You made it! C'mere, I must show you the work I’ve done on the roof. This way, it’s upstairs.
Can I just say something to start? Don’t worry, I actually have a solid track record of saying something good to be fair. Take the last event I was at, for example, I only said one word and they told me it meant a lot. All I had to say was ‘Plethora’.
It’s just a little thing that’s been niggling at me every time I see someone talk about MG cars, or when I see one advertised for sale. STOP MIXING UP THE MAKE AND MODEL. Iz no that hard people! MG is the make, B is the model. So it’s not an MG MGB, MB GT, MG ‘whatever you can think of’, it’s simply MG followed by the letter of the model, k?
Where was I? Ah yes, the office.
2020 was the year of absolutely nada. NO WAIT, it was the Chinese Year of the Bat! Don’t mind the psychics, I think it’s the opticians that have a lot to answer for - twenty-twenty vision my bottom eh? Lel.
The lack of car shows, trips away, or just chances to hop in our cars and go for a spin has been pretty bleak. So we’re gearing up for a very busy 2021 and working on something vital for all car trips – our Lyons Garages coffee! Apparently, Lyons Tea was already taken and they haven't returned our calls when we asked them for free tea, so we're going to do it ourselves.
No no, this is actually for real, so if you fancy a mini oil can of coffee beans get in touch. Or get in touch even if it’s just to tell us it’s a great idea, hashtag support local and all that.
If you happen to be involved in the coffee industry and want to get involved send us an email pals. Also, and to everyone else, we’re still working on the tagline for it, so if you have any ideas we’ll gladly take them, use them as our own and give you zero credit.
Almost half way through this post and not a single mention of any garage cars. “What? Halfway?” I hear you shout at your laptop/phone/cat. “Yes, I’m tired and lazy” I shout back.
After a highly successful first season of “Conversations with Morris” where I posted a whole two pictures and waffled on for a bit, the Morris Minor is now all finito, bubble wrapped, and ready to head home. Morris will be cared for and put back together by his owner… There’s nothing else for people to do at the moment so there’s no point in us doing all the work.
That gives me a new business idea… restoring the shells, painting, buffing and giving the owner a “How To” guide to putting it back together with their boxes of new parts. “Less Time, Charge The Same. A spoofer’s guide to getting rich”. Sounds like I’ve just got the next title for my new book. 2021 will actually be huge.
You might have noticed a white MG A Roadster floating around. (“I SEEN IT” as you might say if English wasn’t your first language. Or you just can’t English good). Well, you just can’t have enough of them to be honest and now there’s one for every day of the week here.
Speaking of MGAs, the Singapore MGA… this is an actual MGA headed for Singapore, it’s not some notion-y thing that we’re doing by pretending we’re Singer Porsche and calling our cars the after where they’re headed, don’t worry. Even though “The Singapore Commission” might sound great, I’m not sure we could keep a straight face if we started that trend here in Ireland. Imagine calling one of the cars we’re building here in the workshop the “The Leitrim Commission”, “The Glounthaune Commission”, or “The Ballyhaunis Commission”. We’re building awesome cars, not nippy tractors.
Right, back to where we were… that MGA is finished and will be shipped off to Singapore soon. In a crate. Fast and Furious esque. Now, you might be asking why it’s being sent off unfinished. Great question. Is it something to do with the tax situation in that country, or because the best part of restoring a car is getting to put on all the new parts yourself? I guess we’ll never know…
The Toyota Corolla AE86 is motoring along well, there’s just been a lot… A LOT... of handmade panels, but we’re pretty much at the end of the metalwork road now and so that means painty time soon.
What else have we… There’s a few of our own cars that are pretty close to being finished, but we give priority to our customer cars. Not because we’re getting paid, it’s honestly because we’re just really sound. Honest.
Our next project is to uncover a couple of our own Minis that have been tucked up for too long, dust them off and get them back on the road. Currently making a parts list to build a Café Racer Mini… Interested?
We also have a couple of MGBs that are ready for restoration if you fancy putting your own stamp on a car. Well, we’ll do the stamping, you can tell us the colour.
Isn’t it weird that what was once a very common car on the road is now starting to be thought of as a classic? So strange that these cars are now getting older while I stay the same age. Things are weird.
Right that’s it! I’ve been here in the office for way too long, I’m late for my dinner. Lets wrap it up… So, just to recap quickly: we built cars, we’re going to bring out a Lyons Garages branded coffee… and that’s kinda it really! You probably feel a bit silly having to sit through all that now don’t you? Mad how you guys sit and read this spoo… highly educational blog.
As always, you’ll get the latest snaps on Facebook and Instagram. Feel free to send us a message and throw us the odd sympathy like. It means a lot and you never know, it might even help us achieve our dream of becoming famous influencers and get some brand deals and free stuff.
Just before I sign off, let us say that as the world’s greatest sports car restoration team here in the Malibu of Ireland, we welcome your feedback. We don’t take it, but we welcome it all the same.
Hope you all have a good week bromigos.