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The NRE May/June 2004 Readers Prize Draw and Offer

I am very pleased to be able to announce that the NRE May/June 2004 Readers Prize Draw has now been drawn.

As there are 5 winners I will not be listing their names but you may be interested to know exactly which diagrams they requested. They were as follows:

• MGB 1967
• Triumph Spitfire Mark 1 & 2
• Sunbeam Tiger Mark 1
• Sunbeam Alpine Series 5
• MGB 1971

Incidentally, one of these is being despatched to the United States.

Once again I would like to express my huge thanks to NRE for very generously donating the prizes. They are continually extending their range so I suggest that you keep a close watch on their website to see the latest releases.

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.