Giants Jaguar visits Shropshire firm that restored million-pound car
It is known as the million pound car – and such was the skill involved in its restoration that car giants Jaguar have visited the Shropshire company that made it all possible.
Classic Motor Cars in Bridgnorth painstakingly refurbished The Lindner Nocker after it was almost completely destroyed in a high speed crash more than 50 years ago.
The Nocker was the fifth of the 12 original Lightweights built by Jaguar but after a massive accident in 1964 at Montlhéry, it was impounded and locked away for many years.
The mangled original body was thought to be unrepairable but CMC took on the challenge of restoring it in 2007.
It was unveiled to the world four years later, winning the Restoration of the Year award at the 2011 International Historic Motoring Awards.
The Jaguar E-Type, renamed the Lindner Nocker after the men who raced it at the Le Mans 24 Hour Race in 1964, also won Best Restored Condition Award at the fourth Schloss Bensberg Classics in Germany in 2012.
Twelve lightweight Jags were produced in 1963, although the company had originally planned to build 18.
The remaining six are being recreated by Jaguar from scratch with the help of CMC.
CMC and the Lindner Nocker, which cost more than a £1m to restore, featured on Channel Four this week in Inside Jaguar: Making a Million Pound Car.
Nick Goldthorp, managing director at CMC, said: "This was one of the most challenging projects we have ever undertaken.
"It took us over 7,000 hours to restore it, spending 5,000 hours on the body alone and saving 90 per cent of the original body."
The company has already been on four television shows this year.
CMC chairman Peter Neumark said: "These are important accolades for CMC.
"We now seem to be a major port of call for directors and producers who want to film classic cars and their restorations, particularly when it comes to classic Jaguars."
