Pre-war restoration & coachbuilding
To restore a pre-war motorcar is to honour an era where coachbuilding was an art form and craftsmanship was absolute.
We do not alter that history; we keep it alive. Restoration, coachbuilding and conservation of veteran, Edwardian and vintage motorcars, from our workshop on the edge of the Ashdown Forest.
- 2026First in ClassPebble Beach
- 2025Best in ShowRAC Concours
- 2024Restoration AwardRoyal Automobile Club
- 2024Best in ClassConcours of Elegance
- 2024Art of BespokeMagneto
The specialists
Forty years of coachbuilding, and a team to match
Julian Parker Ltd is first and foremost a restoration and conservation workshop, fully equipped to care for our motoring history. Alongside the workshop, we sell exceptional historic vehicles and automobilia.
Julian has more than 40 years’ coachbuilding experience, preserving some of the world’s finest early automobiles. Around him he has brought together specialists in metal, ash framing and paint, so a car can stay under one roof from the first conversation to the finished result.
We are rigorous about the detail that tells you a car is just as it should be.
Three disciplines
Metal, wood and paint, all in-house
Our metal and wood specialists can confer at any point in a project, which is how the best results come about.
Metal
Panels gas-welded and shaped by hand on the English wheel. Julian can make almost any form from metal.
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Wood
One of the last workshops with its own ash-frame specialist, splicing in new timber and keeping as much of the original as possible.
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Paint
Correct cellulose finishes, brush painting, signwriting, pinstriping and the careful stabilising of original paint.
Find out moreFeatured project
The 1927 Bentley 3 Litre Speed boat-tail
First in Class
Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance · California · August 2026
Nearly four years of research, coachbuilding and conservation returned a unique Martin Walter body to the way it left Folkestone in 1927, working from just three period photographs.
At the 75th Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, under its new owner Edward Gregory, the Bentley took First in Class: one of the most coveted results in the car world, and Julian was there to see it. It had already won Best in Class and the Magneto Art of Bespoke Award at Hampton Court Palace in 2024, the RAC Historic Award for Restoration, and Best in Show at the first RAC Concours in 2025.
All our awardsFor sale
Motorcars & bicycles
Eureka ‘Sport 23’ Pedal Car
A highly original boat-tailed pedal car from the French maker Eureka, still in its red and blue paint.
£12,500
46-inch Transitional Starley Bicycle
From the company James Starley founded with his sons in 1870, at the start of the British bicycle industry.
Price on application
1869 Compagnie Parisienne Velocipede
Frame number 2635, from the company that grew out of Pierre Michaux’s workshop.
Price on application
How we think about a car
What makes a motorcar significant?
We borrow Historic England’s way of judging what makes a building significant, and apply it to every vehicle we advise on.
Evidential value
How the vehicle reveals evidence about past human activity.
Historical value
The stories these vehicles tell, connecting people and their lives, past, present and future.
Aesthetic value
The sensory and intellectual stimulation that a vehicle or object can evoke.
Communal value
All that a car, bicycle or piece of automobilia means to those for whom it features in experience and memory.
In their words
From our clients
“With their care, sympathetic consideration and vast experience, I am delighted with the result of their work and can recommend them with the highest regard to produce exactly what you require with no surprises.”
“Julian and his entire team are a pleasure to work with. The specialist knowledge held by Julian and his team ensures outstanding attention to detail. I always felt that I was a ‘special’ customer.”
“Impressive classic car restorers, especially pre-war. Very tidy workshop and the restoration work is sympathetic, and not over the top.”
Journal
From the workshop
A Pebble Beach win
The 1927 Bentley 3 Litre boat-tail we restored took First in Class at the 75th Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
From pedals to pistons
Why bicycles and early motorcars belong together, and why so many great marques began as bicycle makers.
The fabric-bodied Austin Seven
How the dry climate of southern Spain, and Franco’s austerity years, preserved a 1928 fabric-bodied Austin Seven.
Visit the workshop
Visit us at Hillsdown Farm
Our workshop is in a secure rural farm setting on the Ashdown Forest in East Sussex. We welcome visitors by appointment, so please call or write before you travel.