![Bailey Morris Ltd is a propshaft maker with workshops in west London and Cambridgeshire Classic & Sports Car – The specialist: Bailey Morris Ltd](/sites/default/files/styles/article/public/2024-07/Classic-%26-Sports-Car-The-specialist-Bailey-Morris-Ltd-LEAD.png?itok=MQnaoxUj)
In a high-tech world, it’s refreshing to see some things going on as they always have.
At Bailey Morris, venerable machines line up like old grey retainers, still earning their living.
Thirty propshafts a day come out of the manufacture and service department, built or repaired and reconditioned in the most traditional way, which includes skill and feel behind tonnes of hydraulic force.
![Classic car propshafts are repaired in the Bailey Morris Ltd workshop Classic & Sports Car – The specialist: Bailey Morris Ltd](/sites/default/files/2024-07/Classic-%26-Sports-Car-The-specialist-Bailey-Morris-Ltd-01.png)
The Bailey Morris Ltd workshop uses traditional machines to make propshafts for classic cars
Riding herd is Brian Presland, who’s been with the company for 27 years and is “passionate about props”.
His favourite machine is the converted Vickers press that is used to straighten shafts after welding has inevitably pulled them slightly out of line.
He demonstrates on a new shaft destined for a Jaguar, gradually fiddling it to a 0.1mm run-out, well within the Bailey Morris tolerance of 0.3mm down the entire length of the shaft (compared with the ‘modern’ tolerance of 0.5mm).
“I love this old machine,” he beams. “It needs a bit of skill. I could do this all day.”
![Bailey Morris Ltd specialises in propshafts for classic and modern vehicles Classic & Sports Car – The specialist: Bailey Morris Ltd](/sites/default/files/2024-07/Classic-%26-Sports-Car-The-specialist-Bailey-Morris-Ltd-03.png)
Rebuilding a universal joint is a specialist task