74 BEHIND THE SCENESwww.volkswagencamper.co.uk
Edmunds Classic Resto’s
Behind the scenes:
WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHY: SIMON COOKEee Edmonds has been
spraying vehicles
for the past 10 years.
“I started off as a
paint-sprayer working in a small
bodyshop,” he recalls. “My brother
Adam was a graphic designer”. Then
5 years ago they decided to combine
their talents and experiences into a
family company; Edmonds Classic
Resto’s was formed. Originally they
started off in a very small unit just
working on repairs, but they soon
outgrew that unit and moved into
their present location 3 years ago.
“Today we can do pretty much
anything from small accident
repairs right up to full restorations,
including metal fabrication, welding
and spraying,” said Lee. And most
of that work tends to be on classic
rather than newer cars, and Lee
thinks that about 60% of their work
is VW related, so think mainly bays
and splits, although they will work
on the later water-cooled T4/5/6s if
you ask them nicely.
On the day I visited, their unit
was housing a split, a VW Caddy,
a Ford Escort, 2 Porsche 911s, a
Triumph Spitfire and a Lotus Elan.
The 911s were in for full restorations,
while the Caddy in the photos is a
one-off where they have graftedthe front end of a MkVII Golf GTi
onto the front of it. The plan is
then to fit a 2 litre GTi TFSi engine.
Which should make a great feature
when it’s finished, although the
owner can’t make up his mind about
what colour he wants it painted.
What’s the story with the Split
sitting in the paint booth? “That
came in with some poor work which
had been carried out on it and we
have had to rectify it which included
replacing some of the panels,” Lee
replied.L
Now it’s all ready for painting in
a single Porsche colour. The team
have worked on quite a few ‘barn-
find type’ restorations over the
years, where they have restored
total sheds to rolling & painted
works of art ready to be taken off for
the next stage in their restoration.
Mind you, if you wanted the
brothers to help with your interior
too, they would point you in the
direction of their trimmers of choice- Richard Booth, or Kens Customs,
both of whom tend to get involved
in their start-to-finish projects.
When it comes to body parts the
Edmonds are most likely to be
on the phone to either Heritage
or Autocraft Engineering to solve
any panel requirements.
Prices? It’s a standard £35
per hour for labour. “That’s
for everything, welding or
spraying, it just keeps everything
nice & simple for me to work out
prices,” explained Lee. “It costs
between £8,000 and £12,000 to
restore a bus from bare metal to
painted - although obviously that
depends on exactly how much work
is involved,” he continued. And
Take two VW fanatical brothers with a welder & a spray booth and
combine them to form a classic Volkswagen friendly company.
Take a
clo^ser (^) loo
k!
- Exterior view
with the first Mk2
Cortina ever in the
mag - Adam’s Microbus
was featured in
these hallowed
pages
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