Western lancia was set up by Alan Wesson in late 2004 and since then has been gaining a reputation for friendly, high-quality service at very competitive prices.

In the beginning we concentrated mainly on mechanical repairs to Lancias, restoration and re commissioning, but over the last couple of years we have moved more and more towards body repairs, and in particular fighting rust, which was always Alan’s interest, and we are now moving into a new premises which will allow us to expand this part of the business.

Alan has over 30 years of experience of fighting rust and repairing bodywork, having had to start treating rust on his father’s 1972 Fiat 125 Special, the family’s first Italian car, when it was 1 year old and he was 15, in 1973!

We have recently also taken on a brilliant young bodywork specialist (Trigger!), who when he isn’t making beautiful, high quality panels, doing fantastic butt welding, or painting cars to close to factory standard, is the lead singer in the well-known West Country band ‘Trigger Happy’.

Mick, our resident mechanical genius, is a former F2 racing mechanic and was working for an Italian and supercar specialist in the 70s when the Beta and Gamma were current. He then spent nearly 20 years restoring classic Lotuses, which we still do as a partner business.

Please see the photo gallery for examples of some of Alan’s, Trigger’s and Mick’s restorations or part-restorations over the years. As you can see from some of the detail shots, we are VERY thorough, and we do our work with the aim that it shouldn’t need doing again for some considerable time.

This attitude comes from owning classic cars long-term. If you own a car for 10 or 20 years you certainly don’t want to keep redoing the rust, so it is vital to get it right first time. We extend this attitude towards our customers’ cars.

If you feel bold enough to have a go at fighting the rust and doing bodywork yourself, we sell a small booklet called GOT RUST? to act as a handbook for fighting rust. This is available for £3.99 + P&P, and can be a valuable help if (for instance) you want us to do the hardest work and then maybe carry on with some of the less serious rust yourself. See www.gotrust.co.uk