New owners at Cropredy Bridge

[Pflemin1]

Dear All,
My sincere apologies to anyone who didn’t receive my e-mail last week regarding the change in ownership of Cropredy Bridge Cars. The e-mail was sent to everyone in our database, but clearly not everyone received it:- we’re looking in to what went awry here. In the meantime, please accept my apologies, and if anyone wants to drop me a line, I can be reached at p.fleming@cropredybridge.com.
Best wishes
Patrick Fleming
Cropredy Bridge Cars

[Tim SP]

Err Thanks for all their work??

[AH1951]

I’m a former customer too and they didn’t contact me, humph! Humph! And was almost going to contact them only this week. Well, well. Always amused though by the corporate speak used in these communications

I was only contacted, same email as Zac received I suppose, because I had signed up to their newsletters a few years ago.

It must be very difficult to manage such a business.
I know it has changed a few times over the years but it's good that it keeps going.
I see there are just three cars for sale now, with prices!
A Mk III Interceptor, and two FFs, a Mk I and a Mk II.
All look splendid.

[AH1951]

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[David Davies]

I agree Adrian that we all want such businesses to keep going and succeed. One sees successful car restoration businesses up and down the land which have the right business, customer and financial focus. Clearly this has not been the case at Cropredy and the accounts look dreadful. Nearly a month in I don’t yet see any change of direction in these aspects

[Joerg]

I have been there today. I was very concerned ( after my experience with the unexpected split at Rejen while my FF was there under restoration - something that hit me out of the blue and let me end up with a 90% finished car in the hand Jason Lawrence and teething problems for additional bills of 10000 pounds after I got it back ).

But I must say the impression from the new owner and the MD was very good. The experienced team all stay, Matt did a good handover today and there is a lot going on to tidy everything up and reorganising the workflow. Given the fact that the new owner are experienced automotive industry guys, the new shareholders are willing to recapitalise the business and ( also important ) they are enthusiastic, we all could expect that a well known company is now in good hands and will continue to support the marquee.

To be honest, I have been gone personally through the same situation. Once you start selling the business you are in a sandwich between customer expectations, obligations against the new shareholders and at the same time stressed by the fact that you have to organise your own future ( and feeding your family) - that’s a real task and you are not up to all these demand at the same time.
I was frustrated by the communication about my work in progress but now happy about the new situation.

I wish Matt and Leah all the best for their future and also that Mike the new MD grow very fast as good into our Jensen world as he has been into Aston Martin.

Visit them and make up your own opinion - mine is good now.

[Mark1Stu]

The information about Cropredy is good to know Joerg.

[David Davies]

Good to have your insights Jeorg as a very experienced businessman.

As mentioned in one of my earlier posts, the orientation of Cropredy has for a long while been Interceptor and FF centric, for example the website only has images and text about work done relating to those cars. If the business is in fact proficient, or even interested in any or all of the earlier models, as a true ‘marque specialist’ should be, it certainly is not apparent from the website.

Furthermore the levels of customer service I receive from the leading Alvis specialist, who have always been extremely interested in and proficient regarding my 1938 Jensen, is second to none. The car has always been collected and delivered back FREE OF CHARGE in their covered transporter. Most specialists are some distance away and this makes owning and servicing the car very easy.

One of their very talented senior mechanics went to great lengths to learn about and work on my car back in 2018 and five years after the restoration is still genuinely keen to work on it each year. Cropredy just turned the work down flat five years ago. The Alvis specialist have very deep expertise in ALL the Alvis models and have gone to great lengths to remake obsolete parts. They also have a great interest in the history of the Alvis marque and individual cars (made easier obviously by having the original factory records). I consulted them just the other day about an Alvis that is coming up for auction. The MD sent me a very informative note about it the next morning.

Personally I would feel very nervous about placing a CV8 or 541 with Cropredy for any significant work, let alone any earlier model. Even servicing, with the lack of a free transporter, is a bind. All this would apply even more so to most other Jensen specialists.

[colin7673]

I am sure Matt and Leah have put much physical, intellectual and emotional effort into the development of Cropredy Bridge Cars Ltd and it must have been a wrench for them both to leave. I’m sure everyone reading this news would like to thank them for raising the profile of the Jensen marque and wish them both much success in whatever they chose to do in the future - whether Jensen related or not.

On a related matter, as this change took place on 2nd October, can the club confirm its business as usual as far as the production of the JOC magazine is concerned?

Matt & Leah moving on from Cropredy is unrelated to the JOC and the JOC magazine. The next magazine issue is in production.

When can we expect the delivery of the lasted JOC magazine ?

[Mark1Stu]

Hopefully things within the club aren’t quite that bad Colin and you meant latest magazine, not the last(ed).

At the risk of hijacking this thread still further, given the ongoing delay and current lack of information on the publication date of the next magazine, I think it’s also valid to ask when is the cut off date for the receipt of JOC magazines for those not renewing their membership for the 2024 year?

Is it a fixed date in 2024 or only when the club has issued 6 magazines from the beginning of the 2023 membership year - not including Torque, obviously.

[Keith]

I received my magazine today, but that (and the two posts above) have got nothing whatsoever to do with this thread!