About
us
HI,
welcome to Mechspec MG Centre.
We
have been providing new and used parts for any MG vehicle
since 1985 and have built up a brilliant reputation both here
in the UK and the USA.
Please take the time to browse through our website of MGB,
MGC, Midget and V8 components, both New and Good Used. Please
e-mail us with any questions or details of your order.
You may also wish to e-mail us for technical information and
support.
If
there are specific components not listed on the website don't
worry we will likely have the items in stock, its just waiting
to be added to the website.
If
you have any questions at all we would be delighted to hear
from you, we pride ourselves on offering a personal and friendly
service to everyone.
|
Background
Business
Around
50 per cent of business activities are involved in the sale of spares
- half new, the other half used. The rest of the business is equally
divided between the sale of cars and repairs. The business has been
helped by Mechspec's involvement on the racing scene - in particular
the BCV8 championship. Dave won the standard class in in the BCV8
Championship in 1995 and has also raced a 3.9 V8 GT in class
`C. A customer of Mechspec, Andy Holmes, also raced a standard `B
and won class `A in`97.
Over the years Mechspec have met some interesting customers. Heritage
bought some otherwise unobtainable front suspension cross members
from them when they were developing the RV8. Some customers have
been particularly specific, as Dave recalls, "We had a chap who
was doing a concours Midget and he wanted a pair of second hand
drop glasses. The reason he wanted second hand was because he wanted
to get the exact kite mark in the top corner of the window that
was applicable to that year of car. We went through 50 Midgets and
eventually sorted him out. Few people realise, or would even notice
that very early MGBs have a different pattern on the side lamp lens
that later ones. We had a chap building an early concours MGB. He
wanted the exact original lenses and after much searching round
we fixed him up!"
Worldwide Business
Mechspec
customers are far and wide around the world, especially since the
advent of the Internet. And they have also been around the world
themselves looking for parts, particularly sourced from the USA.
"I'd
heard that people were buying cars from America and in 1990 I put
a little advert in a magazine basically stating that we were coming
to America and had anybody got any parts or cars for sale. A chap
called Harry Dove phoned us who, at the time, was 60 years old.
I went to Savannah, Georgia, to meet Harry as he was interested
in getting into exporting.
"We
brought four cars whilst we were there and within a very short space
of time Harry was going out looking round junkyards for us. At a
lot of the junkyards we found that people were actually crushing
cars. The MG parts market in America was shrinking, mainly I think
because of the expense of getting them fixed over there, and the
influx of newer Japanese models. They were squashing virtually perfect
MGs."
With
Harry's help, Dave and two of his men soon found themselves taking
around 50 MGs to pieces in the baking Florida sun and packing the
whole lot into a 40-foot container. Dave admits it was very hard
going, but had the added bonus of an hour in the hotel pool after
work. A tough job but somebody's got to do it!
To
date Mech Spec have received 12 shipments from the USA, have dealt
with eight scrap yards and brought back parts from around 2,000
MGs.
Mega-Parts Find
"In 1994 we got quite lucky," says Dave. "Harry found this chap
who had some second hand spares and a few new spares. We'd just
finished doing another job and we went over to see him - he was
in North Carolina. When we got there we couldn't believe it. He'd
got a few bits of second hand stuff and racks and racks of new parts.
If had actually come from the factory when it closed down. He was
a big distributor in America of new and used spares and had been
lucky enough to buy all this stock from the Abingdon factory when
it shut. It was just sat there in this warehouse, miles from anywhere.
I couldn't believe it."
Unfortunately
Dave didn't have enough money to buy it all. The owner had it all
documented and he reckoned there was a million dollars in new stock,
but realised that it wasn't worth that much - plus a lot of the
stock was bin fodder. He wanted $200,000 for it all. Dave couldn't
afford it, but offered $100,000 and it was accepted. The day the
deal was done was the one day when the exchange rate hit to $2 to
the pound, so Dave only spent £50,000.
|
|
The
Story of Mechspec MG Centre
Wiseton, Nr Doncaster based Mechspec MG Centre claim to be
the biggest in the industry when it comes to second hand spares
for `Bs and Midgets. Take a look in their back yard and you
can see their point. Although the business stocks a mere 70
`scrappers' - 50 for parts, 20 which will be sold as resto
projects or rebuilt - there's a mountain of neatly stacked
doors, bonnets and all the essential bits you need. Order
and tidiness usually prevail, however Mechspec boss Dave
Parker confessed to recently finding a set of MGC front hubs
buried in the mud courtesy of a fork lift truck - the hubs
were fine and made one customer very happy.
Mechspec started trading back in 1985. "I was working for
a company which supplied engine parts", says Dave, "and I
noticed nobody was advertising reconditioned `B engines. I
thought with my access to the parts and machining I could
do this at home."
"I put an ad in the Owners' Club mag and it wasn't long before
I was doing two or three engines a week from home and using
my company car to deliver them at weekends. I was working
until one or two o'clock in the morning building engines in
the garage - the job I had was a rep job, it wasn't well paid
and I found I was making more money doing the engines. I didn't
particularly like working for someone else. Eventually I thought
if I could earn the £100 a week I was earning at work,
then I might as well have a go on my own."
HUMBLE
ORIGINS
Dave
took the plunge and rented himself a forty-quid-a-week unit
in Worksop. "I had £500 worth of stock and one 16-year-old
YTS lad helping out. We started doing basically what I'd done
at home and just selling a few spares as well." The second
hand spares side of Mechspec Spec through buying and breaking
MGs emerged by accident some years before.
"I'd
brought a damaged MGB GT V8 for £350 from Chesterfield,"
recalls Dave. "I looked at it and there was no way it was
going to be properly repaired without a re-shell. So I rang
an MG specialist down south and he said that he had a used
GT shell in shock. "Armed with my limited knowledge at that
time I went down and collected it, then stripped it all, only
to find it was the wrong shell. They'd sold me a three-synchro
shell from a Sixties car. I was totally stumped. I'd spent
all my money. The only thing I could do was break the V8 to
get some money back. I broke the V8 and got five times back
what I'd paid for it!" Dave started to get known for breaking
MGs and soon got offers to buy scrap cars. Many parts were
not being remanufactured then as they are now, so for many
components second-hand was the only answer. By 1989 Dave was
ready to move into new premises. He again took the plunge
and went for his Sandy Lane location which at the time
was far too big for what he needed. "Everybody said that we
were mad when we moved up here," says Dave. "We'd moved from
a fairly small unit to quite a big unit. All the stock we
had just rattled round. We had a tiny office and we were just
lost in what seemed to be a huge place."
Over
the years the business gradually built up, and the premises
and workshop bulged at the seams. In late 1999 Dave
and his wife Christine had an idea that they would actually
like to move out of Worksop and buy a home in the countryside
for themselves and their 4 cats. Dave says "We had looked
at few places and eventually, by accident, we came across
Prospect Hill Farm. The place had a good sized house
and loads of barns, and a huge workshop. We both took
one look at the place and said - Perfect! Protracted
price negotiations took place and after selling our house,
the business premises and our MGA, and just about everything
we owned, we moved lock, stock and barrel in April 2000.
We've never looked back, the place is ideal for us, and despite
taking 7 weeks to move everything it's all worked out great"
Most
of Mechspec's Worksop customers have followed them to their
new location and new customers from the local area and further
East are helping to build the re-located business.
At
present the business is run by Dave with the help of Christine
who runs the office and deals with all the internet customers
and shipping.
Mechspec's main mechanic is Steve who has been with Dave for
15 years and knows MG's inside out. They have an apprentice
on the mechanical side and now full body and paint-work facilities
run by colleagues Russ and Bill.
|
|
The
Future
With the stream of current sports cars on the market, does
Mechspec envisage dealing in second hand and scrap MGFs in
the future?
"I
know people have started to break the MX5 and crashed MGFs,"
says Dave. "However, the European Parliament are introducing
more laws all the time which are making it harder and harder
to deal in used parts. I've heard that the latest crazy proposals
involve classifying all cars which are unroadworthy - including
cars being restored - as waste, with the local council having
the power to tow them away. If proposals like this become
law, what will this mean for the home restorer, and is anyone
doing anything about it?"
In
the meantime however, Mechspec continue to keep the `Bs and
Midgets of the world alive with a yard full of cars
to choose from.
|
|
