Race to the perfect finish

Classic fanatics spend hours polishing the outside of their cars – but the shiny bits under the hood are just as important if you hope to win a concours

Many a classic car enthusiast must be as disappointed as me when he or she sees the latest supercar offerings from German manufacturers like Porsche and AMG Mercedes. I look under the bonnet to see the heart of the beast. But what’s this? A dirty great lump of black plastic that looks like a dustbin lid with some silver painted detail. That is supposed to be an engine?

Hidden beauty Back in the mists of time, when great single-minded men designed cars instead of focus groups and committees, the engine was the jewel in the crown and looked like it. Bugatti engines of the 1920s are often presented with much engine ornamentation and decoration of the aluminium. While I am not sure this is period correct, it seems to be an accepted finish and is very impressive. The Cadillac 452 V16 of the 1930s was finished in an attractive black lacquer with ribbed aluminium valve covers that gave a splendid finish.

During the 1940s, the king of engines must have been the Rolls-Royce Merlin 27-litre V12 with two-stage supercharging. It wasn’t really a car engine – it may have found its way into some specials but was used mainly in planes, torpedo boats and tanks. It was finished in a deep black lacquer with the name Rolls-Royce in bare aluminium. Truly a thing of beauty.

During this time, the Merlin could be heard in skies above Britain chasing off Daimler Benz and BMW engined aircraft. The men at Jaguar in Coventry, while on fire watch at night, began to plan one of the great post-war engines: the Jaguar XK twin overhead cam straight-six.

Style and finish were important to William Lyons and he wanted the new engine’s looks to be as good as its performance. These engines were finished with black-painted cylinder blocks, polished aluminium cylinder heads, polished cam covers, polished dash pots on the SU carburettors and vitreous enamelled exhaust manifolds attached to the cylinder head with brass nuts. Even today, it is a great pleasure to lift the bonnet of an E-type Jaguar to show someone this magnificent sight for the first time.

Clean up your act In our workshop we spend a great deal of time cleaning and refinishing parts we have removed while working on these great cars. Here’s how to do it. Get the degreaser out and clean off the engine. Remove the manifolds and send them for a new coat of deep-black enamel, and when you fit them back on to your engine, don’t forget to fit new copper nuts. It’s all in the little details. Get out the Autosol and apply some elbow grease (a rare commodity these days apparently) to buff the shine back on the aluminium. This kind of work is very rewarding and it also builds that allimportant relationship with your classic. The next time a curious admirer asks to see your beast’s heart there will be no disappointment – only wonder and the question, “Why have we lost this attention to detail and the beauty of great engineering?” Information courtesy of Cummins Classic Cars – www.cumminscars.com, (02) 9743 4479.