Kirby's Car Blog: Valley Gas Speed Shop

Valley Gas Speed Shop is a hot rod shop founded by owner Jimmy Hibberd in 1999. They were originally based in Newbury but relocated to Andover due to the council wanting to knock the area down to build flats.

They have the ability to work on English classic cars, standard American cars and they have built award winning hot rods and rat rods. They are also able to build race engines and custom exhaust systems. They have even been commissioned to build concept cars. Everything they do is made by hand for the customers needs, from the metalwork, fabrication and panelling to engine builds, suspension, interior and brakes. Jimmy's love of cars began when his American uncle was stationed in the UK as a U.S. Airforce pilot. Jimmy's uncle owned a red Mk1 Cortina 1500 GT. Once Jimmy's uncle returned to America he would send Jimmy photos of him racing his twin engined Ford Torino called the Green Machine. Jimmy then took an apprenticeship in Mechanics then worked his way through various welding and fabricating jobs. While out driving one day in his Rover V8, Jimmy saw Ken Brooks Rebellion (a modified Austin 7) and wanted one. Jimmy then bought a Ford Consul, chopped it and completely rebuilt it. He took it to Ken Brooks garage for an MOT. Ken was impressed at the workmanship of Jimmy's car and they became good friends. From then on Jimmy bought and rebuilt cars working seven days a week. Jimmy's most famous creation was a 1940's Willys drag racer called The Boston Brawler that could do the quarter mile in just over 9 seconds. At a drag race in Hockenheim in 1999, Jimmy's car first carried the Valley Gas Speed Shop logo and he never looked back. Jimmy's team

Micki, Steve, Steve "Banger",

Gary

, and Ben, Colin, Rob, Jimmy's wife Eloise and Amy share Jimmy's passion for cars which is a good thing as very often hours are long and hard to get cars finished for their customers.

Parked outside is the Valley Gas Speed Shop is their van and a Chevrolet Pickup truck.

At the front of the Valley Gas Speed Shop is the shop where car parts can be ordered along with a range of clothing and car parts and accessories.

Valley Gas Speed Shop has a 7,500 square foot floor area and is equipped with a folder, a guillotine, a fly press, a roller swagger tool, a chassis gig, an English wheel and many others. Below are some cars currently being worked on.

This kind of a hot rod will cost around £65,000