Anyone even half familiar with the UK kitcar scene will be aware of a company called Stafford Vehicle Components who have been supplying (mainly) lighting parts for over 25 years. Anthony Stafford was the man behind the company and who seemingly was ever present at every kitcar show building up an unbeatable reputation for quality merchandise and for being a nice person to boot. Around two years ago Anthony decided he wanted to slow down a bit and spend some time with his smashing wife Edna, so he quietly looked around for the right person to build on his achievements and uphold all the virtues of the company he worked so tirelessly to build.

On 2^nd April 2001 enter Steve Taylor, a man with a successful business background behind him, who had latterly been working as a sales manager for a major south coast plastics company, and like Tony, shares a deep passion for MG’s and kitcars. Having been in the hot seat for just over a year totalkitcar decided to pay the Tamworth based firm a visit and see what changes if any had been made and how the new owner was enjoying things.

Most notably has been a slight but subtle change of the company name from Stafford Vehicle Components to SVC, and a deliberate decision to create and upgrade tooling for many of their most popular lines. For example the best selling headlight (5¾") shells are now made from brass rather than steel, and then chromed. Brass doesn’t corrode which is especially handy when you consider that chromium is porous, this all makes for a quality item that will last far longer and actually only adds comparative pennies to the retail price. Let’s face it headlights are an item that you only really want to buy once.

Steve readily admits that Tony Stafford is a very hard act to follow, but my knowledge of the industry tells me he is making a very good job of it so far. His basic aim is to supply a top class product at a fair price and thus attract the discerning buyer who appreciates quality. Sure it’s possible to buy cheaper far eastern sourced components elsewhere but you have to ask what are you actually getting for your money. I’d always spend a bit more and be assured of the right part and back up.

The bulk of the company’s business comes from mail-order from all over the world with the rest via shows and callers who want to speak personally to the supplier and get some free advice while their at it which Steve is happy to provide. I found it very refreshing to meet someone involved in the kitcar industry who is first and foremost an enthusiast, and happy to talk cars for as long as you want. SVC takes all major credit cards and aim to ship your order out on the same day, assuming the parts are in stock, which they usually are.

In all SVC carry over 500 lines and as Steve gives me a tour of the stockroom I’m amazed at the myriad array of different bulbs and switches that all look the same, but are intended for different applications. You really need to know your business to be able to supply the right parts in this business, that’s for sure.

For every major type of kit, SVC will be able to satisfy all your lighting and switchgear requirements, and in the case of Cobra replicas for example can offer you a choice of three different headlights depending on your budget and taste. Indeed they have just introduced a ‘correct’ rear light lens for Cobra copies that are modelled on the real part and look great.

Many manufacturers provide lighting components when buying your kit, however SVC supply most of our leading kit manufacturers so there’s a good chance that your headlight was made in Tamworth anyway even if you didn’t buy it from them direct.

The company have expansion very much in mind, and recently added the ‘custom car’ fraternity to their growing satisfied customers list. Those boys particularly like some of SVC’s chrome parts and Steve sees America as having huge potential, and already supplies many Americans via his mail order service. From what I’ve seen there’s a whole continent waiting to latch onto what the UK discovered many years ago – SVC’s fine products and good service. I can see the Cobra replica builders and manufactures in the States becoming very excited.

Currently the company holds the tooling for 12 of their most popular lines and Steve sees this being added to in the future, although not by a huge amount. They also make all their own headlamp harnesses in house and when possible buy from British companies but this is becoming more and more difficult according to Steve, although they’ve got some good UK suppliers, whom they get on very well with meaning supply is never an issue.

The company’s core market has always been lighting and will remain so; they have got plans to add a few other complimentary lines to the inventory. And they are already a main agent for Securon seatbelts and very shortly they’ll be adding harnesses to their stock item list. Another area of increasing interest is with twin-braking system servo units, particularly useful for cars with brutish clutch pedals like TVR’s and certain Cobra replicas. The servo can be mounted in a remote position out of the way and is a really good back up for your primary braking system. Steve Taylor is a man who shares the same objectives as Anthony Stafford, thankfully for the kitcar industry, and is dedicated to continuing to offer the best and widest range of lighting components around to all, reassuringly Steve thinks of the builder when adding items to his price lists, because he wants to supply parts that make the building of a kit as simple as possible, but with parts made to be ‘bullet proof’ like they were made back in the forties. In fact he showed me a fifty-year-old headlight that looks like new, (to emphasis this point) which simply oozed class.

SVC are a company very much at ease with the World Wide Web, and like totalkitcar can see the benefits and enormous potential of having an internet presence, certainly, we’ve proved that a web based kitcar mag can succeed and since Steve has invested time in promotion of his website, orders and general interest, worldwide have come flooding in. His daughter, Catherine, maintains SVC’s site and is a well laid out and efficient and like totalkitcar is one that is updated regularly, as and when Steve has new products or special offers for example.

Steve estimates that around 60% of his business is derived from the kitcar industry, with another 20% made up from supplying classic car owners with lighting components and the rest is shared by America and custom cars. One thing is for sure that if you regularly attend car shows you’ll more than likely see SVC in attendance, with an amazing 40 weekends a year being given up to shows up and down the UK. I told you that they are dedicated people didn’t I?? Stoneleigh remains the ‘bedrock’ of the kitcar shows with classic single marque, particularly MG based events providing most interest with the classic brigade. I was really encouraged to see that Steve has settled in so quickly, and is enhancing the business’ already enviable reputation, and from our point of view like the fact that he too, like, Tony is a thoroughly nice bloke. As Steve says, "his is a fantastic job for a squirrel" as it’s easy to hoard rare stock for a rainy day on the off chance that you may get an enquiry for it, so you have to let your head rule your heart when it comes to buying stock.

I believe that SVC is in very safe hands and are to offer you a fine personal solution for all your lighting requirements, via good parts at an affordable value for money price. It’s nice to deal with a company staffed by enthusiasts and experts in their field.

For further details contact:
Stafford Vehicle Components
53 Kepler, off Mariner
Lichfield Road Industrial Estate
Tamworth
Staffs
B79 7SF
Tel: 01827 67714
Or visit www.s-v-c.co.uk