The specialist
One man’s passion for puzzles is keeping classics on the road, one lovingly restored component at a time
It’s funny how, for some people, it is the restoration process itself that provides the most satisfaction as opposed to taking to the road in the finished article. By his own admission, Martin Lawrie is someone to whom this applies. Despite owning several classics that he regularly enjoys on the picturesque rural Northamptonshire lanes, his ‘buzz’ these days comes from his talent for problem-solving.
“I used to be the CEO of a medical diagnostics firm,” says Lawrie. “But before long I had put in place an extremely capable team and we had ironed out most of the issues so there were fewer and fewer problems to solve – that was when I decided to go and do something different.”
Lawrie’s passion for classics began as an eager 14-year-old, when his maths teacher gave him a 1960 ‘Frogeye’ Sprite project. He and his father restored it and it still sits proudly in his garage at home. Soon after getting his hands on the Healey, his next-door neighbour gave him a Triumph Herald. Lawrie got it running, learnt to drive in it and used it while he was a student, but the Herald was eventually replaced by a Vitesse convertible: “I kept the Vitesse for 12 years and restored it twice – the first time in a bid to get it on the road, and the second time because I wanted to do it properly. It was during this time I realised that what I really loved was the process of problem-solving: taking things apart, learning how they work, overhauling them and making sure they’re good to go again.”
The Vitesse gave way to another classic that Lawrie still owns: a 1953 Austinhealey 100. But perhaps the most intriguing of his vehicles is the 1929 Talbot AG 14/45 pick-up that provided the name for his new venture: “The Talbot was owned by a Mr RF Fuggle – a Sunbeam, Talbot and Hillman dealer in Bushey Heath – and was fitted with unique pick-up bodywork by Du Cros. I was originally looking at a 1950s ‘stepside’ Chevy as a truck for the business, but saw the Talbot that was already signwritten with Fuggle’s name and figured that would be much more fitting!”
Although Lawrie can turn his hand to most things, he opted to centre his new business, Fuggle’s Fettling, around the restoration of smaller components: “From a commercial point of view, I realised that there was an ongoing need for the overhaul of parts such as carburettors – particularly with today’s changing fuel quality. But, more importantly, I love stripping units such as a 70-year-old Solex down into its component parts and making it look good and operate exactly as it was intended to.”
This attention to detail and determination to do a job right means he has an impressive set-up that allows him to precision-drill throttle bodies for new brass spindle bushes using a piloted reamer – bushes that he turns on an ex-rollsroyce Smart & Brown lathe in the next room.
Lawrie’s Land-rover passion (he bought his first in 1989) also means that he does his fair share of early Solex rebuilds, as well as Lucas FW2 and CW1/CWX wiper-motor overhauls for the Series One and II community. However, the Fuggle’s Fettling workshop boasts everything from ageing Zenith and SU carburettors to voltage regulators, starter motors, fuel-tank senders and a disassembled engine from a 1932 MG D-type that is currently in for some substantial fettling.
“I like making things look and work as if they were new again,” Lawrie smiles. “But I do sometimes get asked to retain the external patina of age, which I’m happy to do. The important thing is that they work properly and if I can achieve that, then I can go home a satisfied man.”