History
Martin Robey founded the Company in 1978 while working as a Time Served Sheet Metal Engineer, he started to manufacture a Front Wheel Arch repair for MK.II Saloons as a joint venture with a friend this was one of the first high quality repair panels made available at that time and demand soon took off in what was the early beginning of the Classic Car Movement, at the same time a S Type Saloon was being restored and the Body Shell had extensive corrosion, the owner provided a number of original Jaguar Body Panels but parts such as Sills, Jacking Points, Chassis Sections etc., were only available as general spurious repair panels, these were not considered acceptable as they bared little resemblance to the originals both from a dimensional or material aspect, therefore Martin Robey made the necessary parts creating Templates and simple Jigs to aid future manufacture of the parts if necessary at a later date.

The car when finished brought in other orders for similar work and the parts were showed to an existing Parts Dealer of such parts and orders were placed from then on, it has been both gradual expansion of the business with certain leaps and bounds and many milestones on the way.

Pressing and Forming of the higher demand parts soon took over from Hand Working with a Tool Making Programme started that is still running to date with Models, Patterns, Casting and Machining being carried out In House, some parts usually low volume large Body Panels are sill made by hand using the traditional skills of the Sheet Metal Worker and Panel Beater.

Manufacturing is now assisted with the latest technology being incorporated such as Cad Cam designing to run CNC Machines that eliminates a lot of labour intensive tasks, a wide variety of Plant and Equipment is on Site to cover most aspects of manufacturing from Folding, Forming, Spot, Mig, Tig Welding, large Double action Power Presses and a 5 Axis Laser Profiling Machine.

The manufacturing did not stop at Body Parts, soon Fixtures, Fittings, Engine Frames, Heater Boxes, Hood Frames came into production in fact virtually anything that needed to be made was, in fact over 5,000 individual parts are made today by Engineering Limited for Non Current Jaguars.

In about 1981 the Company commenced supplying Parts via Mail Order to Retail Customers, this was another Milestone and expansion was soon needed to cope with incoming orders, the new Mail Order facility was the beginning of the Parts Department, which led to this section branching off from Engineering to become a separate company, Martin Robey Sales Limited.
A purpose designed Industrial Unit of 10,000 square feet was built and the Company transferred to the new site in September 1982 which is still the present location albeit a little larger today with a Parts Department and Warehouse for Sales plus Panel Shop, Press Shop, Paint Shop, Body Build Area and Service and Restoration Section totalling over 35,000 square feet on a 2 acre site. The largest and most comprehensive of any Company in the Classic Jaguar World.

During the late 70's and 80's E Type Jaguars could be bought for just a few hundred pounds one reason being the cost and difficulty or repairing the usually heavily corroded Monocoques (or Bodies), Martin Robey had made almost every Body Panel needed but the cost of repairing these Monocoques was almost prohibitive to carry out, it took a great number of hours just to remove the corroded parts and prepare the area for new ones, this was felt to be negative time spent, and coupled with the fact that most of the Monocoques had been subjected to every sort of incorrect repair imaginable. Therefore Martin Robey created a fixed priced system for repairing these units where every part of the Monocoque would be discarded except the Bulkhead or Fire Wall this was usually repairable and when added to all new other sections a fixed price High Quality Body shell ready for the Paint Processes was available, these were called 'System Rebuilds' One, Two and Three dependant on various stages of completion. While these Units were being built the Bulkhead Unit was being Tooled Up for, it was not long before 100% Complete Body shells were available for the Series One and Two Drop Head Coupes or otherwise called 'Roadsters'. During 1994 the first V12 Series Three Body Shell was manufactured and is now an available item.

With the wide variety of skills and equipment in the Motor, Motor Cycle Industry, Aircraft, Defence and domestic markets has enabled the Company to offer Sub Contract work to other companies in the Motor Industry and Domestic Market. During the boom times for Classic Cars in the Eighties demand for parts from Sales Limited was so high that despite the workforce rising to over 120 people Twilight and Night Shifts with maximum overtime being used this led to virtually all Sub Contract Work having to be turned down, but today with the Classic Cars finding a more stable climate and continued expansion of the premises Sub Contract Work is playing an important roll in Engineering Limited especially in the Architectural Manufacturing Sector.

The total Restoration of E Types and other models started in about 1981 and is still running today, with the emphasis on quality and high degree of Engineering content to ensure everything is restored not just a Gloss Over.

During 2000-2001 Jaguar Heritage commissioned Martin Robey Engineering Ltd., to restore the First and Last Production E Types 77RW and HDU555N with only 16 weeks to complete the restoration of 77RW before the commemoration of the launch of the E Type in 1961 at Geneva an epic project was undertaken, being a virtual prototype many of the parts were hand made again to retain the authenticity of the vehicle which called upon all of the wide range skills available at the Works. The vehicles were completed in time for the return to Geneva and they are proudly on display at the Jaguar Heritage Museum in Coventry.

A Sub Contract job that was running during the Eighties was to produce Pressings for the then Jensen Car Company Limited, during 91-92 Martin Robey became involved in negotiations with the owners of the Company to purchase the business outright however, agreement was never reached on a buying price and Martin Robey walked away while still expressing a wish to purchase the Company if a price could be agreed however, for the next year or so it was widely publicized and rumoured that a contract was imminently to be signed by others to purchase the Company, but this did not happen and due to a serious illness of the Chairman and Owner of Jensen Cars Co Ltd., the Company was placed into liquidation and the Company was offered for sale, Martin Robey made his interest known to the Liquidators but kept a low profile, unlike some. Once again the signing of a Sales Contract was imminent with others but failed to materialise. Time was running out for Jensen staying together and the Liquidators were reaching a position that if someone did not put some money on the table soon the whole lot would be auctioned off, split up for ever. Martin Robey placed a no nonsense deal to the Liquidators and for several days negotiated a purchase figure for the entire Assets of the Company from a Hotel via telephone and fax in the Canary Isles. A 'Subject to Contract' deal was struck and the Sales Contract was signed and completed on 28th April 1993.

The reasoning behind this move was because Martin Robey firmly believed that the Assets being the Historical Data, Tooling, Parts and Expertise in the few remaining employees should be kept together to establish a sound parts supply to keep the vehicles on the road and secondly to maintain the possiblity of future Car Production.

What intrigued Martin Robey apart from the actual History and future business venture was the completeness of the Company although only a small number of New Cars have been built since the collapse of Jensen in 1976 the Press Tools, Assembly Jigs, Drawings, Data etc, were mostly altogether at the Works, and as the necessary Skills, Plant and Equipment to produce parts were already available at Martin Robey Engineering Limited coupled with the skills and experience of the few remaining staff of Jensen that would hopefully join the new venture, Sales, Servicing and Restoration of Jensen and Jensen Healey Motor Cars would soon be possible. And we are proud to say that is exactly what happened.

In 1999 Martin Robey was officially appointed as the Jaguar Daimler Classic Parts Specialist and is the only Non Franchised Specialist Company to be appointed.

The Jaguar Daimler genuine Classic Parts range comprises genuine jaguar specification and approved original classic parts, Jaguar Daimler Heritage brand merchandise, Classic lubricants and a range of Classic Carcare consumables. The full range can be purchased through Martin Robey Sales Ltd who has been specially selected and approved by the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust to provide in-depth parts services support.

The Jaguar Daimler genuine Classic Parts service is initially aimed at the more recent classic vehicles, such as Series 1, 11 and 111 saloons and the early XJ-S models. Many of the parts are manufactured from the original tooling. The extensive archives held by Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, Jaguar original production drawings, Jaguar Original Equipment (O.E) component specification and Jaguar Engineering approvals are integral to further development and continual improvements to the classic parts range and supporting services.