Sport and Classic Car Company
and
Billions of Car Parts Company
10525 Airline Drive Houston, Texas 77037
Repairs & Services
Sport and Classic Car Company for 35 years offered extensive rebuilding services and and still supplies parts for a considerable number of components and assemblies for Jaguar, MG, Triumph, Austin Healey and a variety of other British cars and vintage Mercedes Benz. This section is primarily for cars that were not built by Rolls-Royce or Bentley. Some jobs we still undertake and some we no longer do.
Carburetor Rebuilding
We rebuild S.U. carburetors such as those used on Jaguar, MG, Triumph, Austin Healey and many British cars. We rebuild Stromberg carburetors such as used on MG, Jaguar and Triumph and we rebuild Weber carburetors such as those used on Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati and Alfa Romeo as well as the replacement Weber carbs.
Everything's better with a red bonnet on it
For a long time client that had a altercation with an unmovable object that damaged the bonnet, we supplied and fitted a new bonnet assembly. This veteran 1973 sports car had "enjoyed" several previous front end collisions over the years and this job involved more than just fitting the new bonnet as we reworked the old repairs and made everything such as the new grill fit well. E-Type body parts were never made with precision and new parts supplied nowadays are made the same way. New bonnets cannot just be bolted on to E-Types and never were made so as they were and are handmade. New body parts all have to be fettled to fit.
Motors
We rebuilt a great many Jaguar 2.4, 3.4, 3.8, 4.2 and 12 cylinder engines, all manner of MG engines and Triumph 4,6 and 8 cylinder engines as well as Austin Healey 3000, Jensen Healey, Lotus and many other British engines over the years. We supply parts for these engines as well to machine shops and engine rebuilders.
A typical MGB motor rebuild in the final stages.
This photo shows an MGA engine that was rebuilt with new pistons, bearings, camshaft, valves, chain, clutch etc. going right on into the engine bay.
The completed MGA engine installation. On this job, we cleaned, prepared and painted the engine bay as well.
Our web writer wrote the following thoughts twice and could not decide which version best expressed the deteriorating parts quality situation so here is version #1.
All our engine rebuilds were carefully done using the best quality parts available. This said, it's very much a changing world and not for the better regarding vintage car parts. Most parts for MG and Triumph cars are made in Taiwan or China these days. Who knows what sort of materials they use. The quality is frequently abysmal and this means that the quality of some jobs is only as good as the parts that go into them. Many established and respected manufacturing companies have moved production of quality parts out of England and the USA to third world countries such as India, China and Indonesia and have done so because these companies can offer parts at the lowest possible cost by using very low cost labor combined with poor quality materials and thus increase profits. The old companies are not what they were. Some companies are essentially just using the names of the old companies to lend credence to their low quality parts. To produce parts at the lowest cost with little regard for quality means that owners that want parts made to a high standard no longer have much of a choice. Even if an owner is willing to pay twice as much for quality parts, this desire matters not as in many situations there simply is no high quality option available. We would prefer that manufacturers not follow this destructive business trend and would instead produce parts to a high quality, made in the USA, England or somewhere with verifiable quality standards on the expectation that owners will be willing to pay for top quality. Otherwise it's a continuing downward spiral and to what end? Manufacturers should not expect to make good pistons from beer cans while paying workers little to nothing and expect quality goods in return but some do.
Here is version #2. The same thing but different...
These days the parts quality of many new aftermarket engine parts for the majority of vintage non Rolls-Royce or Bentley cars is not certain. Some of these poor quality parts are so bad, we and other quality shops refuse to use them. An engine or anything will only be as good as the parts used. This is a sad state of affairs and has been caused by a business model that seeks to sell parts for the lowest possible price without regard for quality. Two major manufacturers of quality pistons for British cars were Covmo and Hepolite (long gone) and AE ( now made in India). Many of the respected names in car part manufacturing folded up or moved their factories out of England and said goodbye to good quality. All that is left of them is a once well respected nameplate.
Nowadays we rebuild engines with high quality custom made parts mixed with new old stock parts so we can still offer a quality rebuild. We search and pay whatever we have to to get the parts we want. These parts are much more expensive than the reproduction trash parts so our engines take longer to do and are certainly not generally price competitive. We build engines for owners that want the best engines they can get without regard for the cost because that is the only way a good engine can be rebuilt these days. Until manufacturers decide there is a sufficient market to make parts of quality for these cars, this sad state of affairs is the way it will be. Yes, we cannot stand to look at junk parts and imagining them in our engine rebuilds so we don't.
2. Manual transmissions- We inspect the inside components for wear and all worn parts are replaced with quality parts as available. Transmissions generally always receive new bearings, synchronizer rings, seals and gaskets with all other parts examined and replaced as required if available.
3. Laycock Overdrive units. We rebuild these units as well.
4. Steering and suspension systems- There are many enhancements available to improve the drivability of certain cars and allow them to retain a stock appearance. For example, we offer many shock absorber applications that when combined with new springs and bushings will greatly improve the handling of a car.
The green Triumph TR3B on the lift is receiving new rear axle bearings, front wheel bearings, brake rotors, rebuilt brake calipers with new pistons, brake master cylinder, wheel cylinders, brake shoes, brake hoses and some new steel brake pipes as well. We rebuilt the electric overdrive that never worked for this owner and made the car into a solid driver.
5. Differentials. We rebuild these units for a great many British cars. We can change the gear ratio as well for certain applications and new supply Posidrive differentials for many cars.
This MGC roadster just received a replacement differential.
6. See #7.
7. Electrical systems. We rewire an entire car quite often or repair whatever electrical problems may exist. We have many reliable "fixes" for cars that suffer from poorly engineered factory wiring. As few, if any replacement wiring is totally accurate, they have to be modified during the installation to make all the systems work.
Challenges such as extensive Jensen Interceptor wiring repairs are amongst the jobs we do.
Interesting cars like
a AC Bristol's drop by from time to time for a little this and that and we do
supply some parts for AC Bristol and Bristol cars.
8. Brake systems. We perform many sorts of brake repairs from complete replacement of entire systems to minor work like replacing brake pads or fluid flushes.
A fresh disc brake rebuild on a circa 1965 Jaguar as a part of a rear suspension package of work. Whatever a car requires to have safe and proper brakes, we do it.
9. Carburetors? We rebuild S.U. , Weber, Dellortto, Zenith and Stromberg carburetors and can supply new carbs in certain applications.
10. Lucas distributors, we rebuild lots of obsolete units and can supply new distributors (sometimes).
Veritable Velox
From time to time as time permits we do work with cars from England that are uncommon in the USA or anywhere now days such as this 1961 Vauxhall Velox. Inspired by the 1950's rocket designs of the USA. For this car we made new brake pipes and rebuilt the entire brake system. The car was bought new by the owners father in the U.K.
Ailing Alvis
Here we have a 1950's Alvis in to rebuild the water pump. The job that involves removing some of the front body parts.
We offer Vredestein Tires in many sizes. Go here to check
them out.
A little horror story.
An owner shipped a 1972 Jaguar E-Type 2+2 to us so we could examine and advise a situation concerning some fire damage. The car had recently been in a Jaguar specialty shop for repairs. About 20 minutes after the car drove off from their shop, the cockpit started filling with smoke. The owner saw flames coming out of the bonnet vents and managed to pull over and stop the fire. The car owner, spooked by the experience, had the car towed to us.
Later, when we examined the car, we found an aftermarket plastic hose from the engine block to oil gauge that had been draped on top of the exhaust manifold. The hose melted, high pressure oil squirted all over the engine and it caught fire. The original Smiths gauge is electric and does not use such a hose. Had we done this job, we would have rebuilt the original gauge and would never have fitted a el cheapo gauge in it's place. The car was extensively fire damaged. The owner of the repair shop that had recently performed the naughty work on the car came over to view the sad situation. We gingerly discussed the poor workmanship, pointing out the new and melted oil line they had installed and also pointed out the exhaust system had been attached using bolts rather than studs as original. Why this matters is that over time, bolts rust solid to the exhaust manifold and when removed, break the manifolds. Jaguar and many British car makers always use studs. We asked him about the bolts and he thought they were fine to use. Needless to say, after examining the car and the recent workmanship, my opinion of his shops professionalism dropped to the negative numbers. This shop also charges less for labor than we do so the owner saved some money on the initial repair and ended up losing the car as it burned up. The moral of the story is that sometimes you get what you pay for, sometimes you get something else.
A shop's reputation is everything and we do all we can to preserve and always reach higher with ours by making sure all work is well done and is performed at an affordable cost such that an owner gets what he wants and we can continue to earn a living and improve the shop so we can continue to provide the intensive sort of work we offer.
Many people nowadays want to do something to help our environment and it sure needs a lot of help as we all breath and drink it. In the USA, it is estimated that some 11 million gallons of dirty oil leaks from cars each year or the equivalent of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. An amazing statistic. Much of this oil makes its way to the water system and eventually into the oceans and every creature on earth and sea. This is not good. Used motor oil does not taste good either. The recent BP oil rig blowout in the Gulf of Mexico will be killing millions of creatures that live in and from the sea. The ramifications of not doing a job properly or using proper safety equipment may be incalculable. But we as individuals can do our small part to make the world a better place to live and drive in. As cars are responsible for much of the worlds pollution in one way or another, here are some things you can do to cut down on your major source of pollution.
1. Many cars leak oil and fluids as the car ages and various seals age and leak. If your car is leaking engine oil, transmission fluid or suspension fluids, these leaks should and can be repaired or substantially lessened. By keeping these fluids in the cars components where they belong, you will be making a tangible difference. If you think your oil leaks do not matter in the scheme of things, multiply your leak by many millions of times as there are millions of leaking cars out there. Some things are worth paying for and fixing oil leaks is an example where the individual can make a difference. After all, no creature wants to drink your dirty motor oil.
2. You can make sure your car is running as well as it can. Even though the car may be vintage and without any anti pollution gear, the engine can be tuned to run as cleanly as possible.
3. You can change your air filter as dirty air filters result in much higher fuel consumption. If you live in a dusty area, you might want to consider purchasing a washable air filter from us. If you live in a vacuum, you don't have to worry about an air filter!
4. Keep your tires properly inflated. Low air pressure results in poor fuel mileage and poor handling thus costing you money you don't need to waste and also greatly lessens the life of the tires and this also costs you money.
5. It is much less harmful to the environment to keep your car in good non leaking condition rather than buying a new car.
6. It is always better for OUR environment if you purchase your parts from us!
A Sunbeam Tiger leaves us after a refresh.
Evaluating a car shop
If you are considering having repair or service work performed on your car by any professional shop anywhere, some basic things to check out aside from how long the shop has been seriously engaged in working with these cars would be finding out what sort of documentation will you be receiving? For example, we have seen many invoices for major rebuilding work with substantial (many tens of thousands) sums being spent and the car owner, when asked for copies of the invoices for previous work that was done, will sometimes produce an invoice that may state a vague description such as " rebuild motor" or such and aside from the amount at the bottom of the invoice, nothing else is revealed. There are no parts listed, no sales taxes and no individual labors denoted so there is no way to really know what was done. Consumers should not tolerate vague invoicing as details absolutely do matter. Any and all parts used on a job should be listed and priced. All labors should be detailed to some degree with more than a few words and priced. We have spoken with car owners that have spent $20-30K and much more on a car and have no paperwork detailing payments made, what labors the job entailed or anything at all. They do have a car that is in lots of pieces and no longer have money spent for what they really don't know. Detailed records of works done on your car do enhance the value of the car to knowledgeable buyers.
Once upon a time, we visited New Zealand on a business trip and met the hobbit proprietor of a Jaguar used parts business. The place was a complete environmental nightmare as large amounts of oil, antifreeze, transmission fluid and lubricants had been spilled from cars being broken for parts and this fluid had soaked into the ground and was squishy. Thousands of nuts, bolts and bits of cars were smushed into the dirt. The proprietor wore no shoes. His feet were literally black with dirt and oil that had worked into his flesh and was gushing though his toes. He was a nice fellow though but the manner that he used to run his business was unforgettable. He repaired Jaguar cars there as well.
Wrecked cars can be fun to look at as long as they are not yours. We finish this page with a photo of a 1971 Morris Mini that fought a Mustang and lost.
For parts orders call 281.448.4739 or Send us an e-mail!
Sport and Classic Car Company
10525 Airline Drive
Houston, Texas 77037
USA
telephone 281.448.4739
