Dowell Bros

Dowell Bros Automotive restoration specialists based in North Wales

Great to see another car heading back to the customer! What was supposed to be just a paint job, turned into a whole lot...
27/02/2022

Great to see another car heading back to the customer! What was supposed to be just a paint job, turned into a whole lot more with this one.

It looked deceivingly good on the outside, but the customer agreed that we needed to take the paint off to see what it was hiding.

We replaced so much metal in this car it's actually hard to believe. Its has been treated to new inner & outer sills, returns on the floors where they attach, bottoms of pillars, rear outer and inner wheel arches, two sides and a rear panel of the boot floor, a new front valance, multiple new door skins, frames and repairs to frames, a new wing, and a wing rail, holes welded in rear frame rails, the foot Wells, in screen apperatures and where rot had started on rear quaters under the vinyl roof. We wheeled up a panel to replace the webasto roof and welded that in, as well as lots of smaller repairs to the finicky corners between panels and the parts you cant buy repair sections for.

We painted the inside, outside, underside and the engine bay. Countless hours were spent hand block sanding to get it as straight as you see it.

Matt made up a vinyl roof from scratch which looks so mucb better in black.

There's probably a whole lot I've forgotten about as well, hopefully some of the progress photos I've added at the end show how much has gone into this old Ford.

We're very pleased to be able to offer these "labrador aproved" defender, and soon to be series bulkheads from ULTRA Bul...
25/02/2022

We're very pleased to be able to offer these "labrador aproved" defender, and soon to be series bulkheads from ULTRA Bulkheads.

We've shied away from reproduction units due to fit and quality issues, but these have been developed from complete scratch to be a perfect factory replacement, and then hot dip galvanised to last a lifetime and more.

We've also been busy on prep work for upcoming builds, blasting, galvanising, sanding, priming and painting so we'll keep you updated when these start to go together over the next few weeks.


Not long now to bag yourself an early Christmas present! The auction is finishing tomorrow evening which still gives you...
28/11/2021

Not long now to bag yourself an early Christmas present! The auction is finishing tomorrow evening which still gives you plenty of time to register and make a bid.
You can find full details at the link in our bio.

Months of planning, sneaking, snooping and excuse making went into making a really special day over the weekend.We final...
20/09/2021

Months of planning, sneaking, snooping and excuse making went into making a really special day over the weekend.

We finally got to give Fred his Triumph back as a surprise birthday present from his sons after it had been sat up in his garage for more than 20 years.

I still don't know how the family managed to keep the fact that his beloved car had gone missing a secret, but they managed it none the less.

The car recieved some structual welding, and a mechanical overhaul and tune up as you'd expect is needed after being stood for such a long time.

Carbs were ultrasonically cleaned, rebuilt and tuned. Fuel lines were replaced. Every aspect of the engine was checked before we fired it up.

played a pivotal role in making the inside and out of this car look as good as it does. Understandable as it was for his dad. He really did transform this car with his attention to every little detail and we're looking forward to working with Dylan on future projects here.

took the lead on this one and got almost all of the mechanical work sorted. I hopped in on the odd bit of welding, but he really took control on this one and did a cracking job.

As always there's more in the works here and we'll do our best to update you with all the projects on the go.

We'd be lying if we said that this was an easy car for us to build but we really have enjoyed the process! The whole tim...
08/09/2021

We'd be lying if we said that this was an easy car for us to build but we really have enjoyed the process!

The whole time we have had this cobra, two schools of thought have contradicted each other in quite a frustrating way, those being that nothing leaves until it's perfect, and that everyday is a school day.

This car tested everything. Our tools, our equipment, our environment, our knowledge, our resources and quite regulary our patience.

That was all soon forgotten when we got to see it parked outside the church on a very special day.

We've learnt a whole lot during the process of building this car and we're excited about the prospect of applying all that we've learnt to the exciting upcoming projects we've got lined up here at Dowell Bros.

Thank you Gari for trusting us to get the car ready for your wedding day.

We've got a few more things planned for this car to include a soft top to suit our outstanding British climate, some more substantial roll - over protection, and a few of the little details that were postponed to aid meeting the deadline which we'll update on.

For now we're still working hard to conclude on a few other big jobs that are nearing completion so I'd like to thank those customers for their continued support and patience.

Lastly sorry for the lack of posting, we are striving to do better on that front!

It's not just cars that we work on here, this classic Enfield is being treated to a new wiring loom as well as a handmad...
26/03/2021

It's not just cars that we work on here, this classic Enfield is being treated to a new wiring loom as well as a handmade leather tank strap and saddle by Matt.
We'll be sure to add some finished pictures once it's back up and running.

Using this perfect February sun as an excuse to have a break from the spray booth and get a quick head start on the next...
28/02/2021

Using this perfect February sun as an excuse to have a break from the spray booth and get a quick head start on the next project, this one owner series 3.

Even Shelby, the workshop dog is excited about this one!

We're aiming to retain the classic and unparalleled series look and feel with this one while changing a few crucial details mechanically to make this one an ultra reliable and safe daily driver that will be protected from rust and corrosion for many years to come.

When put up the challenge of describing a dream car build for another instalment of their I had to think hard about i...
26/01/2021

When put up the challenge of describing a dream car build for another instalment of their I had to think hard about it.

I'm normally too busy thinking about customers dream cars to think about what I would like to build so I'm going to take this opportunity to mention our '58 short bed step side chevy apache.

The first pics are out of a folder that came with the car from a few owners back. The last pic is when we picked it up from and dragged it all the way back up to sunny North Wales.

We haven't had a chance to touch it since. I'm not super fussed about keeping it when it's done either, I just really want to make it a little lower, a little more comfy and maybe even a little quicker than it was in those farm truck looking pictures.

It's overall pretty solid but does still need a few areas of attention from the welder. I'd love to have a tmg hammer for sorting out the door skins and other tricky places where welds are going to have to happen part way through panels.

I haven't added any sketches or ideas as I tend to make things up as I go along. I also want to encourage people to maybe think of what way they would go with the car as I'd happily build it for someone else.

It's just a pickup that I'd love to see rolling out of our workshop looking crisp sometime soon, it's a current goal and a current .

We've been a bit quiet on here the last few weeks, but the reality of doing big restorations on multiple cars at once is...
25/01/2021

We've been a bit quiet on here the last few weeks, but the reality of doing big restorations on multiple cars at once is that there are often long spells of not so exciting jobs.

I thought I'd use this unbelievably dull post to show some of those exact jobs that have gone on behind the scenes here over the last couple of weeks.

The cobra was treated to hours of block sanding by hand to help get those curves back to where they should be. I also converted the door latches from the flimsy MG units to internal anti burt types.
Theres also been a fair amount of fibreglass work to repair the fire damaged frame of the bonnet and to slightly redesign the layout of the doors, to accept a slightly different door card to help prevent them accumulating grubby hand prints.

The engine components have been cycling through the ultrasonic cleaner whilst all being measured to check tolerances and the block has been paint stripped and is now waiting on a thorough cleaning before it's gets painted and put back together. I got the primer on the car last night and it'll be another round of block sanding next.

The cortina is having all rust and old bad repairs cut out and we're in the process of replacing it with all good clean metal before paint.

The v8 110 has had a load of work done as far as stripping and getting panels ready for body work. I'll be doing stints of paint stripper on all of them this week to give a fresh start and guaranteed adhesion for all subsequent paint coats. We're also waiting on the arrival of a new sewing machine that will help take the interior for the car up a notch which Matt is pretty excited about.

We also had a bit of a wet floor last week with the flooding, so we lost about 3 days to running pumps and clearing floors to ensure all customer projects were kept safe in some of the worst flooding we've seen here. It's a good job we've got the flood defences now in place that stop it from being too bad. We will say that we're more keen now than ever to get the workshop in Rhewl finished up and get moved in, we'll update on that one as we go.

Thanks for reading my ramblings, it was nice to have a break from all the block sanding!

With orderes arriving for the V8 110, we're really starting to get an insight into how the car will feel when your in th...
15/01/2021

With orderes arriving for the V8 110, we're really starting to get an insight into how the car will feel when your in the cab.

We've gone backwards and forwards on materials to make sure that we've got the right combination for the design we've come up with to make the interior feel warm and inviting, while still being light and airy enough to work with the light colour of the car.

We've opted for an antique brown hide from combined with a selection of wool fabrics from that we thing will make for something really warm and inviting.

The centre console along with sections of the dash are being handled with some American black walnut with a design that echos the defenders utilitarian history.

We're really excited to see this car coming together.

The latest arrival here at Dowell Bros is this 1960 Pontiac Ventura, it was started by who we owe a massive thanks to f...
05/01/2021

The latest arrival here at Dowell Bros is this 1960 Pontiac Ventura, it was started by who we owe a massive thanks to for sorting the deal out on it and letting us pick it up at unbelievably short notice.

The previous owner moved focus onto another car and after seeing the body lines of this one, I couldn't turn it down.

There's a host of work already done and boxes of brand new parts that have us itching to get going on this absolutely massive car, but we've got a few things to finish off before this one gets the attention it deserves.

I will also say that if you've got a set of rollerskates and a date at a drive-in cinema coming up, you might be able to prise this one out of our hands or even have it done for you!

A quick look behind the scenes to show how much goes into doing a defender properly.Defenders are simplistic and largely...
31/12/2020

A quick look behind the scenes to show how much goes into doing a defender properly.

Defenders are simplistic and largely minimalist, but that doesn't mean it all happens overnight.

We take them down this far to ensure that everything is coated and protected as well as it possibly can be, both for longevity and so that it looks as clean underneath as it does on top.

Everything that can be blasted and galvanised gets the full treatment and everything else is stripped right back, dents hammered out and treated with the best quality anti corrosion primers.

As you can see, the upholstery isn't just bought in covers either, Matt meticulously templates and stitches everything from scratch, giving the customer the perfect chance to tweak it to their liking.

Address

Rhewl
LL152TS

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 6pm
Tuesday 9am - 6pm
Wednesday 9pm - 6pm
Thursday 9am - 6pm
Friday 9am - 6pm
Saturday 9am - 6pm

Telephone

+447377943360

Website

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