Stan left Jaguar after becoming disillusioned with the way the company was running and set himself up as the 'The Trim Centre' until selling the company and retiring 10 years ago. He found retirement a bore and was encouraged by a fiend to set-up again, so he founded GB Trimming Ltd of Nuneaton. They always try to have four cars in the shop with one nearing completion, one mid way through, one just starting and the fourth next in line.
When Angus and I were up with Ken Verity we were both hugely impressed by the hood on an OBL OTS he was working on because it is one of the few we have seen that fits properly - the decorative chrome trim on the hood perfectly covers the windscreen top surround just as intended. Stan did that work! Stan reckons an E-Type takes 145 hours to trim to the standard he wants. and has things like the hood bow made to his specification so he can trim it down to size. He said Jaguar had three sizes of hood available and simply found the one which best fitted each individual car. The vinyl roofs and hood bags were introduced for the American market because of complaints the mohair was fading in the sun. We also talked about the new Connolly Vaumol leathers which are now available, albeit at a price - ?600 per hide, about 2.5 times the cost of a normal hide. When you see, touch and smell it side by side with the normal leather though you realise it is worth every penny.
If you are in need of a new interior, a hood or some interior parts (Stan does not sell trimming 'kits') : http://www.gbclassictrim.com/
