April Fool’s Day yesterday, I don’t think anyone was going to fall for going to the shop for a packet of small holes again… I honestly thought they were washers. Anyways, it's nearly time for lunch so I really can’t be dossing for that. I joke, I’ve been up since 7 am, and have almost rebuilt a car – what have you done with your day?