NAME OF THE GAME
Hidden deep in rural Cambridgeshire, Awesome Auto Trimming has spent the past quarter century transforming the interiors of classic sports cars from zero to hero...
When it comes to the restoration or recommissioning of a classic Porsche, two jobs have the potential to cause you stress above all others. The first is bodywork correction. After all, finding a good specialist is a difficult task — there is no shortage of spray shops claiming to deliver a pristine finish, but unless you’ve closely inspected a company’s recently completed projects, it’s difficult to gauge whether the standards you’re aiming for will be met. We’ve encountered countless owners disappointed with the paintwork covering their Porsche after a convincing pitch from a socalled expert, only for a less than satisfactory finish to serve as an unavoidable and constant reminder of an expensive mistake. Moreover, if it becomes apparent the owner’s requirements simply aren’t in the wheelhouse of the commissioned business, no amount of remedial work is going to fix the problem after the damage is done. Tough lesson learned, especially if funds aren’t available to have errors corrected elsewhere thereafter.
The second aspect of classic Porsche restoration capable of giving you nightmares? Reviving the interior. This is one of the only areas of a car easily visible and therefore hugely contributes to its financial worth. Of course, the same pitfalls apply — a trim shop might advertise itself as capable of carrying out work to a toptier standard, but unless you’ve got first-hand knowledge of the company’s recent output, handing over your hardearned cash could be interpreted as taking something of a gamble. Put it this way, we’re sure you’ve attended automotive events and noted display vehicles exhibiting questionable stitching, baggy leather and ill-fitting carpet. Is this really what each afflicted car’s owner wanted for their pride and joy?
Fortunately, Classic Porsche readers can rest assured in the quality of work produced by the specialist organisations we feature in each issue. Not only do we have good knowledge of the cars passing through each company’s premises, we’re well-acquainted with the capabilities of each business, be it focused on bodywork, interiors, mechanical, electrical or other elements of vehicle restoration. Additionally, as you’re about to discover, many of us contributing to the magazine count ourselves as customers of the various firms showcased in these pages. In other words, although we always recommend visiting specialists to see completed and in-progress jobs before agreeing to hand over your car, it can be argued we’ve done the legwork by vouching for high standards of workmanship and superior levels of customer service.
And so it is with Awesome Auto Trimming (awesomeclassicandcustom.com), a first-class producer of revitalised classic sports car interiors. Situated in Pidley, a village between the Cambridgeshire towns of Huntingdon and St Ives, this small-but-dedicated team of talented trimmers celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2024. To mark the occasion, we paid a visit to the firm’s workshops, situated on a tucked-away rural site known for its picturesque fishing grounds, holiday lodges and, of particular importance during our visit, a fantastic café recently voted the region’s ‘Best for Breakfast’ by readers of local newspapers. Come for the Pasha, stay for the bacon butties.
Awesome is owned and operated by brothers,
Glenn and Greg Ward. Theirs is a story outlining work graduating from classic Volkswagens to air-cooled Porsches, thereby mirroring the ownership journey of many Classic Porsche readers. In fact, Greg is the proud custodian of a 1966 Beetle upgraded with a 1,776cc flat-four. “A never-ending project,” he laughs, before citing the restoration and customisation of split-screen VW camper interiors as key to Awesome’s early success and for paving the way to the many high-profile Porsche projects he and Glenn are asked to attend to in the present.
Before looking at some of their recent creations in detail, however, we embark on a trip down memory lane.
“I’ve always been very creative,” Greg tells us. “As a kid, I was particularly good at woodwork, but left school at the age of sixteen and got a job working for a local upholsterer. Essentially, I was training on the job, primarily repairing and re-covering domestic furniture, although my employer managed to secure contracts with the Royal Air Force, meaning the work became increasingly more varied as time went by.” Six years of hard graft paid off when he accepted an invitation to join the ranks of a new upholstery business with an even
THE RESTORATION AND CUSTOMISATION OF SPLIT-SCREEN VW CAMPER INTERIORS WAS KEY TO AWESOME’S EARLY SUCCESS
more diverse client base. “One minute I was covering a chaise longue or repairing a Chesterfield sofa, the next I was trimming a luxury boat cabin. The work was hugely mixed, which was great, but my passion has always been cars. Before long, I reasoned it was time to branch out on my own and, in doing so, focus my attention on automotive interiors.”
BRING THE NOISE
Both Greg and Glenn had form in this area — the brothers gigged around Cambridge in a number of different bands and found themselves customising the interior of vans to accommodate their musical equipment, not limited to a sizeable drum kit. “Greg is excellent working with his hands and has always shown real flair for creativity,” Glenn attests. “While he was learning his craft as an upholsterer, I was employed in various back office and front-of-house roles. Our respective skillsets obviously complemented one another. Combining our strengths and opening our own trim shop was a no-brainer.”
Advertising in the local Yellow Pages delivered a steady stream of clients to the fledgling company’s first workshop (“built by our father and positioned at the end of his garden”) before a friend of a friend arrived with a split-screen bus and asked for a full retrim. Word soon spread. “A Karmann Ghia came next,” Greg recalls. “With increased interest from the VW scene, helped by our work appearing in the pages of Volksworld magazine, we moved to more spacious premises on a nearby industrial estate.” The building was shared with a firm specialising in the preparation of coaches for touring musicians, something both Glenn and Greg instantly identified with. Needless to say, they were asked to trim each vehicle’s interior, often to outlandish specification dictated by whichever pop or rock band would be taking up residence. “Bright-coloured leather, Playstation integration, massive opulence. You name it, we were asked to take care of it!”
Two years in, and with automotive work outweighing the number of domestic jobs the brothers were being asked to quote for, bigger workshop space beckoned. “We took on the lease to old stables formerly the home of Red Rum, the champion thoroughbred steeplechaser,” Glenn smiles. Much toil was required to turn the building into a fit-for-purpose trim shop, but it enabled the dynamic duo to employ trainee trimmer, Phil Eastwood, who remains with the company to this
day and is currently employed as Workshop Manager. Carolyn Hudson was another addition to the team, joining on account of her expert sewing skills. “By now, our work was gracing magazine covers and we were being approached by big-name brands, such as telecommunications giant, Vodafone,” Glenn remembers. “Requests from these household names chiefly concerned the creation of spectacular interiors for promotional vehicles, which were almost always VW buses, although during this time we also found ourselves working on a Subaru Impreza powered by a Porsche flat-six, an ‘Eleanor’ Shelby Mustang and not one, but two Bedford Green Goddess fire engines, one of which was featured on television after our part in the project was complete.” Clearly, Awesome isn’t a trim shop concerned with maintaining a production line. “Everything we do is bespoke,”
Greg avers. “No two jobs are the same. We thrive on collaborating with clients to develop ideas and designs, experimenting with a wide range of materials to deliver outstanding results far exceeding client expectation.” The firm’s reputation for excellence grew rapidly, demanding yet another premises upgrade.
“The stables served us well, but the workshop could get bitterly cold in winter and, crucially, we were unable to house the number of vehicles we wanted to work on simultaneously in order to keep up with client demand,” Glenn shrugs. “Bigger space on a small business park a stone’s throw from St Ives became available. We pounced.” Not only did Awesome’s new home allow for the keeping of four cars indoors, it also offered the possibility of expansion into neighbouring space, something the team took full advantage of during the eight years it was in occupancy,
By now, owners of classic Porsches were joining the ranks of VW pilots seeking Awesome’s services. William Hunt, a classic car collector best-known as a Savile Row tailor famous for dressing, among others, the Rooney-and-ronaldo-era Manchester United football team, commissioned a series of 356 and 911 interiors to bespoke specification. Two of his Carrera 3.2 backdates — each benefiting from Awesome’s work — were the subject of high-profile magazine features, further spreading news of what Glenn and Greg were able to offer. “Not only were we trimming interiors, we were backdating them at the same time,” Greg stresses. “We would be presented with a 964 or Carrera 3.2 shell and would hand it back with a cabin looking like that of an
912 AND 914 RESTORATIONS BRIDGED THE SPLIT BETWEEN VW AND PORSCHE PROJECTS IN THE AWESOME WORKSHOP
F-series 911, but with bespoke detail to suit the owner’s requirements for navigating modern traffic. It was a dream come true to be working on cars pictured in the posters pinned to my bedroom wall when I was a kid.”
CREATIVE PROCESS
912 and 914 restorations bridged the split between Volkswagen and Porsche projects in the Awesome workshop, but it wasn’t only air-cooled cars being treated to the company’s expertise. For example, Editor Furr presented his 1986 944 Turbo to the team. Representing the proverbial blank canvas (a consequence of the car’s need for full restoration and Dan’s lack of concern for originality), the transformation from rotten Linen halfleather to the stunning mix of anthracite Alcantara, two different shades of charcoal-esque soft hide, factory-accurate material perforation, black carpets, full cabin soundproofing, red double stitching, embossing and a bespoke centre console to house a double-din touchscreen head unit is nothing short of extraordinary. Along the way, Awesome developed bespoke componentry, including a precision Cnc-machined anodised aluminium dashboard vent insert held in place with countersunk screws. The part prevents the standard 944 dashboard from cracking as a result of exposure to direct sunlight, but also holds added dashboard material in place, preventing it from moving if excess heat through the front greenhouse encourages the underlying adhesive to soften. The fact this part — subtle in its design — looks fantastic is a bonus, and though it may not be of huge interest to owners of air-cooled Porsches, it demonstrates Awesome’s ability to think outside the box and develop innovative new products to solve age-old problems.
The same can be said of the Awesome Spacemaker, a new-to-market product developed in collaboration with the Rocket Wrench accessories brand. Designed to replace the largely useless rear seats in an air-cooled 911 (and therefore the 912), this elegantly designed, beautifully finished storage box is trimmed to match the host Porsche and provides discreet-but-useful luggage capacity away from prying eyes. All told, the Spacemaker boasts an Oem-grade finish, is the most handsome ‘rear seat delete’ we’ve come across and is far superior to the crude cabin storage box offered by Porsche Classic.
Expert execution of bespoke interiors is precisely why tellybox star, Ant Anstead, came knocking. His company, Dowsett Classic Cars, was developing a fresh take on the concept of a classic British sports car and planned to unveil the resulting four-wheeler at the highly anticipated 2018 NEC Classic Car Show. Awesome was asked to design and produce the Crayon Grey V8’s interior, which focuses on a sea of sumptuous quilted red leather and figure-hugging seats, providing the perfect blend of luxury, comfort and sportiness. The prototype Comet was deemed a huge success, leading Anstead
to approach Awesome with a request for production interiors based on that of the original car, which is now in private ownership.
Glenn and Greg are no strangers to welcoming television presenters and production crews to their place of work. Indeed, keen viewers of Discovery’s Vintage Voltage will recognise the Awesome team as responsible for the interiors of many standout vehicles converted by Electric Classic Cars, an industry leader in the electrification of historic sports cars. In fact, the white 1971 911 (an early right-hand drive 2.4) you see on these pages is an Electric Classic Cars Ev-in-progress.
Speaking of which, the workshop space Awesome is now operating from is another huge step forward in the company’s evolution. “We moved from St Ives to Pidley in 2018,” Glenn explains. “Once again, we’d outgrown our base and needed bigger premises, not only to enable us to store and work on yet more cars at any given time, but also to allow us to take on more staff and stock extra material and tooling.” Carolyn, who’d left Awesome in order to embark on a fourteen-year career in marketing and communications, returned to the fold as Office Manager — she deals with all customer enquiries and is helping Awesome raise its profile in a busy marketplace. More recently, former Audi franchise employee, Mark Desborough, joined the team as a trainee trimmer.
Awesome’s premises in Pidley is spread across two floors. At ground level, you’ll find general workspace and vehicle storage, a dedicated trim room (featuring a variety of sewing machines), a stockpile of swatch books and rolls of commonly used material not limited to Porsche fabrics. This floor also plays host to the company’s extensive tooling, a brightly illuminated bay for removal and installation of vehicle furniture, plus a room for disassembly and reassembly of parts. Upstairs is home to office space and a vast array of leather, as well as interior components waiting to be worked on.
VARIETY PACK
During our visit, we spot the aforementioned 911 EV, an Oak Green 1976 911 S restomod, an early 911 SC Targa and Editor Furr’s 944 Turbo, which Mark, Greg and Phil are subjecting to further fettling. All cars feature Awesome interiors. An early 4.5-litre Guards Red 928 waits patiently for new Pasha seat centres. Come to think of it, in recent times, we’ve witnessed a fair number of cars from Porsche’s transaxle family of products roll in and out of this workshop. A first-generation 924 Turbo and a 968 Sport spring to mind, as do 928s of all ages, plus a variety of normally aspirated 944s.
Reconolising is another of the services available to Awesome customers. The term refers to the reconditioning and recolouring process pioneered by celebrated leather brand, Connolly. In short, the work involves modern techniques enabling leather rejuvenation (an approach favoured by owners of historic cars keen to retain as much original material as possible) and allows for a degree of patina. A recent example of this procedure in action includes Awesome’s
amazing treatment of the seats in a 1954 Rolls-royce Silver Dawn originally purchased by the then governor of the Bank of England, before ownership passed to English actor, screenwriter and novelist, Sir Dirk Bogarde. Understandably, in view of the car’s provenance, the current owner was keen to keep the original seats, but sought Awesome’s assistance in getting them back to their best, rather than replace old for new. The work is nothing short of a triumph.
Modern and classic Ferraris, Cosworth-badged
Fords, Jaguars of all ages, Bentleys and even a Gilbern Invader (one of only 603 examples manufactured) have all recently been in Awesome’s care, but although the team has love for sports cars of all ages, it’s clear passion for Porsche is strong in Pidley. Regular readers will recall our October 2023 issue, featuring an eye-popping Turkish Blue 964 Carrera 4 Targa backdate on its cover. The semi-open-top 911’s interior was another Awesome creation, this time centring around the installation of a Stuttgart Classica carbon-fibre tub lining the entire cockpit, forming the walls thereof and presented in body colour.
“The car came to us as a rolling shell,” Greg recalls. “We spent two months working on the interior. The cabin linings are finished in chocolate brown handwoven hide, which is Vele Relicate from the Crest leather range. We bonded it to the necessary backing material, which wasn’t the easiest to work with. You have to be careful to get the leather’s lines straight, as seen across the Turkish Blue 964’s seat inserts and door cards, else the finish can look decidedly amateur.”
Vele Relicate produces a calming effect against the
ALTHOUGH THE TEAM HAS LOVE FOR SPORTS CARS OF ALL AGES, IT’S CLEAR PASSION FOR PORSCHE IS STRONG IN PIDLEY
car’s bright body colour. “Given free reign, you can go mad with a project like this, but it’s important to be sympathetic to the host Porsche,” Greg warns. The most challenging part of the job? “The bits nobody really sees, such as the box for the suspension’s touchscreen control panel, which is located in front of the gear lever,” he smiles. “The seats are electrically adjustable Recaro Ergomeds ES recliners and provide both heating and cooling functionality. We reprofiled the headrests in order to give an appearance more in keeping with that of early Recaro sports seats. The carpets are charcoal square-weave mats, with the design mirrored in the seat centres and dashboard strip.”
With an eye on future trends, Glenn and Greg have recently been working with synthetic leathers. “We were commissioned by luxury lifestyle brand, Barbour, to create a bespoke interior for an electrified classic Land Rover,” Glenn grins. “The brief was to produce a ‘vegan-friendly’ cabin, meaning no animal-derived materials could be used. After Greg prepared sketches taking influence from classic Barbour tartan, we were given the go-ahead to create the real thing. The project was a huge success, so much so the finished vehicle was displayed in the window of Selfridge’s flagship store on London’s Oxford Street.”
Clearly, the wide variety of requests Awesome receives from its clients makes the company’s workshop an exciting place to visit. We’re looking forward to returning in coming months, when a fresh batch of revitalised classic Porsches will be ready for us to sample. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to contact the team for all your automotive trimming requests. Awesome by name, awesome by nature.