Company History

The Early Days

Elite Motor Tune was originally formed in May 1973 by Ray Kingston in Duston, Northampton. Ray had served his mechanical apprenticeship with Aston Martin in the service department at Newport Pagnell. With his knowledge of Astons and other high performance models Elite Motor Tune quickly became established as specialists in high performance and unusual cars. Back in the "good old days" of the 1970's there was less concern with "dealer service history" and the Porsches and Ferraris rolled in, and with Ray's enthusiasm and attitude many unusual car owners sought out his expertise.

Expansion and the Eighties

By the end of the 1970's Ray was looking to expand into new premises and by chance met Rob Morris, a local car bodywork specialist also looking for a new home. Together they established new premises in St James, Northampton which were furnished with the very latest Bosch tuning and diagnostic equipment with the backing of the Bosch Service Agent scheme. This business partnership gave a new side to Elite Motor Tune offering a complete package of servicing, tuning, paintwork and body repairs with Ray running the mechanical side and Rob running the bodyshop. As Elite moved into the Eighties Ray recognised the huge boom in Porsche ownership and decided to target Porsche servicing and repairs, whilst not casting aside any existing customers. By the mid 1980's, and with the UK economy booming, performance car ownership was in a golden age and we were servicing up to ten Porsches a week with customers coming from far and wide. Unfortunately all good things come to an end and as the economy collapsed in the late 1980's we lost a large percentage of our high performance car customers. To fill this gap we looked at many different avenues of work and took on many fleet contracts from local businesses such as Barclaycard and Bass Leisure which took us through into the 1990's.

The Nineties

Ben Lane, who served his apprenticeship with Elite Motor Tune in the late 1980's, took the helm of the mechanical shop in 1992 as Ray and Rob began to concentrate on other business interests in the burgeoning mobile communications market, having founded Elite Business Systems some years earlier. Ben had always been enthusiastic about performance cars and steered the company back towards prestige and performance models but now with a firm footing on the affordable, high-quality German marques of Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Porsche whilst still catering for the exotic and unusual. During the 1990's the latest Bosch equipment was installed including a variable-load rolling road.

1996 - Big Changes

In 1996 two new companies were formed from the original Elite Motor Tune - Elite Motor Tune 1996 and Elite Motors Bodyshop - as the original directors' other business interests had diverted them from the day to day running of the company and it was time to bring in new shareholders. After new premises were built for the bodyshop it was considered more practical to split the two sides of the business, which were to continue to work closely but under separate ownership and management. Elite Motors Bodyshop is now directed by Julian Morris, brother of Rob who continues as director. Elite Motor Tune 1996 continues under the directorship of Ben Lane together with original founder Ray Kingston.

2009 - More Big Changes

In June 2009 we moved to new purpose-designed 6000 sq ft premises with the latest equipment and facilities. The move enables us to continue offering the highest possible service and remain at the forefront of modern vehicle care.

Today

Today Elite Motor Tune continues to offer the same good value and service of a specialist independent garage that has been our hallmark over four different decades. We have a wealth of knowledge, both past and present, together with an equipment level that surpasses most other garages including main dealers, and we are proud to have often succeeded over the years on jobs where others have failed.