Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Ray White]

https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/gallery/great-northern-classics-sneak-peek-8303286

I can't help questioning the business model.

Plenty of Public Money being splashed about.

[petelang]

At least its a good thing that this building is getting a new life, secondly that it's of interest to us enthusiasts but, I don't think we are going to learn much stuck on that platform. I'm sure we would all prefer to down on the deck in amongst the action!
It could become an amazing resource for learning skills and discovering how to conduct a proper renovation but hopefully not at Rolls Royce prices since most of us finance this as a pocket emptying hobby and with the escalating cost of everything of late, that is bad enough.
I should like to meet the guy who's set it up and discuss his vision for it.
_________________
Daimler Fifteen 1934
Armstrong Siddeley 15 Long 1933
Daimler V8 250 1969

[Rick]

Looks interesting, and makes a change from the usual leaving a building to go to rot, then knock it down for housing.

RJ
_________________
Rick - Admin
Home:https://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk
Videos:https://www.youtube.com/user/oldclassiccarRJ/videos
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https://www.redbubble.com/people/OldClassicCar/shop

[Ray White]

It might seem like a good idea to encourage a new generation of car restorers but I fail to see where the demand is coming from. 'Great Northern Classics' have been pushing this idea - or variations of it - in Derby for years.

So who are all these restoration specialists prepared to rent units in these premises?

What happens to all the apprenticeships once the money runs out?

Forgive me for being sceptical but Rome wasn't built in a day. I have been watching millionaire Richard Hammond's attempts to get an up market restoration business up and running. As he discovered, it is not a walk in the Park; you need both a market and a reputation. Without one of them the project has little chance of sucesss.

[petelang]

Ray, I should imagine the chap behind this venture has a whole lot more sense than Richard Hammond. As portrayed in his TV series, he doesn't seem to have much of a clue about how to run a business. He should stick to TV presenting.
There has without doubt been remarkable growth in the classic car market. Now that the 70's and 80's cars are in the frame and "Hot hatches, fast Fords" etc, younger persons are drawn to it. As long as its affordable and as I said before, not all at Rolls Royce prices, it has a good chance of success. Petrol heads would much rather have a classic than be forced to have electric vehicles in future and if your modern diesel is frowned upon go retro!
Perhaps they might also convert some to electric or newer fuels. Plenty of scope I would think. Nice that it's a start up in the East Midlands too, and not down in Yuppie corner, or the affluent southern counties.
_________________
Daimler Fifteen 1934
Armstrong Siddeley 15 Long 1933
Daimler V8 250 1969

[Ray White]

Pete. I agree with you about Hammond. More money than he knows what to do with from what I can see.

I hope you are right about the scope for this enterprise. We shall see.

My reservations are just that. I tend to view start up schemes with suspicion when it involves subsidies with public money.

[Ray White]

More details about this extraordinarily ambitious project.

https://www.greatnorthernclassics.co.uk

[ukdave2002]

I'd like to see the business model:

Are they expecting individual restorers to commit to a long term lease of space and kitting it out with any fixed tools; in reality that would mean many restorers would have to move their business to these new premises as to maintain two locations for most would not be financially viable, this then suggests that it would only be viable for "local" restorers. Are restorers being offered greatly subsidised rent to incentivise them?
Some of the funding appears to be from Government Apprentice funding scheme.

Would customers have to deal with individual restorers to agree prices? or is there a managing body that effectively takes the risk of multiple subcontracts if so what happens when the customer has had some body panels fabricated by Restorer A, and when they get to Restorer B in the paint shop the painter complains that there is more prep work than he had anticipated?

In the BBC Repair Shop, all costs are funded by the production, similarly as Warner do for Car SOS, is there a suggestion that there is some sort of subsidy through selling media rights?
If they are looking to sell media rights, most interest would be for an end to end restoration, as this would appeal to a wider audience, assuming the customer is still funding the restoration, it would tend to limit the sort of vehicles to the higher value cars such as DB4's and Mk1 Escorts.

The virtual YouTube tour shows a very clean facility; would all the "dirty" jobs such as paint/ underseal removal, welding, machining, paint prep etc be completed off site, in order to facilitate the cleaner jobs and viewing gallery within the facility?

I'm sure all the points that I have raised will have been raised before and hopefully there is a robust business model behind the venture, if it works it would be a great for generating trades folk for the future and getting younger people into the trade, I hope it is a success.

Dave

[Ray White]

This project worries me. I Have just spoken to Andy Jones of Wilkinsons (who appeared in the video) and while he hopes - like we all do - that it is a success, he has no intention of renting space there.

As far as I can see there is no viable business model.

[Bitumen Boy]

Round these parts we have had a succession of free newspapers or magazines delivered... The business model seems to be that the paper keeps the proprietor/editor/reporter in a "job" (and off the dole) working from home until the grant money runs out, and the the paper folds.

With what I've read about this scheme I can't help wondering if it's basically the same business model.

One other thing occurs to me... we've all heard of the odd business having a catastrophic fire in their unit at some point. Imagine if a lot of businesses came together in this space and the whole lot went up one night, and what the losses could be...

[Ray White]

I am old enough to remember this....

https://www.autozine.org/Archive/DeLorean/classic/DeLorean.html

[ukdave2002]

I'm writing this sitting on the 06:03 train from Crewe to Euston, every so often you see a presumably now mothballed HS2 construction site, an example of what sounded like a good idea, but then not properly thought through or costed. The bill, for however it pans out will be picked up by the Taxpayer, the immediate losers being the workforce who must have thought they had job security for a number of years, and the owners of blighted property left in limbo.

I just can't see how Great Northern Classic can bring in multiple 3rd parties to carry out restoration tasks, and make it economically viable with the additional overheads that this facility would attract, unless there is an additional source of income that we are not aware of.

Should the Great Northern Classic scheme fail, the losers would be the young folk who are mid apprenticeship. One would hope that if only as a duty of care to the future apprentices, the proposed model has been robustly thought through.

Dave

[petelang]

Nothing new there Dave. My apprenticeship went out of the window during a "structural review" way back in the 70's and the promised job with overseas travel at management level vaporised. Many of my college mates suffered the same. Good old Maggie, of milk snatching fame, caused the total shambles of British industry a few years later which meant really good lads we had trained were discarded like confetti too.
However, it seems the Germans had a better view which is why their top dogs in Europe and Britain is languishing behind where the wake vanishes into wavelets.
Sadly, that's British industry.
_________________
Daimler Fifteen 1934
Armstrong Siddeley 15 Long 1933
Daimler V8 250 1969

[Ray White]

I think the risk with start up schemes funded by the taxpayer is that the seed money is vulnerable to fraud. If this - or any other business venture for that matter - was viable then the Banks and established businesses would be happy to invest in it.

My guess is that this is not an attractive investment opportunity; if it was then why are Rolls Royce not supporting it.?

I hope I am wrong but I suspect this is no more than a mirage that will disappear as quickly as the morning dew.

[ukdave2002]