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The NRE May/June 2004 Readers Prize Draw and Offer

It seems as if entry to this competition has been causing some confusion this month. As a result we will be extending the entry deadline to 15^th June 2004.

Successful entry into the competition will be confirmed to you by email. If you have entered the competition but have not received an email then please enter again paying careful attention to the revised instructions.

Our friends at NRE are very kindly offering five (5) full colour wiring diagram posters from the current range as prizes for a free readers draw.

The prize includes worldwide postage so this month the competition is open to our readers from around the globe!

In addition to this, during May 2004 readers of Classic Car Times can order a full colour poster from the NRE Range at a discount price of just £10.00 (plus P&P) through E Mail nrelectrical@aol.com or by telephone on 01277 824017. (Please Quote Classic Car Times when calling).

To see details of how to enter this competition, login and return to this page.

So don't delay, login to the site right now to enter the draw.

If you haven't previously registered then please click here to register now, remembering to read our terms & conditions first.

How it all began

One of the truths of classic car ownership is that most Classic Car owners simply dread working on their car’s electrical systems. How many times have you found yourself desperately trying to follow the small, faded, black and white diagrams in the back of old workshop manuals, matching code letters to lines that seem to twist and turn themselves into knots as they cross the page!

Following where the lines start and finish is hard enough and matching the code letters to the right lines is challenging at the best of times. As we all get older and the eyesight gets worse the whole process seems to get even harder.

It was after having struggled with a typical workshop wiring diagram that young entreprenaur Nick Raymond came up with what is proving to be a brilliant idea that is benefiting classic car enthusiasts all over the world.

Working on his recently purchased Sunbeam Alpine Series IV and faced with the seemingly impossible task of matching 40 year old wiring to 40 year old black and white wiring diagrams Nick decided to use is experience as an accomplished computer user to try a completely new approach. He set about redrawing the wiring diagrams from scratch in full colour on computer and in A3 (Poster) size.

The Sunbeam waited in the garage, Nick disappeared to his computer. Several days later he returned, armed with a tool that would quickly tame the Sunbeam’s electrics and provide a foundation for a brand new Classic Car supplier business.

Armed with this first full colour poster Nick was able to easily rewire the old Sunbeam. Using the poster in the workshop Nick gained practical experience of how to develop the product and make it perfect for Classic enthusiasts. Nick found that laminating the posters in plastic made them very resistant to stains so even when covered with the inevitable grubby finger prints in the garage, they simply wipe clean to be as good as new.

Having produced that first poster, rewired the Alpine and no longer needing it, Nick decided to advertise it on E Bay the Internet auction site in case any other owner should be interested. That first wiring diagram attracted a huge number of bidders worldwide, finally being sold for £26 to a Sunbeam Alpine owner in Australia.

Those unsuccessful bidders who hadn’t won the poster in the auction started to contact Nick directly asking if there were any more of these wiring diagrams available, and overnight NRE (Nick Raymond Electrical) was born.

Within weeks owners of other Series of Sunbeam Alpine were contacting NRE and gradually other classic car owners too found their way to the website.

NRE purchased high quality colour poster printing and laminating machines to ensure a consistancy of production and set a recommended retail price of £16.00 for each poster. The whole range is available to dealers who would like to stock the product and some classic mechanics have started to collect the whole range as they make ideal workshop wall decoration that also serve a useful purpose.

Various Marque Owners Club’s have quickly caught on to the value of this product and have started requesting the production of posters for their specific models. (NRE will produce posters for ANY Classic vehicle subject to an initial order of 25 posters).

The range continues to grow and currently the company boast 17 wiring diagrams for Sunbeam Alpines (Series I-V) and Tigers (Mk I, Ia, II), Various MGB’s, Mini’s, Triumph Spitfire’s, Frogeye Sprite and now MG Midgets or Austin Healey Sprite II-IV.

Each wiring diagram is drawn on computer from scratch and takes between 14 and 30 hours to produce in draft depending on the model’s complexity. This doesn’t include the time it takes to check accuracy of the drawings and actually produce the product.

Check out the NRE website at www.nickraymondelectrical.co.uk.