The 12 August 1987 Dundee Courier ran a piece headlined 'Expanding business in restoring MGs', illustrated with the above picture, about Mercury Motors on Largo Road, Lundin Links. Originally Jimmy Horne's 'Lundin Links Service Station', the building changed name around four decades ago. The Courier article remarked upon how staff numbers at the garage had risen from two to nineteen over four years as demand had risen for 'modern classics'. Specialising in the MG sports car, especially the MGB, enquires came in to Mercury Motors from all over the UK and parts of Europe. The marque had ceased production in 1981 and their popularity among collectors was rising. The garage tracked down old neglected examples and had the ability to completely rebuild these cars and offer 'as new' models.
1987 was the 25th anniversary of the first MGB. Cars produced by Mercury Motors could be "built to customers' individual requirements....stripped right down to the last nut and bolt". Virtually every component of the car could be replaced or reconditioned. Owner Ian Forgan (who started buying and selling cars in Kinghorn in 1973) said that "from start to finish it takes about eight weeks of solid work to produce one car but by the time it leaves here it will be almost as good as the day it left the factory."
The business is still going strong and still run by the Forgan family, although renamed 'Mercury Motorsport' in recent times. The business's current website states:
"Founded in 1973, Mercury are the longest established Classic Car Sales, Restoration and Repair business in Scotland. Our reputation for technical excellence and customer care is well renowned by proud classic car owners from across Britain and Europe.
We are delighted to help you look after your cherished classic car be it for a straightforward MOT test, service, those little jobs that require a ramp, welding rebuild and restoration work.
We are also proud to offer our Build to Order facility which has expanded to meet the needs of those customers who are unable to find exactly what they're looking for using more traditional methods and instead prefer the alternative of purchasing the Classic Car they have always promised themselves - built entirely to their own detailed specification. Primarily for classic MG and Classic Fords but we will consider rebuilding any classic car."
The wonderful photograph below (which was found on the Mercury Motorsport Facebook page) shows the garage I recall from my youth, with a long row of MG cars for sale. I certainly find it interesting that this modern business would not exist in its current location had it not been for the chain of events tracing back to the creation of the Claremont Garage back in 1908 and in particular the vision that Jimmy Horne had in the 1950s to move from Corner Garage to the new site in front of Largo House.
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