Ex-broadcaster drives classic car business forward

An East Yorkshire entrepreneur is steering a new business into growth.

Blair Jacobs, a former BBC Radio Humberside presenter, has marked the fifth anniversary of Pipe Dreams, the classic car business he launched from home after pausing his broadcasting career in 2020. 

Originally focused on transporting and storing prized vehicles, the business has now expanded to offer restoration services, thanks to additional workshop space and the expertise of Audi master technician Ian Coulson.

Blair said: “Cars have memories. 

“We’ve had a love affair with cars and have capacity for about 40 – a Rolls Royce, a Bentley, a Triumph Stag, two Jags, some MGs.

“The restoration side has developed as more people have noticed that we were working on cars. 

“They ask if we can do a bit of work on their cars while we are looking after them. 

“One person asked us to do a big job and that gave me the idea of building up that side of the business.”

Based in a converted agricultural unit near the M62, Pipe Dreams serves clients locally and across the country, handling everything from Rolls Royce deliveries to supercar servicing. 

Blair added: “My plan was to do commercial transport. 

“We came up with the idea of finding somewhere else to store our cars and we found that other classic car owners were interested.

“Some of them just wake up on a nice day and decide there and then to collect their car and take it for a day out. 

“Others bring their cars here because they don’t have the space at home or they don’t want it sitting in their driveway. 

“We have cars that have been here for three years and haven’t turned a wheel. 

“We keep them all covered and clean and with the battery charged.”

The expansion reflects a lifelong passion for motoring, inherited from Blair’s father, a motoring journalist, and his uncle, a saloon car racer, turning a hobby into a growing family business.

Blair also works on personal projects, including an MG restoration he has undertaken with his daughter Harriet since lockdown.

He added: “It was an old car that had been taken apart and was in boxes. 

“We started it during Covid and it’s just a case of finishing it off. 

“I had already built three MGs, and I thought it might be a nice project for us.”

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