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Indexa

Classic car restoration specialists

Every restorer in the UK that will take a car back to bare metal and give it back — checked, counted and filed.

1,284restorers indexed23cities with a page of their own6,240pre-1995 cars for sale in the index

What the index means by a restorer

A restorer is not a garage. A business is filed under classic restoration only where it takes a car in for months rather than hours — strip, repair, refinish, reassemble — and can show the work it has finished.

That is a narrow definition and it keeps the category small on purpose. Servicing, bodywork and trim have categories of their own, and most restorers appear in those too. What is here is the 1,284 businesses that will take on a whole car.

Every one has had a trading address confirmed, insurance and trade accreditation seen, and three past customers contacted. The check is repeated every ninety days: a business that stops answering comes off the index rather than going quiet on it.

What this category covers

  • Bodywork & panel fabrication412
  • Paint & finishing389
  • Engine & gearbox rebuild368
  • Chassis & suspension341
  • Interior & trim297
  • Electrical & rewiring214

Most restorers offer several, so these do not add up to 1,284 — and are not meant to.

The highest-rated restorers

Eight of 1,284, rated by the customers the index contacted. Ranking is the rating and then the number of reviews behind it — nobody pays for a position here.

All 1,284 restorers
VerifiedInsuredTrade body

Verrell Coachworks

London, SE16 · Filed since 1964Panel fabrication · Paint & finishing

IX-SP-0417

4.9from451reviews

View record
VerifiedInsured

Halewood & Sons

Bristol, BS4 · Filed since 1971Bodywork · Engine rebuild · Paint

IX-SP-0118

4.9from312reviews

View record

Specialists 1–8 of 1,284 · page 1 of 161

How a business gets into the index

Nobody buys a listing. Four checks stand between a business and a place on this page, and the fourth one repeats.

How the gate works

Step one

The address is real

We confirm a trading address and that the business is registered to it. A mobile number and a web form is not an address.

Step two

Insurance and trade cover

Public liability, and a road risks policy where the work needs one. Certificates are seen, not asserted.

Step three

Three customers, contacted

We call three people whose cars the business has finished and ask what the job cost and how long it took.

Step four

Re-checked every 90 days

The check runs again four times a year. A business that stops answering comes off the index rather than going stale on it.

19,062businesses listed

612applications refused this year

90days between re-checks

3customers contacted per listing

Classic restoration, city by city

Twenty-three cities hold enough checked restorers to have a page of their own. The other forty-five towns are served from here, and the counts below say why.

  • London214
  • Manchester88
  • Birmingham76
  • Bristol74
  • Leeds62
  • Glasgow54
  • Edinburgh51
  • Liverpool47
  • Sheffield41
  • Nottingham38
  • Newcastle34
  • Cardiff31
  • Southampton28
  • Leicester26
  • Brighton24
  • Norwich22
  • Oxford21
  • Coventry19
  • York17
  • Bournemouth16
  • Derby15
  • Aberdeen14
  • Swansea13
  • Reading13
  • Plymouth12
  • Ipswich12
  • Dundee12
  • Exeter12
23 cities with a page hold1,284· 45 towns below the gate hold96· category total1,380All 68 towns

The other eleven trades

Classic restoration is one of twelve trades the index files. Every count below is UK-wide, and all twelve add up to the same total.

  • Servicing & MOT2,140
  • Tyres & wheels1,420
  • Bodywork & paint1,860
  • Mobile mechanics870
  • Detailing & paint correction980
  • EV & hybrid740
  • Performance tuning620
  • Diagnostics & ECU580
  • Transmission & clutch480
  • Air conditioning310
  • Vehicle transport290
12 trades hold19,062businesses · this page holds1,284How a trade is defined