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Meet the Team at Flying Circus
Absolutely nothing beats experience and a positive attitude, we are always looking for experienced people to supplement our 'crew' and add to the knowledge we have as a team. |
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Stephen Weiler It has been about 10 Years since we first met Steve, he was just moving to the area and was former Mechanical Engineer and 'car guy', who had worked at a few shops and had restored/customised his own BMW 2002. He was riding a BMW Paris Dakar motorcycle at the time
but is more usually spotted riding two wheeled transport of
the man powered kind. He has worked for us part time "off and on", since that first encounter and we consider ourselves lucky when he's with us. |
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I have been part of Flying Circus since long before it had a name. I was a kid living in Coventry when Coventry was the UK equivalent of Detroit. My father was a Rover Distributor, and "our" car was whatever he had taken in part exchange that day, so I grew up knowing the local product quite well. By the time Alan and I married, it was evident that certain English sports cars were being considered as collectible, and he began to look around for suitable subjects for restoration. Spares for such vehicles were not easy to find, so a lathe had to be found for making them. The only place for the lathe was a table in our kitchen! There were, I discovered other useful items in the kitchen, such as saucepans for opening stuck thermostats and dishwashers for cleaning parts! The first effort was an old Bond Three-wheeler, which often left the premises, but never came back under its own power. This was the atmosphere that the kids grew up in. They had many years of "fixing" experience long before they were old enough to drive. When we arrived in the United States in 1975, it was the first time that we bought a car on which we had to make payments. It was a useful, huge, Oldsmobile Wagon. However it only took Alan a few weeks to find himself a new and different "fix it. "This time it was an all gold 1969 Lincoln Continental. It was so big that when I drove it I had to look through the steering wheel. At the time that the business was getting started we had a large and busy household, which consisted of Alan and myself, Penny, Judi, Toby, Sarah, Simon and at different times, Grandmother, Aunts, Cousins, friends, dogs. And cars still being fixed in the driveway. Good job we had a big house. Since Alan, who we miss very much, died last August, I have watched the business take on a new life with "the boys" (and Sarah) in control. The steady improvement that we are seeing makes me realize that the investment in their childhood was well worth the effort.
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Toby Briggs Well , what can you say about Toby? Anything you want, on the internet ,because he claims he is computer illiterate and doesn't visit the internet much!!! You ought to see him two finger type all that data into the Macs at work. But seriously Folks, Toby got married to Caroline They have a Land Rover Discovery (Disco), XJS and a nice big house in Chapel Hill with a big yard for Sebastian, Timothy, Amelia and Margaret. |
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Simon BriggsFrom the black clouds of a dying car industry in 1964
sprouted the only chance for maintaining the glorious
Coventrian Heritage that had been passed from generations.
Yes at Gulson Road Hospital, Coventry, March 1964, Simon was
born. And his first word was "WAAAHHHHH". An expression I
still use when I'm not getting what I want, (Like that nice
new shiny red, Triumph Speed Triple at the dealership.) |
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Going through school, I realised I had an aptitude for
things mechanical, I bought my first car before I had even
taken any driving lessons.( Good idea despite my mothers
consternation; as it needed a "little" work). Another
realisation was, despite my desire to be a draughtsman when
I grew up, industrial Coventry was going down the tubes, and
I would be lucky if I got a job in engineering. Well I was
lucky, I was apprenticed to a Hydraulic systems manufacturer
(Keelavite) where I was trained as a fitter/fabricator (read
mechanic and welder). Yes it was close, but I narrowly
escaped accountancy. Well there was no stopping my talents
(Ha) and I made it clear that I still wanted to work in the
drawing office. I showcased my talents at every opportunity
and made it there as a Draughtsman with the aid of my (then)
Boss, Ray Cope. Who, just out of interest, was a Morris
Dancer who enjoyed nothing more than spending his summers
shaking his hanky and dancing around a Maypole etc... But
thats another story.... |
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Episode 2 The house needed more money and time than I had, but I
started the restoration process, I even turned the front
bedroom into an engine rebuild shop for the Escort engine.
It was the most plush engine shop I've ever seen but I
forgot one thing... It was about this time that Alan was doing some
Consultancy work for Jaguar and was 'popping' back to
England occasionally (Incidentally, Mike Dale (chief pilot
for Jaguar USA recently quoted his top vote for best
business man as W.Edwards Deming , Alan was teaching
Businesses this through the 80's). Well I liked the idea, and the US, so I went back, mulled
it over for a few months and quit my job. |
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Alan Briggs was born in Portsmouth (UK) where his father was an architect. and that would have been Alan's destiny too but he loved engines even more than structures and left home at 16 to be apprenticed to Morris Engines Branch in Coventry, He left the motor industry after 10 years to join a consultancy and moved to the US in 1975. Toby and Simon both grew up with British cars as a hobby which they turned into Flying Circus in 1989. Alan became full time at the growing family business in 1994 and had to do everything else that Sarah, Toby and Simon could not find time to do.
On August 4th 1999 while enjoying a needed vacation to England, Alan Briggs had a heart attack and died during his sleep. His last two fun filled weeks were documented for his friends through this website. Click here to view this poignant tribute. |
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Sarah Briggs- Paulson I came to work for Flying Circus when I was a mere 21, I began my career here as a catch all, doing whatever was needed in order to keep things moving. As office manager for the past few years, my job is to make things go as smoothly as possible for not only customers, but also for my two older brothers Toby & Simon. I spend my free time with my Husband James and my adorable dogs, Tucker & Nick. We all love to go camping /boating & love to spend time driving around in my not so English, not even American but shamefully Japenese car looking for flea markets and yard sales. The japanese car is temporary until I find the perfect French Blue TR6 or until the Jaguar XK8 coupe becomes more affordable. |
Sarah with her long time companion 'Roxy' who died in February of 1998 |
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Max owned and operated an MG speciality shop in Boston,
He decided it was too cold and migrated south bringing his
wealth of MGB knowledge with him. Any spare time Max has is spent as Crew Chief for the B-Stingers Race Team. |
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If there is something to be known about Land-Rover
products, this man knows it. John has been a Land-Rover
technician for longer than he dare admit , has a vast wealth
of 'new' Land-Rover problems and solutions...problem is he
is usually too busy working to share much of this
knowledge. |
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