Our Journal
– Behind the Scenes
Car SOS is an incredibly popular TV programme on National Geographic that began in 2013 and is now in its 9th Series. Presented by Tim Shaw and Fuzz Townshend it has captured the hearts and imagination of viewers by restoring vehicles that have been nominated by a relative or friend without the knowledge of their […]
Adding to our catalogue of work on rare and unusual engines such as vintage tractors, industrial machinery and aero-engines, Frank Martin and his team at Fiennes Engineering have just carried out a job on an early Schacht automobile engine. The Schacht Manufacturing Company was an American manufacturer of automobiles from 1904 that was started by […]
The first commercially successful petrol-powered general-purpose tractor was built by British inventor Dan Albone in 1901. He went on to form Ivel Agricultural Motors Limited and, very much to the point, called his machine the Ivel Agricultural Motor. The word tractor as we are familiar with today did not come into common use until later. It […]
– in his own words
In 1971 as a result of escalating costs incurred in the development of the RB211 jet engine Rolls-Royce was bankrupt. The aero-engine business was nationalised and the then profitable car business passed to a new company, eventually to be sold to Vickers. It was important to maintain the profitability and within this scheme the needs […]
with rare vehicles and engines
All our businesses have their base at the Fiennes Group hub at Broughton Poggs between Burford and Lechlade in the Cotswolds. In this rural setting you’ll find buildings that uniquely combine time-honoured skills and traditional craftmanship with the very latest engineering technology. You’ll also find people within them that all have a high level of […]
began making parts
The story begins with one man and his passion for classic cars starting with a 1936 Riley Merlin. Will Fiennes purchased the car whilst still a student at Oxford in the mid-sixties and maintained it himself. This led him to join the Riley Register and, with his engineering aptitude, he soon became their “spares man” and was making a small income to supplement his academic life.
I am now approaching my 50th year with the business having joined the then parent company back in 1971 as an apprentice in Mechanical and General Engineering. Now, in 2020, with a highly skilled team, we provide our customers with full engine reconditioning services with experience ranging from automobiles to aviation and industrial engines.
One project we were recently entrusted to handle was that of an incredibly rare 1908 Type 23 Napier Limousine. D Napier & Son was a British engineering company best known for luxury motor cars in the Edwardian period and who also made aircraft engines.