The work, and how we approach it

If you're thinking of buying a Series, we can do a pre-purchase inspection for you, ideally on a hoist in our workshop.

A less comprehensive inspection on location may also be an option.

If your Series needs work to get it roadworthy, and you’d like to know the likely scope and cost of that work, we offer Victorian roadworthy certification baseline inspections in our workshop. We also identify any maintenance, reliability or drivability issues.

With the customer’s approval, we can then do the required work, submit the vehicle for an independent roadworthy assessment and hand the vechicle back with a certificate.

If you’re considering asking us to restore a Series for you, complete an unfinished restoration project or undertake major mechanical, structural or electrical repairs, we offer stand-alone inspections to suit. 

If you’re not handy with a spanner, or if you're unfamiliar with the workings of a Series, a periodic vehicle safety and maintenance inspection may catch things before they become safety issues, leave you stranded by the roadside, or require expensive repairs.

We do major and minor services. 

We also offer a one-hour session with the customer and their Series in our workshop, where we show you how to do basic checks and maintenance on your Series and how to drive it with mechanical sympathy (e.g. changing gears).

We focus on structural, mechanical and electrical repairs. We can rectify minor damage to aluminium alloy panels or replace and colour-match badly damaged panels, but we’re not panel or paint specialists. 

We offer system-level brake, suspension and steering overhauls and upgrades. We do not install power steering or disc brakes, and we don’t replace leaf springs with coil springs. 

We rebuild 1.6, 2.0, 2.25 petrol and diesel and 2.6 litre Series engines. Options include performance tuning, patina preservation detailing, concours or custom detailing and rebuilding the carburettor, distributor or injector pump, generator or alternator, and starter motor, and installing a new clutch assembly as part of the engine rebuild. We can either rebuild a customer-supplied engine, or supply and rebuild an engine to order. 

We do not currently offer Rover 3.5 V8 or Isuzu 4BD1 diesel engine rebuilds. 

We rebuild all variants of the standard Series gearbox and transfer case (fittedfited to Series from 1948 to the end of Series production). Options include various internal upgrades to later Series specifications, patina preservation detailing, concours detailing and custom detailing (such as wet blasting and clear coating alloy housings). We can either rebuild a customer-supplied gearbox and/or transfer case or supply and rebuild them to order. 

We do not currently offer LT95 gearbox and transfer case rebuilds.

We do not currently offer Rover 3.5 V8 or Isuzu 4BD1 diesel engine rebuilds. 

We rebuild Series diff centres, steering boxes, steering relays, carburettors, fuel pumps, oil pumps and water pumps, and outsource distributor and diesel injector pump rebuilds to trusted local specialists. 

We can rebuild or supply to order entire subassemblies (such as diff, axle, wheel hub and swivel hub assemblies from hub cap to hub cap) and freight them anywhere in Australia.

We do not currently offer LT95 gearbox and transfer case rebuilds.

We do not currently offer Rover 3.5 V8 or Isuzu 4BD1 diesel engine rebuilds. 

We do all Series electrical work, including repairing or replacing wiring looms.

We don’t offer ‘glossy’ or concours restorations (where the goal is panel, paintwork and presentation perfection—like new, or better than new). 

We do ‘patina restorations’, that is, vehicle restorations where the goal is structural, mechanical and electrical integrity while retaining and preserving, as far as practicable, the unique history embodied in faded and mottled paint, minor panel imperfections, tidy but imperfect interiors and surface oxidation that doesn’t compromise structural integrity. 

Patina restorations are more in keeping with the Series Magic ethos of preservation rather than erasure; and chasing panel, paintwork and interior perfection or factory originality can be dauntingly difficult, time consuming and costly. Patina restorations aren’t cheap, but they’re relatively affordable compared to glossy or concours restorations, and they’re more achievable given aftermarket panel quality and fitment issues and the difficulty of restoring alloy panels to factory condition without resorting to overuse of body filler.