Oldandgrumpy
New Member
Tony Fowkes Automobiles, Park Royal Industrial Estate West London
Heres the background. I have a lovely 1994 E320 Coupe. Due to a pending MOT I needed some rust around the jacking points sorted and had booked the car in based on a recommendation.
Tony Fowkes Automobiles is owned and run by the sons of Tony Fowkes, an ex-works Mercedes Benz Rally driver, who is still alive and well and often drops into the company to keep everyone on their toes. The company has looked after Mercedes for the past forty years and are used for insurance repairs for Mercedes Benz and other prestige marques. There are black and white photographs of Fowkes senior hurling race prepared Mercedes saloons about in the 60's on one of the walls to the shop.
I was taken through a detailed explanation of how the repair would be carried out by one of his sons who started out as a model maker before joining his father's company. I have worked in the design business for thirty years and have had a lot of experience working with model makers. They all share the same deeply ingrained characteristics- a compulsive drive for perfection, and a fastidious attention to detail. They can't help themselves. So I felt pretty confident and dropped the car of latter in the week and all was set.
Thats when chaos ensued. I had a call from France to tell me a very close friend had been taken to hospital for emergency spinal surgery. It was one of those " It might be a good idea to come now, just in case..." calls that we all dread.
So I called Jenine, the cheerful and very efficient administrator. It looked to me like I would have to reset the job so we agreed that I would pick up the car that afternoon. The problem was that this might not allow me to get back in time to get the job done before the MOT was due. Wonderful how problems compile isn't it?
Less than an hour latter Jenine called back to tell me they had relooked the schedule and could get the job completed for me In time if they moved another job back-talk about service! They were as good as their word and the car was ready to go bang on time. They showed me what they had done and it was a great job, then told me they had noticed that some of the rubber bushes for the drivers side window had perished and had ordered them from Mercedes for me. They had also replaced the nylon ties that are attached to the jack point covers and had re-attached the drivers door lower panel that was slightly loose due to a clip failing. No extra charge for any of the additional work.
See what I mean about attention to detail.
The standard of work was excellent and I will be back to arrange for some of the minor blemishes on the bodywork to be sorted before the onset of Winter. Highly recommended!
Heres the background. I have a lovely 1994 E320 Coupe. Due to a pending MOT I needed some rust around the jacking points sorted and had booked the car in based on a recommendation.
Tony Fowkes Automobiles is owned and run by the sons of Tony Fowkes, an ex-works Mercedes Benz Rally driver, who is still alive and well and often drops into the company to keep everyone on their toes. The company has looked after Mercedes for the past forty years and are used for insurance repairs for Mercedes Benz and other prestige marques. There are black and white photographs of Fowkes senior hurling race prepared Mercedes saloons about in the 60's on one of the walls to the shop.
I was taken through a detailed explanation of how the repair would be carried out by one of his sons who started out as a model maker before joining his father's company. I have worked in the design business for thirty years and have had a lot of experience working with model makers. They all share the same deeply ingrained characteristics- a compulsive drive for perfection, and a fastidious attention to detail. They can't help themselves. So I felt pretty confident and dropped the car of latter in the week and all was set.
Thats when chaos ensued. I had a call from France to tell me a very close friend had been taken to hospital for emergency spinal surgery. It was one of those " It might be a good idea to come now, just in case..." calls that we all dread.
So I called Jenine, the cheerful and very efficient administrator. It looked to me like I would have to reset the job so we agreed that I would pick up the car that afternoon. The problem was that this might not allow me to get back in time to get the job done before the MOT was due. Wonderful how problems compile isn't it?
Less than an hour latter Jenine called back to tell me they had relooked the schedule and could get the job completed for me In time if they moved another job back-talk about service! They were as good as their word and the car was ready to go bang on time. They showed me what they had done and it was a great job, then told me they had noticed that some of the rubber bushes for the drivers side window had perished and had ordered them from Mercedes for me. They had also replaced the nylon ties that are attached to the jack point covers and had re-attached the drivers door lower panel that was slightly loose due to a clip failing. No extra charge for any of the additional work.
See what I mean about attention to detail.
The standard of work was excellent and I will be back to arrange for some of the minor blemishes on the bodywork to be sorted before the onset of Winter. Highly recommended!
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