Passion and perfection

When he started the business, Jim Stokes was probably regarded as somewhat eccentric. This was in the years before classic cars had become collectibles for billionaires, and ‘safe’ repositories for global capital, much like Old Masters have become since.

Mr Stokes’ almost singular obsession at the time was the Alfa Romeo 8C, which the Milan-based company built from 1931 to 1939. The straight-eight engine and its chassis was configured in various guises for road and track over the years by the likes of Enzo Ferrari’s fledgling Scuderia, as well as the works Alfa team.

What no one really knew when the young Jim Stokes first began his fettling and restoration activities was that the 8C’s scarcity and illustrious history would eventually make it one of the most sought-after vintage cars in the world. Auction houses love them for the seven and eight figure prices they command.

In the intervening years, JSW Group has built a reputation around the world for 8C expertise, as well as in-depth knowledge for similarly rare and exotic Aston Martins, Ferraris, Jaguars, Lancias, Mercedes’ and Rolls-Royces which pass through for repairs, pre- and post-race TLC and, occasionally, full restorations.

The rate of expansion has been very impressive for a small, family-run business, with employee numbers tripling to 65 in the last 10 years. Commendably it employs apprentices in every division.

The ‘V8s’, as Mr Stokes calls them, allow Triple M (Triple M is the manufacturing arm of the JSW Group) to produce one-offs or batches of better-than-new components such as cylinder heads, cylinder blocks, valves, crankcases, carburettors, oil and water pumps, and more besides. He is a big advocate of Haas machine tools.

“I like the American engineering and I like the way Haas machines work,” he says “They’ve proven themselves as hard working, reliable machines and they’ve allowed us to bring so much more of our part manufacturing back in-house.”

On any particular weekday, the JSW Group garage may contain several Alfa 8Cs, usually owned by media-shy big-name collectors or well-known, very successful business people. A frequent visitor to the shop is the 1932 Le Mans 24-hour race winner.

“The owner of that car, like many others, would not race it with the original engine; it’s too valuable from a historic point of view. Instead, we manufacture a replacement engine to his specification. We can do that with any component.

“So if you want to race these things hard, you can do it without damaging the original vehicle. All of the component machining is done on the Haas machines; we have to machine very large crankcases for 8C engines so we need something with 1.6m of travel, which means the VF-6 vertical machining centre is perfect.

“It has plenty of tools (24+1) and we also have a fourth-axis on it which we use when we run the machine overnight for making parts like stub axles,” he adds. “During the day we use the rest of the bed for other jobs. For instance, at the moment we’re running cylinder blocks, which we make in two identical halves.”

The Haas machines also produce parts for the group’s Classics by JSW division. This is where the company restores, repairs, and rebuilds more ‘affordable’ classic cars, including Porsche 911s, MGs, and even humble Morris Minors.

The Haas machines are used to make components that are simply no longer available. By machining in-house, Jim Stokes can control the quality of the parts and subtly improve the original designs where appropriate: “I can take a job, put it on any of the Haas machines and get the same result in terms of quality and repeatability,” he enthuses.

JSW has five CNC machines all of which are Haas. “They’re all permanently occupied,” says Chris Green, marketing and design manager. “From the first machine we had in 1995 to our latest, nothing stands idle. Our latest investment is a VF-2TR 5-axis vertical machining centre. The minute it was plugged in it was running – and has been ever since earning money.

“Currently it’s making cross-shaft seal housings for a pre-war 6C Alpha. These would have taken an hour to machine but with the 5-axis it’s completed in six minutes, and it’s very highly polished. Next, we’ll be making oil pumps – which is very intricate, fast work.”

He concludes: “We’ve always been happy with the service as well. If it has been anything other than exemplary Jim wouldn’t have had any more Haas’ in the workshop. It’s reliable and super-precise; as a customer driven company we recognise good service when we receive it and this is just as we would want to deliver.”

Haas www.haas.co.uk

Jim Stokes Workshops www.jswl.co.uk