Specialist vintage car restorer Long Mountain Classics has been a Dobsons customer for several years and we were pleased to fabricate a new cylinder head gasket for their latest restoration project - a 1927 Crossley 20.9 Tourer. 

Engine and gearbox gaskets for pre-war cars are nearly impossible to find anywhere in the world. Long Mountain owner Ewan MacPherson places his trust in Dobson technicians to provide precise, quality gaskets fabricated from original designs. “I wouldn't use anybody else,” he explains, “There's nobody else in the UK that can do the quality that they do.”

This elegant yet powerful classic car boasts a 3.2-litre, 6-cylinder engine producing 21hp. It was manufactured by Crossley in their Manchester factory during the years leading up to the Second World War, before the company switched first to military vehicle production as part of the war effort, and then focused on busses as the post-war demand for hand-made cars diminished.

Without the ability to source replacement engine parts, every gasket has to be repaired, restored or fabricated from the original. Additionally with this car, the original head gasket was completely wrong and new measurements were needed to design a replacement.

 When you find a supplier as good as Dobson Gaskets, you stick to them like glue!

Beyond mechanical and electrical restoration, Ewan is also a CAD engineer and was able to make the much-needed changes to the original gasket design before sending the CAD file: “I sent the file off and Dobsons made a template, so we could see whether it would work,” he explains. “Once the template arrived, we only had to make a couple of very minor adjustments to holes on their template, down to a hundredth of a millimetre. We then sent that back for them to fabricate the head gasket. When the new gasket came back from Dobsons, it fitted perfectly.”

Fabricating a Cylinder Head Gasket (left) Close-up of our CNC Water Jet precision-cutting a head gasket (right).

It wasn’t just the accuracy and quality of the gaskets that impressed Long Mountain Classics. “They turned the gasket around in about five days, which is remarkable. That's why I keep going back to them. They are lovely people to deal with, always answer the phone, and if there is a problem, which sometimes is my fault, they rectify it!”

The final Cylinder Head Gasket for Long Mountain Classics (left), and in detail (right).

“They are what people in my industry need,” he continues, “and when you find a supplier as good as Dobson Gaskets, you stick to them like glue!”

The team at Dobson's are delighted that our vintage gasket production services have helped companies like Long Mountain Classics bring these magnificent vehicles back to life. Our technicians are available to discuss your gasket manufacturing needs, providing a full service from CAD design to fabricating new versions.

A big thank you to Ewan at www.longmountainclassics.co.uk for his continued custom!