Prepare to pay big money for getting an old car restored: up to €35,000 for a Mark II Jaguar, €15,000 for a more modest Morris Minor. So estimates Ian Clandillon, who runs Clandillon Classic Cars, near Weston airfield, close to Celbridge, Co Kildare.
Bringing old cars back to life is a healthy business for a growing number of specialist garages. More and more families have old cars which are like "pets" to them, says Clandillon. And, he says, many more women are now taking a keen interest in veteran and vintage cars - he recently restored two cars for women owners.
His firm does complete restoration, from start to finish, including overhauling engines, gearboxes and other parts. It also restores bodywork, including reprofiling and repainting.
He does work on every marque.
Certainly, he has a good range in at the moment, some of the cars being restored for their owners, others being made ready for sale. One virtue of his location is the amount of storage space, but the increasing amount of air traffic in and out of Weston is a distraction.
The oldest car he has in at the moment is a 1947 Rover 12, but he has all sorts of other delights, including a Triumph TR4; a Mercedes-Benz 280 SL; a 1960 Mini and a 1972 VW Karmann Ghia convertible. He adds: "The more expensive the car, the more cost effective the restoration."
He advises people to pay for the best old car that they can afford and to get the marque that they like, rather than settling for something cheaper. Usually, the value of a good-quality old car will increase over time, and should become worth more than was paid for it.
But Ian Clandillon does point out that maintenance costs on old cars tend to be much higher, even if the road tax is only €40 a year and they are exempt from the NCT. Old car enthusiasts say that one of the best plus factors is that an old car can be a hobby for all the family, whereas sports like golfing or fishing exclude many family members. "Everyone's interested in old cars, even if they don't own one," says Clandillon.
Very often, he buys in old cars from Britain, where there's a huge business in classic car restoration. He says that these cars tend to be good condition, with a full history, whereas sometimes old cars here are badly maintained, with holes in the bodywork stuffed with paper and polyfilla applied in lavish doses.
He's been running his firm in Celbridge for seven years, and says that while there's a good demand, sales fluctuate: "Classic cars are a luxury rather than a necessity, and this year hasn't been good for sales, although the service side is always booked out."
Sometimes, restoration can be a lengthy process. He and his four staff have just finished putting an old Morris Minor back in showroom condition: it took four months craftsmanship. Other cars can take two to three years to restore.
Someone else who's big into classic car restoration is Noel Williams, who runs his firm, Noel Williams & Sons, at Turnapin Cottages, Cloghran, Co Dublin. Like Clandillon's firm, the Williams firm is also close to an airport, this time, Dublin Airport, where the flight paths are much busier. Noel Williams runs the business with his sons, Peter and Brynn.
Noel Williams used to work with the old Booth Poole company at Islandbridge, Dublin and then worked with what was Smiths Renault in Harcourt Street before setting up on his own.
The Cloghran firm does everything, from replacing a fan belt to a full restoration. Currently, among restoration jobs, the firm is working on a full resuscitation of two MG Midgets, as well as a Morris Minor Traveller. The oldest car he has in at the moment is a 1926 Morris Oxford. "You can't half do a restoration job; you have to do the whole lot or not at all," he says.
While there isn't a huge number of people doing classic car restoration in Ireland, one thing with which there is no problem is getting replacement parts, which normally come from Britain or the US. He quotes with approval a remark made by an engineer he knew, who said "anything than can be made once can be made twice". It may take a week or two, sometimes longer, but everything that is needed will eventually turn up.
While firms like the Clandillon and Williams enterprises will happily repair any marque, other restoration specialises prefer to deal in one single marque. Gerry Lee, who runs the Morris Minor Centre in Killester, Dublin, is true to his trading name but will do other marques, although he steers clear of big cars, the Daimlers and the Jags.
The only type of work he doesn't do is spray painting. "Panel beating and spray painting don't mix," he claims, so the painting is done by a company in Artane. He issues another word of caution: "If people crib about the time and the cost of restoring an old car, I'm not interested." Besides being an avid restorer, running his firm for about 15 years now, Gerry Lee is also a collector of Morris Minors, and is very involved with the Morris Minor Club.
Another specialised restorer is TI Autos of Stoneybatter, Dublin, started by Gerry Campbell in 1982. He specialises in Alfa-Romeos, but does do other cars. Currently, he's restoring a 1928 Austin at home, but that's just a hobby.
He does all the work himself, but does get help from other members of the family. His oldest daughter, Evelyn (19), is doing medical mechanical engineering at DCU, and he reckons that she's so good at car work that she knocks the socks off any mechanic in the business. His other daughter, Karen (17), was into go-cart racing, his two sons, David and Peter, also lend a hand, as does his father, 88-year-old Christy, who comes in to the garage to help out every day.
Christy Campbell was in the motor trade all his working life, having started with the Smithfield Motor Company back in 1932.
Even the premises of TI Auto has history attached: the garage was part of a block built in 1914 and was destined originally for car assembly, but that never happened. Instead, the venerable garage is being used to bring old Alfa-Romeos back to life.