The specialist: TI Developments

By Martin Buckley

| 16 May 2025

Classic & Sports Car – The specialist: TI Developments

TI Developments is best described as a specialist in the art of being an accomplished all-rounder, with it providing fabrication, maintenance, paint and tailored upgrades for classic car owners.

It comes highly recommended by the local high-end classic car trade as the place to go for an uncompromising paint finish.

“We want to give our customers a chance to immerse themselves with like-minded people who are enthusiastic about the industry,” says Martin Boon, who founded TI four years ago.

A classic car’s chassis is prepared at TI Developments in Wiltshire

The firm is a team of 12, based on the West Wilts Trading Estate (former home of Marcos Cars), and has a growing reputation for not only show-standard work to factory spec, but also unusual and imaginative projects somewhere between ‘custom’ and ‘restomod’.

Current examples include a widened, low-roofed, early Morris Minor done in almost a ‘factory’ way and a cunningly shortened two-door Range Rover reimagined in the style of a Ford Bronco: you have to give it a second look to notice.

“It came in as a running car,” says Martin. “We did a four-door for the same customer.”

The TI Developments team is skilled across many disciplines. Pictured are (from left): Rob Taylor, Ben and Andy Rowett, and Bill Lee

The Morris Minor was a huge amount of work, but he adds: “Nobody ever notices the differences until I point them out.

“I like to think we have done things tastefully and to a nicely executed standard.”

Martin grew up around old cars (his dad specialised in air-cooled VWs) and he completed his apprenticeship with a modern garage before getting a job at Spencer Lane-Jones – now SLJ Hackett – in Bristol, some 20 years ago.

“I worked there for 16 years, but reached the stage where I wanted to break out on my own,” he says.

The Riley (left) is getting a turbodiesel engine for towing

The team Martin has built around him boasts a wealth of knowledge, but he says finding good, skilled staff is a hard task.

TI Developments has expanded to two locations on the estate: the original building deals mostly with welding, fabrication and bodywork preparation; the more recently acquired (and larger) premises over the road is a dedicated workshop and sales showroom.

In both cases the feel is clean lines and tidy spaces, with a newly designed ‘customer lounge’ that makes you want to linger and enjoy the view.

During our visit, the team is building up a fast-road Wolseley 1500 for a valued customer, having already worked on his Volvo Amazon and Series II Land-Rover.

TI Developments doesn’t shy away from extensive modifications to common classic cars; this two-door Range Rover (top) is being shortened by 14in to give it a Ford Bronco look

But you can also find a 1935 Lagonda M45, an Aston Martin DB6 and an Alfa Romeo Giulia Zagato in various stages of work.

Oddities include a Citroën H-type van, an Isetta bubble car and an early Ford Transit.

Given Martin’s early association with the marque, Bristols are a feature.

A black 400 is in the workshop, as is a bare-aluminium 403 (it’s fascinating to see the beautiful original welding compared with the crude crash repairs on the naked body), but the eye is drawn to a pale-pink 603.

The shell of a fast-road Wolseley 1500 project

“It looked rough when it came in, but the aluminium was good,” Martin says.

“The owners wanted it sprayed pink, but we advised that it narrowed their options should they wish to sell. So we painted it anthracite, then wrapped it in pink.”

The customer’s faith in Martin’s judgement was repaid when the 603 won the Bristol Owners’ Club’s Syd Lovesey Trophy, for ‘the car people wanted to take home’.

A personal favourite for Martin is the timeless W113 Mercedes-Benz SL Pagoda, and another Mercedes project is the recommissioning of an early-’60s 300SE Cabriolet for the Longleat estate.

“We don’t charge up front or mess people around,” confirms Martin. “We can offer bespoke stuff and make new panels or even a whole body, but we’re also happy just patching a sill.”

Images: John Bradshaw