RESTORATION

In Fiorano, a few kilometres from some of the most important names in Italian automotive history, Cremonini Classic has spent four decades caring for motor cars whose significance extends well beyond their mechanical components.

The company traces its origins to 1986 and has developed particular expertise in the restoration of important Italian sports and grand touring cars. Its portfolio has included machinery as significant as the Ferrari 250 California SWB and 275 GTS, alongside multiple examples of the Lamborghini Miura and other landmark European classics.

Yet Cremonini's work is not restricted to cars of one period. Classic cars sit alongside youngtimers and contemporary machinery, supported by bodywork, complete and conservative restoration, detailing, dry-ice cleaning and specialist parts sourcing and reproduction.

What connects those disciplines is an appreciation that every important motor car arrives with a history of its own — and that understanding that history should determine what happens next.

Reading the evidence

Restoration can easily become an exercise in renewal. Cremonini Classic takes a more investigative approach.

Before the finished paintwork or final assembly comes the less visible work of establishing how a particular car should actually be presented.

Vehicle inspection is supported by documentary and archival research, including investigation into historically correct colours and finishes. Components that have disappeared from conventional supply can be sourced or reproduced, while photographic documentation and regular progress reporting create a detailed record as a project develops.

This matters particularly with cars that have accumulated complicated histories.

An important Ferrari or Lamborghini may have been repainted several times, modified by previous owners or restored during a period when originality was valued very differently from today. Evidence uncovered during disassembly can therefore be every bit as important as the condition of the components themselves.

The restorer's role becomes one of interpretation: deciding which traces of the past should guide the work and how far intervention should go.

For an exceptionally original car, preservation may provide the more appropriate answer. For another, decades of alteration can make comprehensive reconstruction necessary.

The quality lies partly in knowing the difference.

From bare metal to the concours lawn

Coachwork and paint occupy an important place within Cremonini Classic's capabilities.

On sculptural Italian cars, this is particularly unforgiving territory. A subtle error in the profile of a panel or the relationship between adjoining surfaces can change the character of a design, even when the workmanship itself appears flawless.

The same sensitivity extends to colour and finish. Cremonini researches original paint specifications and seeks to reproduce historically appropriate colours rather than treating the final paint stage simply as an opportunity to achieve the greatest possible gloss.

The results have been demonstrated on an international stage.

The company restored Lamborghini Miura SV chassis 4870, originally delivered to the Shah of Persia, using what Cremonini describes as a rigorous historically faithful approach to materials, finishes and original specification. The car subsequently received Best in Show at the 2025 Royal Bahrain Concours.

Its current portfolio also reflects the breadth of machinery passing through the workshop, from Ferrari and Lamborghini to cars such as the Porsche 356 Speedster.

For the collector, such projects demonstrate something more meaningful than cosmetic perfection: the ability to take an historically important car apart, understand it and return it without erasing the qualities that made it important.

The knowledge to keep them alive

One of the growing challenges facing the classic-car world has little to do with values or changing tastes. It is simply the availability of what is needed to keep older cars correct.

Components disappear. Original finishes become difficult to identify. The people who remember how certain cars were constructed become fewer.

Cremonini Classic addresses part of that problem through its ability to source and reproduce rare components, combining established craftsmanship with modern technology where it can improve the durability or accuracy of the work.

That combination is important.

Preserving automotive history does not require pretending modern technology does not exist. It requires knowing when it can help achieve a more faithful result — and when the methods of the period remain essential.

Operating within Italy's Motor Valley gives Cremonini Classic an appropriate setting for that philosophy. The cars surrounding the business represent generations of Italian design and engineering, but keeping them relevant depends upon specialist knowledge continuing long after their original factories have stopped producing the parts.

Cremonini Classic's role is therefore not simply to make significant cars beautiful again. It is to investigate their history, recover their authenticity and ensure that the craftsmanship embodied within them survives into the future.

That considered approach to restoration and preservation is what makes Cremonini Classic a HACCA Trusted Specialist.

Cremonini Classic
Fiorano, Modena, Italy
+39 059 849151

Some relationships with a marque are measured in years. Others become part of a family's working history.

At Autofficina Bonini, the connection with Ferrari belongs firmly to the latter.

The Bonini family's involvement with engineering stretches back to the beginning of the twentieth century, when Edmondo Bonini and his brother Renato established a mechanical workshop. Carlo Bonini subsequently took over the business in the early 1960s, bringing with him an enthusiasm for sporting cars that would gradually define its future.

By the end of the 1970s, Ferraris accounted for the majority of the workshop's activity. In 1983, that relationship became formal when Ferrari granted Bonini official authorisation as an Authorised Ferrari Garage.

What followed was not simply a specialisation in one manufacturer, but the accumulation of knowledge across successive generations of its cars.

Carlo's son Renato joined the family business during the 1980s, while a fourth generation, Eloisa Bonini, represents the continuation of a story that began long before Ferrari itself existed.

Today, Autofficina Bonini operates from Cadelbosco di Sopra, near Reggio Emilia, combining its role as an authorised Ferrari service centre with the restoration and preservation of some of Maranello's most important road and competition machinery.

One marque across many eras

Ferrari presents an unusual challenge to a specialist.

Few manufacturers have produced such a varied lineage of machinery while maintaining such a recognisable identity.

A 1950s V12 grand tourer requires an entirely different understanding from a 1980s supercar. A competition Ferrari introduces another set of considerations altogether, while contemporary cars increasingly depend upon sophisticated diagnostic systems and manufacturer-specific technical knowledge.

Bonini works across that spectrum.

Its restoration portfolio has included the 250 GTO, 250 GT Lusso, 250 SWB California, 275 GTB, 330 GTC, Dino 246, 365 GTB/4 Daytona, Berlinetta Boxer, 288 GTO and F40 LM GTE.

Competition machinery forms an equally fascinating part of the picture, with projects encompassing Group 4 derivatives and Formula One cars from 1986 and 1989.

That breadth matters because restoration is rarely isolated from mechanical understanding.

Knowing how a Ferrari should operate, how its components interact and how different generations were engineered provides a foundation that cannot be gained through cosmetic restoration alone.

Bonini remains an active Ferrari service operation, maintaining newer machinery with current electronic diagnostic equipment while continuing to rebuild engines and gearboxes from considerably earlier periods.

The result is a workshop where Ferrari history is not treated as something separate from the present. Different generations of the marque simply require different knowledge.

Returning what time has changed

Older motor cars rarely arrive exactly as their makers intended.

Decades of maintenance, repair, competition, modification and changing ownership can leave behind alterations that become part of the investigative work required before restoration can properly begin.

Bonini's mechanical restoration work therefore includes returning components to their original condition where previous intervention has changed them.

Sometimes the challenge is not correcting what remains, but recreating what has disappeared.

Components that are no longer obtainable can be reconstructed from drawings or existing samples, allowing mechanical assemblies to be completed without resorting to inappropriate substitutes.

Bodywork, chassis, upholstery and associated elements are managed in collaboration with specialist craftspeople from Modena and the surrounding area.

It is an approach that reflects the particular ecosystem surrounding Italy's great performance-car manufacturers.

The knowledge required to restore a significant Ferrari has historically been distributed among engine builders, machinists, panel beaters, trimmers and other highly specialised crafts. Coordinating those disciplines while maintaining consistency with the original car is therefore as important as any individual stage of the work.

Throughout a restoration, Bonini creates a photographic record that accompanies the completed motor car back to its owner.

For collectors, that documentation provides something beyond a record of attractive workmanship. It shows what was discovered, what was retained and what was required to return the car to the appropriate specification.

Authenticity beyond restoration

There comes a point with an important Ferrari where mechanical condition and historical authenticity become inseparable.

Ferrari Classiche certification exists precisely because the identity of these cars extends beyond the badge on the nose.

Chassis, engine, gearbox, transmission, suspension, braking system, wheels, bodywork and interior can all form part of determining whether a car remains original or conforms correctly to its original specification.

Autofficina Bonini can manage the procedures associated with Ferrari Classiche certification and, where a car does not satisfy the necessary requirements, undertake the work required to return it towards the appropriate condition.

That capability sits naturally alongside the workshop's wider activities.

Engine and gearbox overhauls, servicing, repairs and component reconstruction allow Bonini to continue caring for a Ferrari long after restoration has finished. A dedicated 360-square-metre storage facility, opened in 2008, also enables clients to leave cars under the workshop's supervision, with maintenance and operational condition attended to during their stay.

It creates continuity between restoration and ownership.

A historically important Ferrari does not cease requiring specialist knowledge once the paint has dried and the engine has been rebuilt. Preserving one properly is an ongoing process.

Perhaps that is where Autofficina Bonini's history becomes most relevant.

Across generations, the machinery has changed dramatically. Carburettors have given way to fuel injection, mechanical systems to electronics, and elegant 1950s road cars to increasingly complex modern Ferraris.

Yet the purpose of the workshop has remained remarkably consistent: understanding the machinery well enough to care for it properly.

More than a century after the Bonini family's first mechanical workshop was established, and more than four decades after Ferrari formally authorised the business, that knowledge continues to be applied to cars carrying the Prancing Horse.

It is this combination of generational experience, mechanical depth and enduring connection with Ferrari that makes Autofficina Bonini a HACCA Trusted Specialist.

Autofficina Bonini
Reggio Emilia, Italy
+39 0522 911130

There is specialist knowledge acquired through research, and there is knowledge that comes from having been there in the first place.

For Top Motors Salvioli, the distinction is important.

The family's relationship with Lamborghini reaches back to 1967, when Orazio Salvioli began working at Sant'Agata Bolognese.

These were formative years for the company. The Miura was redefining expectations of what a road-going performance car could be, while the extraordinary Countach would soon take Lamborghini in an entirely different direction.

Orazio experienced those cars from inside the factory, eventually becoming a workshop foreman and heading Lamborghini's service department during the Miura and Countach era.

It provided an education that could never subsequently be recreated from workshop manuals alone.

His son Luca followed him into the profession and Top Motors Salvioli emerged in the early 1990s, preserving a body of mechanical understanding increasingly important as the Lamborghinis they had once encountered as contemporary cars became internationally significant collectors' automobiles.

Today, Luca works alongside his son Davide, extending the story into a third generation.

What has passed between them is more than an enthusiasm for Lamborghini.

It is memory.

The people who knew them then

Restoring an early Lamborghini presents a particular problem.

The cars may be famous, but they were produced in tiny numbers by modern standards, often with considerable variation between individual examples.

Production evolved. Components changed. Suppliers differed. Details that appear unusual today may be entirely correct for a particular chassis.

Knowing the difference matters.

Top Motors Salvioli's mechanical expertise encompasses some of Lamborghini's defining models, including the 350 GT, Miura, Countach, Urraco and Diablo.

But it is perhaps the Miura that best illustrates the value of the family's experience.

Its transverse V12 and combined engine and transmission arrangement make it a fascinating piece of engineering, but rebuilding one correctly requires considerably more than simply returning worn components to specification.

Engines, gearboxes, suspension, steering and braking systems all form part of the mechanical whole.

On significant restorations, Top Motors has worked alongside other surviving specialists and former suppliers from Lamborghini's original Modenese network — the people and companies responsible for chassis, coachwork, electrics and interiors when these cars were being produced.

It means that a restoration can become something unusual: not an interpretation of how a Lamborghini might once have been assembled, but a continuation of the knowledge that created and maintained them.

Inside the V12

A freshly painted Miura or Countach naturally commands attention.

Much of Top Motors Salvioli's work is less immediately visible.

An engine may spend months separated from its chassis while it is dismantled, measured, assessed and rebuilt. Carburettors require setting and balancing. Transmissions, brakes, steering and suspension must be inspected individually before the mechanical package can come together again.

Then comes the moment that matters.

The engine has to run.

Top Motors uses dynamometer testing as part of the rebuilding process, allowing an engine to be operated, evaluated and correctly tuned before returning to the car.

This is particularly significant with machinery whose value can encourage excessive caution.

A great Lamborghini engine was never intended simply to look correct beneath an open rear deck. Its purpose is mechanical.

It should start properly, develop its power cleanly and behave as the engineers at Sant'Agata intended.

The workshop's restoration record includes some exceptional examples.

Top Motors has been entrusted with the mechanical rebuilding of internationally important Miuras, including cars whose restorations have involved original Lamborghini suppliers and former factory personnel. Countach projects have similarly ranged from complete restorations to the recovery of highly significant individual cars.

In each case, the objective extends beyond making components appear new.

The machinery must work as a Lamborghini.

Passing it on

There is an unavoidable reality facing the historic-car world.

First-hand knowledge has a lifespan.

The engineers and craftspeople who assembled the great Italian sports cars of the 1960s and 1970s cannot remain available indefinitely, and information that was once ordinary workshop practice can disappear surprisingly quickly.

That makes the Salvioli story particularly relevant.

Orazio's experience did not remain solely with Orazio. It passed to Luca, and the presence of Davide represents another opportunity for that understanding to continue.

The workshop itself has entered a new chapter too.

After approximately two decades of entrusting the mechanical restoration of its classic Lamborghinis to the Salvioli family, Kidston acquired Top Motors Salvioli. The relationship therefore evolved from client and specialist into something more permanent, while the Salvioli family continues its work in Nonantola, Modena.

It is an interesting arrangement because it protects something considerably harder to replace than workshop equipment.

Knowledge.

A Miura can be measured. Components can be remanufactured. Drawings can be archived and restoration photographs stored.

But knowing why something was done a particular way, remembering how a car behaved when it was contemporary, or recognising a detail because you encountered it inside Lamborghini decades earlier belongs to a different category of expertise.

That is ultimately what makes Top Motors Salvioli distinctive.

Its work connects today's collector with the people who knew these cars before they became historic objects.

Three generations have now participated in that story, from Orazio's arrival at Lamborghini in 1967, through Luca's career and the establishment of Top Motors, to Davide's involvement today.

The cars themselves have travelled much further.

Miuras and Countachs once maintained as contemporary supercars now occupy some of the world's most important collections, concours lawns and historic events.

Yet when one returns to the Salvioli workshop, there remains a direct thread back to Sant'Agata and the period in which it was made.

Keeping that thread intact may ultimately be as important as restoring the machinery itself.

It is this continuity of factory knowledge, generational experience and deep mechanical understanding that makes Top Motors Salvioli a HACCA Trusted Specialist.

Top Motors Salvioli
NoModena, Italy
+39 059 549224

Bacchelli & Villa has built an international reputation for exceptional craftsmanship and expertise in the restoration and preservation of some of Italy’s most significant classic motor cars.

Based in Modena, at the heart of Italy's automotive industry, the company specialises particularly in the coachwork and restoration of Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati, combining traditional Italian craftsmanship with the specialist knowledge and in-house capabilities required to return important cars to exceptional standards.

More than five decades of craftsmanship

Coachwork restoration requires an understanding of considerably more than the outward appearance of a motor car.

The shape and proportion of individual panels, the way a body was originally constructed and the materials and techniques employed by the original craftsmen all contribute to the character and authenticity of a significant Italian classic.

Bacchelli & Villa's experience allows these qualities to be retained throughout the restoration process, whether undertaking relatively sympathetic work or the complete reconstruction of a motor car. The company itself describes its capabilities as extending from a straightforward repaint through to a complete rebuild and restoration.

Preserving form and authenticity

Body restoration and structural correction sit at the heart of the company's expertise.

Traditional panel-forming techniques allow damaged, deteriorated or previously incorrectly repaired coachwork to be carefully restored, with particular attention paid to maintaining the original proportions and character of the car.

Paint and finishing are equally important. On cars of this significance, achieving the correct result is not simply about creating a flawless surface; colour, finish and the relationship between restored and original components all contribute to how authentic the completed motor car ultimately feels.

Alongside coachwork, the company's broader capabilities encompass interior trimming and mechanical restoration, allowing projects to be approached as complete motor cars rather than simply isolated areas of work.

Restoring significant Italian motor cars

Few countries have produced sports and grand touring cars with quite the same combination of engineering, design and craftsmanship as Italy.

Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati each developed cars whose bodies were often shaped using techniques fundamentally different from those employed in modern vehicle production. Restoring them correctly therefore requires specialist skills that have become increasingly valuable as the cars themselves have grown in historical and financial significance.

More than 50 years after its establishment, Bacchelli & Villa continues to apply those traditional skills to motor cars requiring anything from careful preservation to comprehensive concours-level restoration.

It is this combination of Italian craftsmanship, coachwork expertise and decades of experience with some of the country's most important marques that distinguishes Bacchelli & Villa — and is why the company is recognised as a HACCA Trusted  Specialist.

Bacchelli & Villa
Modena, Italy
+39 059 904072

There are certain restoration businesses whose histories have become intertwined with the motor cars they preserve.

Carrosserie Lecoq is one of them.

Founded by André Lecoq in 1963, the company began in his father's modest workshop in Saint-Ouen, on the outskirts of Paris. Lecoq initially developed his reputation working with polyester bodywork for manufacturers including Alpine and Deutsch-Bonnet, before Matra entrusted the workshop with its polyester repairs during the early 1970s. It was Matra that presented Lecoq with the Gallic cockerel that would become the company's emblem.

What followed was a gradual move into a very different world of motor cars.

Collector and gallery owner Adrien Maeght initially entrusted Lecoq with a Volkswagen Schwimmwagen and subsequently a Hispano-Suiza. Further commissions followed, and the workshop increasingly became associated with the restoration of significant pre-war machinery from Bugatti, Delage, Delahaye and Hispano-Suiza. Concours success helped establish the Lecoq name internationally, while relationships with manufacturers and distributors increasingly brought more contemporary prestige cars through its doors.

Ferrari became particularly important. During the 1980s and 1990s Lecoq worked with Ferrari France on body repairs, beginning a relationship with Maranello that continues today. Lecoq Paris became an Official Ferrari Service & Bodyshop in 2011, and Ferrari Classiche certification processes can now be undertaken through its official Ferrari workshops in Paris and on the Riviera.

That relationship with Ferrari has subsequently become another defining part of the Lecoq operation, with the wider business today holding OEM approvals and certifications across an extensive range of prestige, performance and contemporary manufacturers.

Reading the Evidence

An important restoration should begin long before anything is removed from the car.

The first task is understanding what is there.

Original construction methods, previous repairs, factory finishes, historical photographs and surviving materials can all provide evidence. On a car that has lived for fifty, seventy or even ninety years, that evidence may reveal several different chapters of its history.

Knowing which chapter should be preserved requires judgement.

Carrosserie Lecoq's restoration operation brings together body forming, mechanical work, paint, trimming, woodworking and glazing, allowing much of that investigation to take place within the same organisation. Some of its experienced craftsmen worked alongside André Lecoq and former workshop manager Claude Chevalier, with long-serving members of the team now passing those skills to a younger generation.

The approach can be seen particularly clearly in the company's Ferrari restorations.

A 1967 Ferrari 365 GT 2+2, chassis 11829, underwent a complete restoration with the stated objective of returning the car to its original configuration while preserving its authenticity. A 1970 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona, chassis 13467, presented a similarly detailed exercise. One of the later plexiglass examples, it had been delivered new in Bologna in June 1970 in Azzurro Metal with Pelle Nere interior. Lecoq's restoration was directed towards returning the car to precisely that original configuration.

That distinction matters.

Restoration can make almost anything look new. Authentic restoration requires understanding what new actually looked like for that particular car.

It means resisting the temptation to improve details beyond their original standard. It means knowing how aluminium was shaped, how an interior was trimmed, which materials belong where and how a surface should appear when completed correctly.

The objective is not simply perfection.

It is accuracy.

Skills That Cannot Be Ordered

Traditional coachbuilding knowledge has become one of the most vulnerable resources within the historic motor-car industry.

Parts can sometimes be reproduced. Drawings can be digitised. Machinery can be purchased.

Experience is harder to replace.

At Lecoq Paris, approximately 1,000 square metres of the workshop is dedicated specifically to restoration, incorporating sheet-metal forming, woodworking, trimming and engine work. The significance of those facilities lies not merely in having separate departments, but in maintaining the relationship between them.

A hand-formed panel cannot be considered independently of the structure beneath it. The fit of a door influences surrounding panels. Wood, metal, glass and trim must eventually meet one another correctly. On coachbuilt machinery, small inaccuracies introduced early in a restoration can become substantial problems much later.

This is where continuity becomes important.

Some of the techniques required to restore a pre-war Delahaye or Hispano-Suiza cannot be learnt solely from a manual. They depend upon an understanding of how cars were constructed when individual craftsmen interpreted drawings through their own hands.

Carrosserie Lecoq's history gives it an unusual connection to that world. The company developed its collector-car reputation when many of those motor cars were considerably younger, and when the traditional European carrosserie was itself a much more recent institution.

Preserving those skills now requires deliberately passing them on.

Lecoq's experienced craftsmen train younger members of the workshop, allowing knowledge accumulated over decades to remain active rather than becoming simply part of the company's history. Its contribution to preserving those disciplines was formally recognised in 2016 when the company received France's Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant designation, recognising exceptional artisanal and industrial expertise.

For the collector-car world, that transfer of knowledge may ultimately be as important as any individual restoration.

A restored car can survive for generations.

The skills required to restore the next one must survive as well.

From Aluminium to Carbon Fibre

There would be little value in preserving traditional skills if doing so required remaining permanently in the past.

Carrosserie Lecoq has taken a different approach.

Its Paris operation at Bezons occupies an 11,000-square-metre site, with workshops expanded to approximately 5,000 square metres. Alongside the traditional restoration department are facilities dedicated to contemporary prestige vehicles, aluminium and multi-material structures, carbon fibre and composites, mechanical work and highly developed paint processes.

The contrast is remarkable.

Within the same organisation capable of restoring the body of a historic Ferrari or pre-war motor car are dedicated areas for repairing structures constructed from materials André Lecoq could scarcely have encountered when he opened his first workshop in 1963.

That evolution has been continuous.

Jaguar aluminium certification arrived in 2007. Ferrari official service and bodyshop status followed in Paris in 2011. Over subsequent years the wider Lecoq operation has accumulated OEM approvals and certifications encompassing Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Bentley, McLaren, Aston Martin, Honda NSX, Tesla, Jaguar Land Rover, General Motors, Ford, VinFast, LEVA, Aiways and Lotus.

That distinction matters. Manufacturer approval increasingly requires considerably more than conventional body repair expertise. Modern aluminium structures, bonded construction, carbon-fibre composites, mixed-material bodies and sophisticated electronics demand dedicated equipment, specialist training and adherence to manufacturer-specific repair processes.

The company now operates not only from Paris but also on the Riviera and at Menton, where it acquired the historic Carrosserie Jourdan, founded in 1886, in 2023.

The Paris facility itself illustrates just how far body repair has developed. Six dedicated areas handle aluminium and multi-material construction, supported by modern alignment and measuring systems. A separate workshop deals with carbon fibre and composites, while almost 2,000 square metres are devoted to paint preparation and finishing.

Yet the old disciplines remain only a few metres away.

That juxtaposition says something important about preservation.

The heritage motor-car industry sometimes presents traditional craftsmanship and modern technology as opposites. In reality, businesses capable of surviving across generations have always adapted. André Lecoq himself began with polyester — then an increasingly important modern material — before becoming celebrated for restoring some of the great coachbuilt cars of an earlier age.

Today's carbon fibre is simply another chapter in that progression.

The underlying requirement has not changed nearly as much.

Understand the material. Understand how the manufacturer intended it to be used. Repair or reproduce it accurately. And recognise when the preservation of the original is more important than making something cosmetically perfect.

From a modest workshop in Saint-Ouen to a contemporary operation capable of working on everything from pre-war coachbuilt machinery to the latest multi-material supercars, Carrosserie Lecoq has spent more than sixty years adapting without abandoning the skills upon which its reputation was built.

That continuity is increasingly rare.

It is also precisely why businesses such as Lecoq matter to the future of the collector-car world.

That combination of traditional coachbuilding skills, restoration knowledge, OEM approval and more than six decades spent working with significant motor cars is why Carrosserie Lecoq is a trusted and HACCA Trusted Specialist.

Carrosserie Lecoq
Paris, France
+33 1 3411 3411

Based in Maranello, at the heart of Italy's Motor Valley, Pastorelli Classic Cars specialises in the restoration, preparation and management of historic and competition motor cars.

Led by former Formula 1 test driver and GT racer Nicky Pastorelli, the company combines specialist restoration and engineering knowledge with something particularly valuable in the historic motorsport world — extensive experience of how competition cars actually perform when driven at speed.

This combination allows Pastorelli Classic Cars to support clients across restoration, concours presentation and road use through to preparation and management for some of the world's leading historic motorsport events.

Built around authenticity and usability

The company's approach to restoration places particular emphasis on authenticity while recognising that many important historic cars are still intended to be driven.

Rather than viewing restoration purely as a cosmetic exercise, consideration is given to how the complete motor car performs and operates. Mechanical preparation, chassis set-up, reliability and drivability therefore sit alongside the preservation of period character and historical integrity.

The objective is to create cars that can be presented to a high standard while remaining genuinely usable — whether that means driving on the road, appearing at concours events or returning to competition.

For historic racing machinery in particular, achieving that balance requires an understanding of both the car's history and the demands placed upon it in modern competition.

Experience from behind the wheel

Nicky Pastorelli's professional racing background brings another dimension to the company's work.

Experience as a Formula 1 test driver and international GT racer provides a driver's understanding of vehicle behaviour that can be applied directly to historic race preparation, set-up and development.

That experience also allows the company to provide driver coaching and consultancy, helping owners understand both their cars and how to extract greater performance from them safely and consistently.

For clients competing internationally, this hands-on involvement can continue throughout an event, providing technical and operational support from initial preparation through to the race weekend itself.

Supporting historic motorsport worldwide

Operating a significant competition car internationally involves considerably more than preparing it in the workshop.

Transportation, event logistics, technical support and ongoing maintenance all need to work together if an owner is to compete successfully at historic motorsport events around the world.

Pastorelli Classic Cars provides this wider support, managing cars and their requirements across international events while allowing owners and drivers to concentrate on the experience of competing.

Whether undertaking a complete restoration, preparing a car for its next race or supporting a client throughout an international historic motorsport programme, the emphasis remains on authenticity, technical preparation and real-world usability.

It is this combination of restoration expertise, professional racing experience and hands-on international competition support that distinguishes Pastorelli Classic Cars — and is why the company is recognised as a CDRVN Trusted Specialist.

Pastorelli Classic Cars
Maranello, Italy
+31 (6) 1585 0913

There are specialists who build their reputation around a marque, and then there is F40 Only — a business devoted entirely to a single motor car.

The Ferrari F40 needs little introduction. It was the final Ferrari road car developed during Enzo Ferrari's lifetime and has evolved from contemporary supercar into one of the defining collector cars of its generation. Maintaining one correctly, however, requires knowledge that becomes increasingly specialised as the cars grow older.

From its workshop and sales facility near Maranello, F40 Only has concentrated more than two decades of experience on precisely that task. Servicing, diagnostics, mechanical and electrical repair, restoration and major reconstruction are all centred around the F40, supported by specialist technicians, original diagnostic equipment and an extensive inventory of parts.

Knowing one car exceptionally well

There is an obvious advantage to working exclusively with one model: familiarity becomes extraordinarily detailed.

The F40 may appear relatively uncomplicated beside today's electronically sophisticated supercars, but its construction, twin-turbocharged drivetrain, electrical systems and lightweight bodywork present their own highly specific requirements.

Age introduces further considerations. Components deteriorate, previous repairs become apparent and individual cars develop histories that can make diagnosis considerably more complex than simply following a workshop procedure.

F40 Only's concentration on a single model means those characteristics are encountered repeatedly. Routine servicing sits alongside fault diagnosis and repair, while the company's capabilities extend into partial and complete restoration.

Originality remains particularly important. As the F40 has become increasingly collectible, preserving the specification and integrity of an individual example can matter as much as correcting the fault that brought it into the workshop.

That philosophy informs the way cars are serviced and restored: intervention where necessary, but with an understanding that an important part of the F40's value lies in remaining an F40.

When restoration becomes reconstruction

Some projects inevitably go considerably further.

Accident damage can affect far more than visible bodywork, while fire presents one of the most difficult challenges possible for a specialist dealing with a valuable historic supercar.

F40 Only has developed the capability to undertake major reconstruction in these circumstances, extending from body and mechanical work through to upholstery and electrical systems.

This is where access to the correct components becomes particularly significant.

The company maintains an unusually extensive F40 parts operation encompassing engine, transmission, suspension, electrical, interior and body components, including items that have become exceptionally difficult to source. Its current catalogue even includes complete body shells with chassis, alongside individual original components across virtually every area of the car.

For an owner undertaking a substantial restoration, that depth of parts availability can determine whether a car can be returned to the correct specification rather than adapted around whatever happens to remain obtainable.

Preserving an icon

Ferrari produced the F40 for only a relatively short period, but the responsibility for maintaining the surviving cars will continue for generations.

That changes the role of the specialist.

It is no longer simply about servicing a performance car. Increasingly, it is about retaining technical knowledge, diagnostic capability and access to components for a model whose historical importance continues to grow.

F40 Only's deliberately narrow focus makes particular sense in that context. Rather than extending its expertise across an ever-wider range of Ferraris, the company has chosen to go deeper into one.

From routine maintenance to returning a severely damaged example to the road, everything ultimately comes back to the same motor car.

One model, studied and supported in extraordinary depth.

That singular dedication to preserving the Ferrari F40 is what makes F40 Only a HACCA Trusted Specialist.

F40 Only
Maranello, Italy
Tel: +393 4636 73238

Restoring a vintage Bugatti presents a particular problem. The cars are approaching or have already passed their centenary, many components have long since disappeared from conventional supply, and the engineering that made them exceptional was often anything but conventional.

Keeping one alive therefore requires more than knowing how to dismantle and rebuild it. It requires an understanding of why Ettore Bugatti engineered things as he did, access to the information from which those components were originally made and, increasingly, the ability to manufacture what can no longer be found.

For more than a quarter of a century, that has been the world of Gentry Restorations.

The family business was established on 1 January 2000 by Malcolm Gentry and his son Stephen, initially working together from a modest barn in Adwell, Oxfordshire. Growth came quickly. By 2005 the company had moved to substantially larger premises on the Buckinghamshire/Oxfordshire border, creating more than 1,200 square metres of space for its workshop, machine shop, parts operation and specialist engineering facilities.

Malcolm retired in 2017, leaving Stephen to lead a business built around an unusually concentrated knowledge of one marque. Stephen now has more than 30 years' experience with Bugatti, while the company's engineers collectively bring around 150 years of experience working with vintage examples.

That depth of knowledge matters because with a Bugatti, knowing how something was originally made is often the beginning rather than the end of the job.

Restore Rather Than Replace

Gentry's underlying restoration philosophy can be expressed remarkably simply: restore rather than replace.

In practice, that can be considerably more difficult.

Every surviving Bugatti has lived a different life. Some retain substantial quantities of original material but carry the visual evidence of a century of use. Others have been modified, repaired or rebodied during different periods of their history. Components may have disappeared completely, while previous restoration work can itself have become part of the car's story.

Gentry therefore begins major projects with assessment and research. Cars are catalogued and photographed, their histories considered and a plan agreed with the owner before significant work begins.

The desired outcome is not automatically a concours restoration.

One owner may want a car returned comprehensively to its original specification and appearance. Another may place far greater importance on retaining aged paint, upholstery and patina while making the underlying machinery safe, reliable and mechanically correct.

The skill lies in understanding the difference.

That approach can be seen across the extraordinary variety of Bugattis passing through the workshop. Gentry has worked with cars ranging from the early Brescia models through the great eight-cylinder touring and competition cars, including Types 35, 37, 43, 44, 51, 55 and 57.

Some require complete restoration. Others need only mechanical rebuilding or careful recommissioning.

A Type 35A, chassis 4541, provides a particularly good illustration. As the prototype of the first batch of 18 cars, with its engine stamped number one, its significance lay partly in what had survived. Gentry concentrated on the mechanical aspects, returning the car to reliable running condition while retaining its originality rather than unnecessarily restoring the entire vehicle.

Elsewhere, the workshop has undertaken full mechanical restorations, complete engine rebuilds and chassis repairs, and has even recreated the fifth Bugatti Type 57G Tank using a combination of historical reference material, a scale model and contemporary 3D technology.

Different cars require different answers.

That judgement — knowing what should be renewed, what can be repaired and what should simply be preserved — is one of the defining skills in serious historic-car restoration.

Making What No Longer Exists

There comes a point, however, when preservation encounters a very practical obstacle.

The required part simply does not exist.

Gentry began addressing that problem seriously in 2003 when it acquired patterns and drawings from Raven Engineering and started producing components to support owners of Brescia Bugattis. What began as a response to individual workshop requirements has subsequently developed into a substantial engineering operation supplying owners and other specialists internationally.

Today, Gentry manufactures more than 1,000 different Bugatti parts and components.

Behind that capability sits an extensive collection of copies of original Bugatti factory drawings accumulated over more than two decades. When an original component is beyond recovery or completely absent, those drawings allow the workshop to approach manufacture from the same fundamental information available when the cars were created.

The machine shop itself combines traditional engineering skills with modern equipment. CNC turning sits alongside conventional milling and turning, surface grinding, spark erosion, hydraulic pressing, hardness and crack testing, while 3D scanning provides another means of understanding and reproducing components.

It is an important combination.

There is little value in possessing a century-old engineering drawing without somebody capable of interpreting it. Equally, sophisticated modern machinery is of limited use if the person operating it does not understand the function, material and engineering philosophy of the original component.

Gentry has deliberately brought those disciplines together.

That capability extends from comparatively straightforward service components to considerably more complicated pieces of Bugatti engineering. Pumps, hubs, engine components and other parts can be repaired or manufactured, while the company's wider network of long-established specialist subcontractors provides complementary skills in areas including timber framing, aluminium bodywork, trimming, instruments, radiators, plating and specialist bearing work.

Crucially, outsourced work remains overseen by Gentry rather than simply being passed elsewhere.

The result is something increasingly important within the historic-car world: not merely a stock of replacement parts, but the knowledge and manufacturing capability required to continue producing them.

For cars built in relatively small numbers a century ago, that capability is fundamental to their long-term survival.

Cars Intended to Be Driven

Preservation at Gentry does not end when a car leaves the restoration bay.

Vintage Bugattis were created to be used, and many owners continue to exercise them considerably harder than might be expected of machinery approaching 100 years old. International rallies, tours, hill climbs and historic competition place very different demands upon a car from static concours presentation.

Gentry has supported almost 100 driving events around the world, giving its engineers direct experience of how different Bugatti models behave over both short and long distances.

That experience feeds back into the workshop.

A metallic clutch can retain the principles of the original while incorporating modern friction material. Improved brake linings can increase braking performance without prematurely damaging original drums. Modern filtration can be concealed within an original Bugatti oil-filter housing. Contemporary lubricants can protect valuable mechanical components more effectively than the oils available when the cars were built.

None of these changes needs to alter the identity of the car.

That distinction is important. Sensitive engineering improvement is very different from modernisation for its own sake. The objective is reliability and usability without compromising authenticity, appearance or historical value.

Gentry even operates its own rolling road, allowing engines to be tested and tuned under controlled conditions rather than relying exclusively upon road testing. It is another example of modern technology being used in support of very old engineering rather than attempting to replace it.

Perhaps this is ultimately what makes a marque specialist valuable.

Bugatti's cars were never conventional. Their engineering contains solutions, materials and philosophies peculiar to Ettore Bugatti and the extraordinary organisation he created at Molsheim. Maintaining them properly therefore depends upon knowledge being accumulated and passed from one generation of engineers to another.

Gentry Restorations began with Malcolm and Stephen Gentry working together in a small Oxfordshire barn. More than 25 years later, the business encompasses specialist automotive engineers, precision engineers, an extensive technical archive, its own machine shop and a parts operation supporting Bugatti owners around the world.

The equipment has become more sophisticated. The fundamental purpose has not.

It is to understand how these remarkable cars were made, preserve as much of their original substance as possible, recreate what has disappeared when necessary and ensure that they remain capable of doing what Bugattis have always done best — being driven.

That combination of more than a quarter-century devoted to the marque, exceptional depth of Bugatti knowledge, historically informed restoration and the in-house engineering capability to manufacture components that no longer exist is why Gentry Restorations is a trusted and HACCA Trusted Specialist.

Gentry Restorations
Oxfordshire, England 

+44 (0)1844 338346

Founded in 1978, Paul Russell and Company has established an international reputation for the restoration, preservation and maintenance of some of the world's most significant European collector cars.

Based near Boston, Massachusetts, the company specialises predominantly in motor cars from the pre-war era through to the 1960s, with particular expertise across Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, Porsche, Bugatti and Alfa Romeo. Its work combines extensive historical research, traditional craftsmanship and modern engineering knowledge, with authenticity remaining central to every project.

Restoration without compromise

For Paul Russell and Company, restoration extends considerably beyond returning a motor car to an immaculate visual condition.

Understanding how a particular car was originally constructed — from materials and manufacturing techniques to mechanical specification and individual finishes — requires detailed research before restoration work begins.

This research-led approach allows the company's craftsmen and technicians to preserve or recreate important details that might otherwise be lost during restoration, while ensuring the mechanical integrity required for cars that are still intended to be driven and enjoyed.

Where original components can be conserved, preservation is prioritised. Where restoration is required, the objective is to return the car as closely as possible to its historically correct specification.

Proven at the highest level

The results of this approach have been demonstrated through numerous internationally recognised concours-winning restorations.

At this level of the collector car world, judging extends far beyond presentation. Authenticity, historical accuracy, craftsmanship and attention to details that may be almost invisible to the casual observer can determine the difference between an excellent restoration and an exceptional one.

Paul Russell and Company's experience with significant European marques and historically important individual cars has therefore established the business as a respected name among collectors seeking restoration and conservation work at the highest level.

Supporting important collections

The company's relationship with collectors extends beyond restoration.

Ongoing maintenance and preservation allow significant cars to remain mechanically correct and usable after restoration, while discreet sales and brokerage services provide support when clients are looking to acquire or sell particular motor cars.

Secure storage and wider collection support further enable Paul Russell and Company to maintain long-term relationships with an international collector base, providing continuity throughout different stages of ownership.

Whether preserving an exceptionally original car or undertaking a comprehensive concours restoration, the underlying philosophy remains consistent: understand the history, respect the authenticity and execute the work to an exceptional standard.

It is this uncompromising combination of research, craftsmanship and historical accuracy that distinguishes Paul Russell and Company — and is why the business is recognised as a HACCA Trusted Specialist.

Paul Russell and Company
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
+1 (617) 978 768 6919

There is a considerable difference between knowing how to work on a classic Aston Martin and understanding how one should feel when the work is finished. At Aston Engineering, that understanding has been accumulated through decades spent with the cars themselves.

From its Derbyshire workshops, the company has developed an international reputation for the restoration, preservation and engineering of Aston Martin motor cars, with particular depth of knowledge surrounding the celebrated DB-series and V8 models.

Its capabilities range from routine servicing and sympathetic preservation to complete concours restoration, engine and drivetrain rebuilding and the development of cars for fast-road and competition use. Many of the company's technicians are Aston Martin-trained, while its position as an Official Aston Martin Heritage Parts Partner provides further support for owners maintaining important examples around the world.

Understanding an Aston Martin

The DB4, DB5 and DB6 may share an obvious lineage, but decades of ownership mean that no two surviving cars necessarily present the same challenge.

Some remain remarkably original. Others have passed through numerous restorations, mechanical rebuilds and periods when maintaining usability mattered rather more than preserving factory detail. Later DBS and V8 models bring their own engineering characteristics and increasingly complex mechanical requirements.

Knowing how to approach each car therefore begins with understanding what has happened to it.

Aston Engineering's long familiarity with the marque allows a car to be considered as a complete machine rather than simply a collection of individual systems requiring attention. The condition of the body, chassis, engine, transmission and running gear can be assessed together before determining whether preservation, restoration or mechanical improvement represents the most appropriate course.

That distinction is particularly important today. As originality becomes increasingly valued, restoration is not automatically the answer. An untouched component or original finish may contribute more to the significance of a particular car than replacing it with something cosmetically perfect.

Where comprehensive restoration is appropriate, however, the same knowledge provides the reference point for returning the car to the specification, appearance and driving character expected of a properly restored Aston Martin.

Built to perform

Aston Martins have always combined elegance with performance, and mechanical engineering remains central to Aston Engineering's work.

Engine and drivetrain rebuilding is supported by extensive in-house capability, allowing components to be inspected, measured, machined and assembled with control retained throughout the process.

For a standard road car, the objective may be to recover the smoothness, performance and reliability lost through decades of use. For another owner, the brief might involve creating a more capable fast-road engine while retaining the qualities that make the original unit distinctive.

Competition brings different requirements again.

Aston Engineering's experience with race and performance engines allows carefully considered development where greater performance and durability are required. Rather than transforming the character of the car, the emphasis is on extracting capability from the original engineering in a way that remains appropriate to the Aston Martin beneath it.

The result is an approach that recognises an important point: these cars were never intended simply to be looked at. However valuable they have become, the engineering only truly makes sense when experienced from behind the wheel.

Beyond the restoration

Completing a restoration is one moment in what may be decades of ownership.

Aston Engineering's role therefore continues through servicing, maintenance, technical support and parts supply, giving owners access to the same depth of knowledge whether their car requires a major mechanical rebuild or simply needs preparing for another season on the road.

Its status as an Official Aston Martin Heritage Parts Partner complements that work, providing genuine heritage components and supporting the continued maintenance of classic models both within the UK and internationally.

For owners, continuity matters. A specialist that knows the history of a car, understands the work previously undertaken and can anticipate what it may require in future becomes part of its long-term preservation.

That is perhaps where Aston Engineering's decades with the marque carry their greatest value. The objective is not simply to restore an Aston Martin once, but to possess the knowledge and engineering capability required to keep it performing correctly for years to come.

It is this enduring understanding of the cars, their engineering and the responsibility that comes with maintaining them that makes Aston Engineering a HACCA Trusted Specialist.

Aston Engineering
Derbyshire, England
+44 (0)1332 371566