About us
About me: JGClassics and our passion for classic vehicles
My name is Javier Guevara. I am in the Maresme area, near Mataró, in the province of Barcelona, Spain. I started working around classic cars in 1996 with the reconditioning of an Opel Manta engine.
Since then, and moved by a growing passion for vehicles of a certain age, as well as the curiosity to understand the technical solutions of the cars of another time, solutions that are precursors of those of today’s cars, I began to take the activity further and further, acquiring new classic vehicles -and working on their reconditioning. Thanks to the fact of keep working around this activity for some years, made me lucky enough to meet great professionals and passionate about this world of classic cars, as well as to collect a considerable amount of information and documentation.
At this point, I thought it would be interesting to professionalize the activity in order to better share the experience and information that others had generously shared with me. Thus, after several months of work, the portal JGClassics.com was born to offer a wide range of classic car related services.
My work philosophy: How do we maintain our classic vehicles
I have always thought that a classic vehicle should be kept in the best possible condition and above all, that the contemplation of the vehicle mentally transports the observer to the era in which the car was. I really believe that a classic car is a bit like a workart: it has to deliver some kind of feeling. If the vehicle does not transmit anything, then it will be just seen as an “old car”, not as a “classic car”.
This perception of “classic car” is precisely what I try to achieve with all the vehicles that have passed through me and other colleagues with whom I have worked. We want the vehicle to generate some kind of sensation, without the person necessarily having to be a motor enthusiast.
The greatest success of a classic car is that its presence turns the eyes of any anonymous person on the street.
I like to bring a vehicle as close as possible to its original state, but personally I do not consider myself a purist -and this is only my personal position, which does not imply that it is obviously the best or the worst-. If I am forced to choose, I prefer a reliable result rather than a purely original one. For certain parts, I prefer a newly manufactured replacement part than an old stock part, no matter how much “original” is a 50 years old spare part (I have bumped into some of them). If the paint is in bad condition, I prefer a whole paint renovation job than speding energies on the preservation of the old paint, no matter how original it may be, -and ir sure, after that, in the renovation job, we will make sure that the color of the car becomes indistinguishable from the original-. But I insist: This is only my personal view, and I have never tried to make dogma of it.
In this way, I have no problem in using new generation materials in restorations or reconditioning, even with the goal of improving the result: I show you two examples:
The Renault Dauphine (Gordini). This model suffered from a great lack of insulating elements. Although it was much more luxurious – within its category and by the standards of the time – than its predecessor (the Renault 4CV), the thickness of the sheet metal was really weak, and the insulating elements were very limited. Not to mention that in restorations, the internal fittings in this model of vehicle often appear in very poor condition, due to the passage of time.
In ours, one of the things that was done -after a complete restoration of the interior and doors- was to insulate the interiors with insulation material. NOICO, and placing a thermal insulator over it. All these materials installed between the interior sheet metal and upholstery trim (including the engine firewall area). The rubber mats, which were in very poor condition due to the passage of time, were also replaced with a complete carpeting made from scratch. Result: The car is much quieter inside, keeps the temperature better, is more comfortable, is more beautiful (even if it is “less original”, this is true) and the inner layers of protection and insulation are completely invisible.
Here you can see a sample of the interior refurbishment work.
The BMW E21 323i: Although this model had a very good reputation regarding its quality in interiors, it had very bad acoustics if you wanted to install an audio system: With ours, we wanted to meet the challenge of installing a great car audio system without compromising the aesthetics of the interior. We wanted to leave a cabin compatible with the sports sedan that it was, and above all, maintain the sobriety and elegance that characterized it.
With a Blaupunkt car radio, which at the time of the car was a high-end model -and with a great quality even by today’s standards-, we installed a system of amplifiers and extra speakers invisibly, partly in the original locations and partly integrated into the panels, taking advantage of the total reupholstery that was going to be done to the interior of the car.
Now this vehicle provides an amazing audio experience that surprises everyone who has checked it. But none of the added elements are visible: Nothing compromises the aesthetics, and there are no irreversible marks on the car, if whenever is decided to uninstall the audio system.
I am aware of the technical and/or economic constraints during the restoration of a classic car, as well as that it is usually advisable to balance between the amooun invested and the final value of the car we will obtain. But even with that premise in mind, I work in every case to arrive as far as I can. I always try, in the cars that come to my hands, not to leave out any element whose improvement I consider can reasonably be undertaken. That is why, for example, I invest a lot of extra time in reconditioning parts of the car that are not visible and also why I usually check several times the final work from all angles, in order to optimize as much as possible the overall result, returning if necessary, in order to improve, retouch or optimize what has already been done.
This classic car WEB site
As I said, during those years, I have been getting some experience in the subject, meeting many people -professionals or amateurs- and above all I have been collecting a lot of information, which we are sharing in a completely free and open way in the form of articles, reference pages, directly to anyone who wants to contact us, in open comments, via contact form, or by any other means. This is the primary objective of this portal JGClassics.com.
We also provide our vehicles and – in the near future those of other collaborators – at the disposal of those who need them, under the best economic and commercial conditions possible.Contact us at if this is your case.
I hope you find your visit to this site pleasant and useful. We will be glad to have you here frequently. If this site ends up representing a small contribution to the success of your classic car project, whatever it may be, that will be our best reward.
At JG Classics we are always available and happy to help you.
Javier Guevara Vico
February 2023