Dee Axon is a busy woman, she runs a successful advertising agency dealing mainly with motor car and motor cycle retailers and she manages a long list of leading clients from all over the country. Dee’s phone never stops ringing; therefore she is used to working under pressure and coping with all the hassles and last minute problems that are part and parcel of the world of advertising and marketing. Although the pressures of this type of work would be more than enough for most people Dee also likes to have a hobby. Always a very active lady Dee started out with a keen interest in horses and riding but a broken back put paid to her riding and her even forced her to give up banger racing.

Dee needed a pastime that would provide a diversion from work and she turned her attention to preparing and entering the MGB roadster she had owned since 1984 for concours and condition awards. Dee does not subscribe to the chequebook school of concours building, but prefers a strictly hands-on approach. Obviously you can’t do everything, so she does not tackle resprays for the usual health and safety reasons but there are very few other jobs that Dee won’t handle personally. In the corner of her spacious and well-equipped garage stands a full car body tilting cage as well as the usual engine lifting cranes, engine stand, axle supports and trolley jacks. All this equipment enables Dee to tackle the really heavy jobs that are unavoidable when you undertake a concours standard rebuild on your own.

Dee’s preferred approach towards creating a concours winner is to start with the best car you can find, then take it apart and rebuild everything completely to the highest possible standard. However, this was not the method she was able to follow in the case of her ‘Car of the Year’, the prize winning rubber-bumper MGB GT – KUY 123T. This was originally bought by Dee’s husband for her to use as a commuting vehicle. Although the BGT drove well and looked to be sound enough on the surface, like so many old MGs, on close inspection this car proved to have considerable hidden corrosion in all the usual places and to have been extensively bodged in the past. Dee is a perfectionist and therefore she decided to turn this suspect BGT into yet another concours car.

KUY 123T went through the full treatment, the whole car was stripped right back to bare metal including the underside and when all body repairs were completed it was then re-sprayed. Dee loaned the paint shop her body-tilting jig so that the shell could be painted thoroughly, on top and also underneath.

When it comes to re-assembly Dee adopts the original factory approach and builds up much of the car as complete sub-assemblies, engine, suspension, etc. before attaching them to the painted shell. The front cross-member for example is built up with all the suspension and brakes attached and then it is bolted into place. Dee has even designed and constructed her own special front coil spring compressors to enable her to carry out this part of the build on her work bench.

Talking to Dee one quickly learns that the secret of her success is hard work, perseverance and attention to detail, and occasionally learning by her mistakes. Dee says that certain things will catch you out, especially when you rebuild something that’s been in pieces for ages. For example, despite all her careful preparation there were problems with KUY 123T’s rebuild. Dee had sourced an apparently sound front cross-member which was shot blasted and painted, but when she began to build up the steering and suspension she found that, try as she might, the steering rack would not fit. Eventually, after a great deal of frustrating effort, it became clear that the cross-member was twisted. So Dee acquired another, but this time she made sure it was straight and true by trial fitting all the major components before spending any time and trouble on cleaning and painting.

This red BGT has been built up as an entry for a condition competition, which means that the car can be tastefully modified and does not have to comply with the ‘as it left the factory’ rule. However, Dee restricted herself to only working with components from the MG model range from original factory parts bins to arrive at a very desirable specification. Dee wanted to build up a car the factory could have produced. For example, Dee has fitted LE road wheels, an RV8 steering wheel and the trim and seats have all been redone in sumptuous stone leather, while the floor is covered in high quality deep red carpeting. There is also a walnut dash with matching door cappings, so that the whole car feels luxurious and well appointed without being too flashy.

From the outset Dee wanted her hobby to be self-financing and so she became a regular participant in Autojumbles. In this way she can buy, sell or even swap those vital, rare and often unobtainable MG parts. Occasionally she will acquire an old rusted hulk that is beyond saving but that can still yield useful components for reconditioning or selling on. In this way Dee finances her hobby and she is often seen behind a stall loaded with MG components at classic car events. Dee also likes to scour the other Autojumble stands looking for new or nearly new ‘original specification’ parts that can be prepared to the highest standard before fitting them to her cars. A distinct advantage of this method is that she can retain many of the original parts and all their respective fittings as a reference.

Photographs of each rebuild are essential as a record and are also useful as a reference guide. Dee keeps meticulous photographic records of all her rebuilds.

Enjoyment is what it’s all about for Dee, after a hectic working day she loves to shut the garage door and lose herself with the task of restoring a part or preparing one of her cars to a level that most of us would call perfection. Dee thoroughly enjoys her MGs and although she is no stranger to the complexity of the many problems that can arise in the process, she has the satisfaction of a job well done. Between her concours winning Blue MGB and the Red BGT ‘Car of the Year’, is a brand new project waiting for her special attention, a very original MGC GT, OOV 123G. Look out for this MGC GT, it is bound to be another winner.

Dee’s concours success in the past has resulted in her being invited to be a judge in the 2001 Autoglym championship, she will be the first woman judge since the series was launched eight years ago. Dee is delighted to take part in the championship as she is a genuine fan of Autoglym’s products and she has been impressed by the auto polish manufacturer’s interest in their customers and by all the help she has received from them as a competitor.

She will be joined in the judging by Porsche devotee Paul Keeling. Dee has qualified for the last four Autoglym finals. The series organiser John Cole said: “We are delighted Dee and Paul have accepted our invitation to become judges. Each has impressed us with their high standard of preparation over the years, taking part in what has now become Europe’s leading concours championship.”

1. Buy the best example of the car that you can find. Start from scratch and completely rebuild it.
2. Acquire as many new or unused original specification parts as you possibly can via autojumbles etc.
3. Ask the experts, Dee says that Autoglym have always been ready to advise her on any cleaning, polishing or paint restoration related topics; even the perennial problem of how to clean those rubber bumpers.
4. Talk to your fellow entrants. Most concours enthusiasts are more than ready to share their experiences and will give each other invaluable tips on cleaning, presentation and how to pick up those vital extra points.
5. Do it yourself. There is no substitute for knowing exactly how your car operates and how every part is supposed to be fitted.
6. Do as much preparation off the car as you can. Build up sub assemblies that you can carefully assemble on your workbench.
7. Dee always drives to events and likes to travel at a reasonable speed, so she prefers to protect vulnerable areas when travelling rather than crawl along at a snail’s pace.
8. Do all your final cleaning and polishing when you arrive at the show. On a weekend event Dee likes to do the bulk of the work on the Saturday so that a) she can enjoy the Saturday night party and b) so she can enjoy the show on the Sunday.

The 2001 Autoglym championship will comprise of four regional rounds:

June 3rd MSA Classic Run, Rockingham Castle, Northants
June 24th Pageant of Motoring, Bromley, Kent
August 5th Mencap Classic, Yeovil, Somerset
August 12th Yorkshire Motor Festival, Beverley

The grand final will be held at the International Classic Motor Show at the NEC on November 17/18th 2001.