INTERVIEW OLIVER SMITH, MWS
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MOTOR WHEEL SERVICE
As the third generation of the family to run Motor Wheel Service, Oliver Smith has a unique perspective on this long-lived cornerstone of the vintage and classic car scene P H OTO G R A P H Y: JA M E S G I B S O N / M W S
Tell us how Motor Wheel Service began, Oliver. It’s a very long history, isn’t it? ‘Yes, the business was founded by my grandad, George Smith, in 1927. Back then, we were just one of many wire wheel builders and repairers, as virtually every car on the road used them. But as time passed, MWS grew larger and eventually became the UK and world-wide distributor for Dunlop
wheels. When the business began, there were lots of wheel manufacturers, but Dunlop became pretty dominant and was manufacturing most of the wire wheels for British cars. Dunlop had worked with Wheels India since the '60s, and by the early 1980s all the Dunlop wire wheel production had moved to India, and they still supply our stock wheels to this day.’
So what’s the mix of business – have you had to diversify? ‘We’re still about 90% wire wheels, but that includes sales of new wheels as well as repair and restoration work. We sell Blockley tyres, too. We’ve diversified to meet some clients’ needs, for example Morgan. We supply the wire wheels for new Morgans and they specified stainless steel, so as well as painted or chromed wire wheels, we do stainless steel in various sizes. We produce all finishes to meet demands.’ What about Rolls-Royce or Bentley wheels? Do they present any challenges? ‘They can do, yes! Pre-war Rolls-Royce wheels are very interesting because there were so many different centres, but it does mean that you often can’t find a spare or a new wheel centre and having them specially made can cost a fortune. Luckily, they’re usually great big pieces of metal and they last well. Vintage Bentley wheels are a bit more straightforward and use more familiar parts. But the good news is we can supply or repair just about anything; the availability of even very old rims and tyres is better than it was 10 or 15 years ago so when we find early cars that should be on beaded-edge tyres but are running the old centres with later rims, we can rebuild the wheels to the original specification with rolledged rims, if the owner wants to.’
Spinning -edge an old beaded it's k wheel to chec Red e. u tr g in n run und ro press in backg lop n u D came from factory
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How would an owner of a pre-war Rolls-Royce or Bentley know when their wheels needed attention? We’re used to worn out tyres, but how do you assess a worn-out wheel? ‘It can be a bit tricky, but there are things to look out for. If you feel any wheel-wobble or vibration when driving, that’s obviously worth J U LY/AU G U S T 2 0 2 2 R R & B D
