About us

Angus Thornes and Tim Milbank are Pride & Joy Classic Cars Limited.
We are business partners with differing backgrounds which works well in the business.

Angus has always had a keen interest in cars spending some of his childhood in America whilst his father worked in the oil industry. At the time when the Thornes family returned to Great Britain they brought with them their American car which in the 1960’s seemed so far advanced to the Austin and Morris estate cars that were on offer at the time, travelling in a “station wagon” as they were called on the other side of the “pond” and which was likely to appear on the wave of imported TV programmes at the time must have been pretty “cool” as they said then and now in fact!

For Angus’s part he has spent his life as a solicitor, which is vital in seeing that the administration is both correct to our customer’s and suppliers ensuring prompt action.

As part of our service involves project management Angus is able to assist our customer’s draw up a schedule of works with fair and reasonable completion times, combined with Tim checking on quality will ensure that our customers receive the best possible advice.

Angus realised his ambition to own a Bentley MKV1, he is the proud owner of one the first “Big bore” 4.5 litre cars. A very original car with a bench seat which was a specified option for the first owner. This car has undergone extensive works on the mechanical side and is in first class order.
Angus is a very keen to keep the car as original as possible whilst installing modern safety features.
The Thornes plan for the next five years is to tour extensively with their Bentley MKV1.

Tim Milbank is the practical side of the business, a life literally spent on and around cars starting at a very early age being set to work by his grandfather who worked in the business with both agricultural machinery and cars. As a boy travelling in different cars and asking family friends and school teacher’s what their car was like to drive and why did they choose that make and model, to this day I still have all the books and corgi toys that were to be my dreams of tomorrow. Some of his earliest memories are just looking at cars, their shapes and the sounds of their engine’s telling different Marques’s apart by their exhaust note. Tim can remember when a close family member traded his Armstrong Sidley Star Sapphire for a Jaguar MK1 saloon and just standing looking at the lines of the Jaguar for hours. Bentley’s have been a major part of Tim’s life, from cleaning and driving vintage Bentley’s as a teenager to this day constantly researching his passion for the post war range.His favourite model being the Bentley MKV1. Tim has owned many cars both current models of the day combined with another car or motorcycle which has always been his Pride & Joy. The hallmark has always been originality, as near to coming out of the factory if possible with original paint. Working on the car or motorcycle to clean each part as new getting the car “to standard” and returning the car to how it once was in its hey-day. Whilst writing this Tim can reflect on the many awards he has won over the past thirty five years of attending old vehicle shows, due mainly down to keeping his cars well maintained and their original condition.

One of the hardest projects was raising his Bentley T1 engine to concours standards, the engine bay is very detailed and complex, this took many hours of hard work resulting in a Bentley Driver’s Club win in 2003. More recently Tim has won the Charles Rolls trophy at the Essex Section Rolls Royce Enthusiasts Club for the originality and maintainace of his 1949 Bentley MKV1.

Tim’ Pride and Joy’s are his very original Bentley MKV1 saloon and his series one E type Jaguar both of which appear on the title page of the website.

With the wealth of experience in the commercial field from Angus Thornes combined with the practical experience of Tim Milbank we are able to care for your Pride & Joy, leaving you with more quality time to enjoy your car what ever the marque.

Thank you for visiting our site, we look forward to hearing from you soon.