Repairs at Tom Hobbs

[Raven Black]

I am also about to book mine in thanks to Trikey and MarinaB discovering rust in my sills - shock, horror! Had previously been assured there was no rust at all.

[Kevin Williams]

That's a fantastic testimonial Brian.

I'm lucky to live not too far away......

Kevin

[Raven Black]

and I live very far but was told its the only place to go

[trikey]

Originally Posted by Jnorris

and I live very far but was told its the only place to go

Yep, worth travelling from anywhere.

[Pete]

Without wishing to hijack the thread, it's worth mentioning that Paul Baker Custom Metalwork near Southampton has also had very good reviews.

You can see his work on club member Hinged Bap's car here

His website is here

[marinabrian]

Originally Posted by Pete

Without wishing to hijack the thread, it's worth mentioning that Paul Baker Custom Metalwork near Southampton has also had very good reviews.

You can see his work on club member Hinged Bap's car here

His website is here

I've just taken a look, although not a bad job, it's definitely not a patch on Tom's work.

A different approach has been taken, and not necessarily the better method, in fact with the exception that the outer skin of the sill was removed completely and not left on the flange creating a three layer sandwich, the job Paul Baker done on Hinged Bap's car was similar to the one I did on the NSR last year on MB Snr's tourer.

It is far preferable to form the lower "flat" section as one part, then the curved upper part as another.

The reason for this is simple, the lower section is not parallel with the upper, and this is evident in the "cheat" of leaving the rear section untouched.

Not every one sees the nuance of repairs in this area, Tom sees with a clarity that is unbelievably refreshing, and an attention to detail which is astonishing.

What I'm trying to say here is "close, but no cigar"

Brian

[Bolin]

Originally Posted by trikey

I have examined his work closely, you will not find anyone better, I am quite surprised that Tom is still doing this sort of repair.

A man of his talent could make a fortune working on high end stuff.

Originally Posted by trikey

I saw some of the hand formed panels he had made when I was collecting my 75 from him Dawn, he is undoubtedly one of the best there is.

And in case anyone doubts my word, my Uncle was a panel beater at Rolls Royce so I have seen the skills involved in turning a flat sheet of metal into a perfectly formed shape.

If your 75 needs sills, get it booked in with Tom.

Originally Posted by marinabrian

I'm a perfectionist when it comes to structural repairs, and being a coded welder I'm more than capable of carrying out repairs to the standard of Tom.........however, what would take him a day, would take me a week.

I've always done my own repair work in terms of welding and fabrication, and find it extremely difficult to delegate work of any sort.

The exception being Tom Hobbs, it takes an awful lot to impress me, but Tom impressed me from the moment I clapped eyes on his workmanship, and I for one would have no hesitation in recommending his services.

He isn't simply a "welder" he is an artisan metalworker, employing skills that are rarely seen today.

And for this alone, I travelled a total of 650 miles in delivering and retrieving my father's car.

If you want pictures of the before during and after simply let me know and I'll email them to you

Brian

Originally Posted by marinabrian

I've just taken a look, although not a bad job, it's definitely not a patch on Tom's work.

A different approach has been taken, and not necessarily the better method, in fact with the exception that the outer skin of the sill was removed completely and not left on the flange creating a three layer sandwich, the job Paul Baker done on Hinged Bap's car was similar to the one I did on the NSR last year on MB Snr's tourer.

It is far preferable to form the lower "flat" section as one part, then the curved upper part as another.

The reason for this is simple, the lower section is not parallel with the upper, and this is evident in the "cheat" of leaving the rear section untouched.

Not every one sees the nuance of repairs in this area, Tom sees with a clarity that is unbelievably refreshing, and an attention to detail which is astonishing.

What I'm trying to say here is "close, but no cigar"

Brian

triky and marinabrian, thank you for your replies, much appreciated.

At the moment it looks quite likely that I will be keeping my car and getting it repaired, which will involve a lot of structural repair work, especially to the front jacking points/lower A-post (looks perfect on the outside but from inside, behind the trim, I found it is rotten to the core).

If I do go ahead I obviously want the best job possible done (and to work out the causes/source of ingress and solve that first).