Gallery

This charming veteran was sold new in England and was first registered BW 33 in Oxfordshire in 1900. It is thought to be the oldest of its type extant yet carries its original coachwork by Carrosserie A. Vedrine.E.Beugnot.

This lovely example was in our workshops to be completely dismantled for external coach paint work, a full retrim and refurbishment of the steering wheel, ready for the London to Brighton run!

This extremely original example had been owned by the same family living near Florence for over 50 years. It was regularly and enthusiastically driven and rallied by its owner, Conte Felice di Tocco.

The Peugeot Bébé or Baby was a small car produced by Peugeot from 1905 to 1916 and were technically known as the Type 69 and the Type BP1. It weighed 350 kilograms (770 lb) and was 2.7 metres (110 in) long.

This incredibly historic car, a 1925 Sunbeam ‘Tiger’ is famous for breaking the Land Speed Record in 1926, previously held by Malcolm Campbell in 1925 in his world-renowned  ‘Bluebird.’

One of only 513 Red Label Three-Litre Speed cars built at WO Bentley’s Cricklewood premises between 1923 and 1929, this rare car still retains all of the original mechanical components and, importantly, the original seat open tourer body.

This incredible Bentley 4.5-Litre was noted in period by Bill Boddy to have covered the flying half mile at 112.7 mph at Brooklands in 1938 and could lap Brooklands with full road equipment at 104.3 mph.

Between 1921 and 1928, Salmson cars won 550 automobile races throughout the world and beat 10 world records. This very pretty 1926 Salmson Val 3 Grand Sport arrived in our workshops for some modifications to its clutch.

The Lambda is widely considered as the first of Lancia’s true ‘landmark’ cars. Reflecting Vicenzo’s core belief in balance, handling and driveability rather than simple power, it bristled with innovation.

This rare Vintage-era Grand Prix voiturette was formerly the property of the late Bob Graves and has been extensively re-engineered and improved. It had previously been smuggled out of East Berlin piece by piece.

One of two Amilcar C6 projects we have completely restored to concours level, chassis No. 11014 has spent its whole life in England and was one of the first two of its type imported into Britain by well-known racing driver, Vernon Balls.

Following its completion, it was presented at the Hampton Court Concours of Elegance and appeared in ‘ The Automobile Feb 2015‘

This is an important – and now unique – piece of W.O. Bentley history and we have been instructed to bring it back to it full glory. Chassis BR2354 still retains its matching engine and mechanical components.

One of the most interesting projects to come to our workshops is the ex-Louis Devaud/Georges Grignard 1928 Amilcar C6 Voiturette, a veteran of a number of French Grand Prix in the 1920s and 1930s including impressive second places at the 1935 and 1936 ‘Bol d’Or.’

In the early 1920s, Vittorio Jano received a commission to create a lightweight, high performance vehicle to replace the Giuseppe Merosi designed RL and RM models. In 1925, the Alfa Romeo 6C 1500 was introduced. We are conducting a very sympathetic nut and bolt restoration on this historically important car, first registered to Benito Mussolini.

This magnificent Bentley 8 litre came to us for cosmetic improvements whilst keeping its wonderful patina and wonderfully original imterior. We also fully rebuilt the engine which apparently, had remained untouched for nearly 50 years.

This Thornley Kelham prepared Bentley 8 litre won ‘Best in Show’ at Chantilly Concours d’Etat.

A fine example of an automotive legend which has been imaginatively and sympathetically redesigned for 21st century living. One of the most daunting, ambitious projects we have ever undertaken is this 7-year, nut-and-bolt restoration with significant enhancements, of a magnificent Gurney-Nutting bodied Phantom II Continental which was officially presented to the world by The Peninsula Hotel group at the Hampton Court Palace Concours of Elegance in 2021.

This rare and beautiful Lancia Astura has undergone and full body 2-tone repaint (from red) and full re-trim in a matching Italian leather, in time to win a prize at the Zoute Grand Prix Concours of Elegance 2017.

Following five years of research and painstaking restoration to concours standard, this remarkable and rare car is now complete. It was exhibited at London Concours in August 2020, and subsequently driven by Lord March.

This fascinating car now resides in our workshops and is undergoing a full inspection and service, along with requisite upgrades requested by its new owner, with a view to preparing it for the Arosa hill climb in Switzerland.

This BMW 328 arrived with us as an unrestored rolling chassis, although with mostly new body frame and panels. Our general brief was to finish the project to the highest OF standards.

This is a very famous BMW 328, one of 2 owned by AFP Fane. This model is one of the great sports cars of the 20th century, with only 464 built. The car came to us for a full bare metal repaint.

This rare car is one of the very few right hand drive models and has been in the same ownership for over 60 years – an incredible restoration project.

This lovely Lagonda was entrusted to us for major works following taking part in several events.

The Bentley 3½ Litre (later enlarged to 4¼ Litre) was presented to the public in September 1933, shortly after the death of Henry Royce, and was the first new Bentley model following Rolls-Royce’s acquisition of the Bentley brand in 1931.

We were asked by the lucky owner to rebuild the engine and repaint this wonderful car. Previously ‘fire engine’ red it is now resplendent in a suitable period green, equipped with the beautiful spats and retrimmed. These cars are one of the true prewar greats and are wonderful to drive.

This BMW 327 came to us for a full re-spray and partial re-assembly, and has now been returned to its owner to be enjoyed for many years to come.

This Bristol 2-litre cabriolet, bodied by Pininfarina, is the second-ever Bristol production chassis, fitted with a prototype Frazer Nash specification Bristol engine, which was sent to Turin to be bodied by Pininfarina (reputedly driven there!).

Gentle Recommissioning

The Ardea was produced by Lancia between 1939 and 1953, after which came the Appia. Aside from being extremely pretty cars they, like all Lancias are beautifully and cleverly engineered.

We were asked to carry out sympathetic works to this rare alloy-bodied Jaguar XK120 OTS including metal work and a complete repaint.

Inspired by the giant-killing success of Bracco and Maglioli coming 2nd overall in the 1951 Mille Miglia, Gianni Lancia moved rapidly towards building the world-beating sports car that would become the Lancia D24.

This lovely car is maintained and race / rally-prepared by our Motor Racing Department and has recently successfully completed the 2016 Mille Miglia, coming 86th on points and 96th overall. It regularly takes part in a number of prestigious European alpine and road rallies.

If ever there is a case of “Greater Love Hath no Man for His Topolino”, then this is it.  Approached by a customer who wanted a perfect car, irrespective of market value, we have completed a full restoration on this lovely ‘little mouse’.

Thornley Kelham is privileged to have restored the most famous Aurelia, possibly the most famous Lancia –  the ex-Bracco Series 1 Aurelia B20GT chassis B20-1010. One of 490 first series cars ever built, it came second in the 1951 Mille Miglia a matter of days after leaving the factory, and went on to have a fascinating and successful racing history.

A beautiful example of the first iteration of the famed Lancia Aurelia B20GT, with a number of period additional features including two tone paintwork, additional brightwork and a full leather interior.

This rare surviving Series I arrived for full recommissioning to enable its enthusiastic owner to compete in historic rallies across Europe.

This car was imported from Italy in 1953 by its first owner Mr Chancellor, a famous and wealthy business man of Mexico City. He lived in a grand colonial house in the area of Mixcoac, today part of the Mexican University.

This Lancia Aurelia B20GT Series 2 was the subject and complete nut and bolt restoration to the highest standards.

This rare car is the 18th of around 40 examples bodied by Bertone and, according to the Italian car register, was originally owned by racing enthusiast, Bob McNeal and occasionally raced by Ron Hunter. It is currently undergoing a full restoration, coincidentally alongside another Siata 300BC.

This car is the very first series 2 car, built in the last week of February, 1952. It was in fact signed off on 29 February, so perhaps the car is only 14 or 15 years old…. The car has an early Nardi floor change, had competition suspension and special exhaust, and a Nardi twin carb set up and still retains its original engine, no. 1642. It is maintained by Thornley Kelham and regularly rallied as it was in the 1950s.

One of just 731 Series II examples Lancia built, this car arrived at our workshops direct from a US auction, at which it had been purchased unseen by our UK client.

This Lancia Aurelia arrived in our workshops in early 2013, having been shipped over from America where it was found. As the photos clearly show, it needed a complete and utter top down restoration!

Originally a UK car sold to Mr R H Holmes in July 1953, BC21B had four UK owners before being purchased by Mr. E. Frost who took the car to Zambia in 1972, and recorded every refuelling trip for the next 5 years!

This beautiful car was sold new by Edwards & Co Ltd of Bournemouth and first owned by a Mr. G E Lambert. The car was originally finished in black with red leather interior and included special features…

This car benefitted from a total nut and bolt restoration; with all mechanical parts restored and rebuilt, over 1200 hours of metalwork repairs, rustproofing throughout and careful set up to provide a fabulous driving experience.

A mere 142 Arnolt Bristols were produced, of which 12 were written off after a factory fire, with the fire-damaged cars being used as a source of spares by Arnolt in later years. Around 85 of the cars are still known to exist in conditions that vary from needing complete restoration to concours quality.

This very rare example arrived at Thornley Kelham for a complete and sympathetic nut and bolt restoration, which is now under way.

The actual Series 3 car featured in Niels Jonassen’s eponymous book on the Lancia Aurelia.

This rare, ex-Phil Hill OSCA had been in a private collection for many years and required a major overhaul. A full mechanical recommission was carried out including fully preparing the car for the Mille Miglia, one of the world’s most gruelling race rallies, which it successfully completed in 2021. As well as mechanically preparing the car, we fully supported it on the rally and have since carried out post event checks.

After completion of Outlaw 1, it was spotted by another car enthusiast and collector who commissioned Outlaw number 2. The car has been in production since January 2016 and is now complete.

For more information on our Lancia Aurelia Outlaw programme, see here

The third in the series of the limited edition ‘Outlaw Project’ began as an Aurelia desperately needing rescuing. After many hours and months of work, Outlaw 3 received a new lease of life with Lancia Blue paint and hand-drawn stripe.

And now for something completely different! Outlaw 4 is a wonderful example of what happens when all your dreams come true. The lucky owner has specified a truly inspired choice of colour and trim.

We have recently completed work on Lancia Aurelia “Outlaw Number 5′  for a UK-based client, who is extremely passionate about rescuing rare and wonderful cars and the entire restoration process.

This 1954 Lancia Aurelia B20GT, chassis B20-3183, one of only 745 right hand drive Fourth Series cars produced, was the subject of a full nut and bolt restoration. Our brief was to produce a fast road car with various upgrades, either accurate period items such as a Nardi twin carburetor set up, or discreet modern additions such as a hidden digital/MP3 music system.

Currently in the workshop, the latest in our Outlaw series undergoing transformation is Outlaw 6. Destined for the United States, it was first spotted at Monterey Car Week by the current owner who has since commissioned number 6 to be built to his exact specification.

This magnificent car was recently brought to us for a complete engine rebuild (now done) and conversion to power steering. In addition, we have been asked to give it a cosmetic refresh to bring it back to its former condition.

The car has now been completely restored to concours standard. It was entered into the 2015 Salon Prive’ Concours d’Elegance at Blenheim Palace where it won a concours prize in the ‘Wind In Your Hair’ category.

We believe this Pre-A Speedster combines the most desirable styling cues of the early cars with a performance and practicality that will bring its new owner many years of driving and ownership pleasure.

One of only 59 RHD examples of this beautiful Pininfarina design, the owner sent the car to us for some sympathetic recommissioning and minor repairs. Previously restored to resemble a well-known period MM car, it is equipped with the desirable Nardi twin carb upgrade, Ferrari seats, fog lamps and later Jaeger dials. Remaining in its original colour scheme and retaining all its original mechanical components, it is probably the fastest B24 Spider we have ever driven.

One of the 181 left hand drive examples of one of Pininfarina’s most beautiful designs. This car was sent to us by its US owner.

With lines penned by Giovanni Michelotti and a lightweight aluminium body produced by Carrozzeria Motto of Turin, this unique barchetta was the subject of a meticulous, highly detailed, nut and bolt restoration which won the ‘Most Sensitive Restoration’ award at Salon Prive.

Siata introduced the 300BC Barchetta Sport Spider in 1951 and around 50 production models were created. These predominantly featured either a 750 cc Crosley or 1100 cc Fiat engine. This very rare car is now undergoing a full, nut and bolt restoration to original specification.

Purchased in Belgium this rare Wolfsburg-built VW came to us for a total restoration and conversion from its original microbus specification to a more practical camper configuration.

Outlaw number 7 is the very latest in our Outlaw series to be commissioned and work on its transformation is now well under way. It is destined for the United States where it will grace the beautiful shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago.

This unique and highly bespoke Aurelia is now complete to the delight of the owner who is thrilled with the outcome. The car was unveiled to the public for the first time at the 2015 Salon Prive’ held at Blenheim Palace.

This left hand drive sixth series B20GT has spent much of its life in the UK and needed serious attention.

Today one of the most sought-after collector cars in the world, Mercedes-Benz made the decision to develop a sports-racing car in 1952. This car is a very late model – February 1957 – and the decision was taken to return the car to original specification.

This lovely example of a Lancia B24 Convertibile was the subject of a full nut and bolt restoration by Thornley Kelham, including sourcing and restoring a correct period hard top.

So far, we have completely restored the steel infrastructure and the Zagato aluminium body panels on this car, but it remains with us for a complete ground-up restoration, including mechanicals and interior.

This rare ‘Super 90’ – engined variant of the 356 Roadster was delivered new to Porsche Car Pacific in San Francisco in the summer of 1960. Prior to its importation into the UK in 2014, it had had continuous California history through just three owners.

This matching numbers DB4 was a ‘barn find’ having been bought by the previous owner in 1972 from a garage in Calne, driven home and, as the engine let go, it was then left in a garage for the next 35 years or so.

This Mercedes 220SE was one of our very early projects and was the subject of a full nut and bolt restoration.

This early DB4 carries the styling cues of the second series of the model, with its large hood scoop (similar to those on the DB4GT) and “cathedral” rear lights.” One of only 351 built, this car has now undergone a meticulous nut and bolt restoration with various appropriate upgrades as specified by the new owner to create the ultimate DB4.

This fine example of the 250 GTE, chassis number ‘3429 GT’ was the 120th GTE Series II and the 421st of the total of 954 GTEs built overall. We have very recently completed a full nut and bolt restoration.

Over a period of two years, this Flaminia has had a total restoration. All mechanical sub-assemblies have been stripped and completely rebuilt. Over 1200 hours was spent on the chassis and body alone.

The Flaminia was Lancia’s successor to the landmark Aurelia, featuring a newly-designed, more powerful V6 engine, improved cooling and disc brakes all-round on the later models (such as this one).

According to the Fiat Archive this particular car was allocated to Zagato on 11/02/1963, and has spent most of its life in Sweden. Despite the winters,  the state of the metalwork is surprisingly good.

Having been asked by a customer if we could find one of these rare and beautiful cars, we found him this car – one of 152 built of the 3C 2.5 litre variant, in very original condition and with an amazing ownership history – one owner since 1969.

This lovely Ferrari 275 GTB arrived recently at Thornley Kelham. The Metal shop staff have prepared the body shell and soon it will pass to the paint shop guys to work their magic.

This rare and unique Flaminia Sport 3C 2.8 has recently completed a comprehensive and very sympathetic restoration at Thornley Kelham and was shown at the London Concours 2018.

This SC is a genuine, AFN delivered, right hand drive car, built in the spring of 1964 and eventually UK registered in January 1965. By this time, Porsche were recording extensive details of their cars.

After two years of painstaking work, the car debuted at the London Concours 2020, where it was greatly admired, and subsequently invited to show at the Hampton Court Palace Concours of Elegance.

First registered in Rome with the number ‘18813 Roma’, this Lancia Flaminia Super Sport was subsequently sold in Perugia in 1969, and its libretto dates from this period, spending most of its life to-date in Italy.

This Flaminia was Lancia’s successor to the much garlanded Aurelia, and was marketed in five different body styles: a Berlina, a Pininfarina-designed coupe, a Touring design in both GT coupe and convertible variants, and the Zagato designed Sport.

Having purchased this wonderfully original and late 2.8 litre example in Italy, the owner sent the car to us for a bare metal repaint in its original ‘Verde Pino’ green. The result is fabulous. These cars are easily the best value Flaminia variant and true drivers’ cars.

This truck was delivered to us for a total restoration and is one of the biggest projects we’ve undertaken – certainly in physical size… The donor vehicle was in such poor condition that we had to source a second one just for parts!

This beautiful and original Bizzarrini ‘GT Strada 5300’ is a very rare example with a complete and reliable history dating back to 1967. It remained in Italy for its first six years after which it was exported to the US.

Once owned by the actor Nicholas Cage in Los Angeles, the car came to us for detailing and some bodywork restoration, with strict instructions from the owner to retain the patina of use built up over the past quarter of a century.

This wonderful example of a Shelby Mustang was in our workshops for a power-assisted steering conversion, as well as the addition of a new stereo system, to bring it bang up to date.

This wonderful early Miura arrived partially disassembled and requiring significant bodywork repair and restoration. Our experience on the previous Miura has been invaluable in rectifying numerous errors made during previous works.

This early Daytona competition car was prepared by us for its Ferrari Classiche Certification tests. The car was dismantled and re-assembled as per the requests of Tony Willis and Mark Donaldson.

Introduced at the 1963 Geneva Motor Show, almost 49,000 SLs (model designation W113) were sold prior to cessation of production in 1971, with the USA being a key market. The 2.8 litre 280 SL was introduced in December 1967.

This very special Lamborghini Miura arrived for extensive metal work and a full repaint in its original colour.

Famous for their precise craftsmanship and innovation, the pre-Fiat Lancias are in a class of their own. The Fulvia Coupe was designed in-house by Piero Castagnero in 1965, with the engine being a narrow-angled V4 engine configuration.

This is one of the early Daytonas from 1970, originally with plexiglass headlights.  It was converted from a road car to Group IV Competizione specification in the 1970s by Ulf Boman, a Ferrari Dealer from Sweden (hence the colour scheme).

This much cherished Porsche has been in the same ownership for over 25 years. It is used regulalry for rallying and is serviced and maintained by the team at Thornley Kelham.

Citroën purchased Maserati in 1968 with the intention of harnessing Maserati’s high-performance engine technology to produce a true Gran Turismo car, combining the sophisticated Citroën suspension with a Maserati V6. The result was the Citroën SM. This wonderful example was the subject of a complete nut and bolt restoration with some exciting bespoke customisation to make it ‘futuristic again’.

Having campaigned this original rally – spec Stratos on a handful of events post-purchase, the owner decided to return the car to an earlier period livery. In doing so he asked us to strip the car completely and restore as necessary.

One of only 492 Stratos ever built, this must rank as one of the most original road – going examples in existence, having covered only 6632 kms from new when purchased by our client.

This extremely original Porsche 911 has had a total bare metal repaint in its original yellow body colour, with some localised metalwork to its genuine Porsche panels. We have retained as many of its original features as possible including the original door jamb homologation sticker and the preservation/restoration of the underbody has been carried out meticulously, as per the request of its fastidious and passionate owner.

A rare right hand drive, highly desirable downdraught Countach.

This Lamborghini Countach arrived at Thornley Kelham for a full repaint.

Lancia produced 400 special edition HF Integrale EVO 1 models to celebrate their fifth consecutive World Rally Championship.