Precision Panel Craft

19/05/2026

24/04/2026

The 356 a project is now on the final 2 week stint ahead of paint. An estimated 4000 hours has gone into the metalwork on this car to ensure it’s as accurate as possible. Hours studying photos of other cars and comparing them to find out how they were back in 1959. All of us at have played a part in one way or another but Matt has been on this from the start. It’s been the longest and most in depth restoration we’ve done but I do truly believe it is as an accurate rebuild as you could get. A massive thank you to everyone involved in helping with the details over the last two years and mostly to Phil for allowing us to spend the time to focus on the small hidden details. I think we will do a video of some sort to share when it’s complete before paint highlighting just some of the details we have reinstated.

03/04/2026

The mk1 Ford Es**rt is now complete with the exception of check strap rubbers and a new thermostat housing which are in the post and the brakes to bleed after the Easter weekend. Factory stickers have been refitted and it’s now over to for detailing and ceramic coating. Massive thank you to everyone for your help throughout the last few months. Also a huge thank you to Steve Parker for coming over last minute yesterday to help with a few small bits. It’s come out so well and will be on display with on the 10th of May at the South of England show ground. Again a huge thank you to Aaron and Matt for the time and effort in ensuring we got the metal work details right. **rt_tec .busterltd

02/04/2026

A very fiddly time consuming job on the Porsche 356 A this week. This is the difference between a good restoration and a Precision Panel Craft restoration.

Even when using a very high-quality panel, it doesn’t always mean everything will fit straight away. When fitting the headlight pods , Matt discovered they wouldn’t seat correctly and had a large gap between the front panel and the bowl. Also the factory panels were double-sided spot welded not single sided — something that’s almost impossible m to replicate without the original manufacturing setup.

To solve the issue, Matt fabricated bespoke rings that fitted extremely tightly to the headlight buckets. This allowed the new buckets and their rings to be spot welded together and then carefully grafted into the panel while maintaining the correct alignment and fit.

A lot of extra work, but the result is properly fitted headlight pods and a finish as close to factory as possible.
handcrafted precisionpanelcraft

20/03/2026

11/03/2026

04/03/2026

The mk1 Ford Es**rt is now ready for its trip to on Monday. What started as strut tops soon escalated into wings, sills, floor edges, a pillars, front panels and the front cross member. Luckily the car is a true survivor and gave us a great base to work from. Being owned and garaged from new by the lady we bought it from has really saved the original details enabling us to recreate them. has done a great job despite the odd challenge the cars thrown at him. There will be some content on the Painting Classic Cars YouTube channel documenting their side of the restoration so keep an eye out for that. **rt

01/03/2026

January this year marked 6 years since we opened. We have been incredibly lucky to have been trusted with some truly special cars. We have done everything from Porsche restorations, dessert race cars, custom builds, Ferraris, Lamborghini’s, jig straightening work and mechanical overhauls. Here is a few photos of some of the cars we have had through the doors.

28/02/2026

It’s been a very busy start to 2026 with both of these projects coming towards the end. Firstly the RHD 356 A now has a complete rear end. After lots of fettling and making both rear quarters by hand Matt has got everything sitting square, the right shape and flowing nicely. He has since moved to the front where he has started getting the wings, front panel and scuttle panel fitted. The 2nd and 3rd photo show an online image of an unrestored inner panel and the spot weld patterns and locations which we have copied as closely as possible. This has been done throughout the restoration. Although it won’t be seen or noticed when complete it is the sort of detail we pride our selves in. Meanwhile Aaron has been busy with the MK1 Ford Es**rt front end restoration. The nearside was better in certain areas but worse in others. The a-pillar was particularly bad and required both a new inner and outer panel, both were made from scratch. The floor/inner sill also needed some attention again with all repairs being made by hand. I have been focused on the mechanicals and getting everything fresh and clean. New gaskets for the engine with all ancillary’s removed, checked, cleaned and restored. The steering rack has had new boots fitted and I managed to save and re use the factory clips. Both front suspension legs have also had a full rebuild including NOS shock cartridge’s. The last week Aaron and myself have been assembling the front end with me taking a trip to Bournemouth for a good quality front panel. Both wings are genuine NOS Ford but there are subtle differences. It’s just how things were back then, different panels produced by people in different factory’s so both require a few tweaks. Aiming to get this one ready for by the end of the coming week. **rt **rt