[Jewel 25]

Hi all, I'm looking at getting a bootlid sprayed and a scratch sorted on a rear quarter panel . Any recommendations for bodyshops in the East Midlands area?

[Mr Teddy Bear]

I come from Nottingham originally, every where I took a car for paint made a slap dash job of it and had to be made to do it again.
My advice would be to seek out some recommendations from the West Midlands, Brummies tend to have fond memories of Rover still. Perhaps talk to Jon the Treasurer, he has restored his early 216 and must have a favourite body shop.

[Jewel 25]

Thanks for the reply. I'll take that into consideration.

[Johnny 216GSi]

I've only ever used 2 body shops in the West Midlands.

Mick Hadley's, who originally did the lower half of the car and the rear sill replacement. It was a good job. They spray everything from fibreglass race cars to light aircraft. They know what they're doing. https://mickhadleyautos.co.uk/

I used Auto Repaint for the glass-out respray. Also a good job. Auto Repaint on 01384 573743. They're about 2 miles outside Stourbridge, or about 15 miles West of Birmingham if you prefer. They've got the local contract for Uber body repairs, and they do 24-hour site turnaround jobs too. It's all commercial these days, but they push two or so private jobs through the shop a year to help pay the bills. I liked it because I could go in every day and do which bits I needed to do. They let me strip the car and rebuild it to my liking, for a £500 discount.

I've used Paintshop Pros for the underbody work (Contact Gavin Downs, they're about 16 miles SW of Milton Keynes. https://www.thepaintshoppros.co.uk/). They run 2 businesses side by side. One for underbody / rust proofing and one for bodywork / resprays. If you look at their work, you can see he knows what he's doing. He'll even do a tinted chrome finish for you so your car looks like a Christmas tree bauble, if you pay him enough money.