Sunshine Coast Hinterland Times

Kevin, the Lucas parts man has brand new parts from Jaguar headlamps to toggle switches

If you’re desperate for a coil, drive dog, condenser or contact set for your ageing classic car then Kevin Baker is your man. Kevin, in his 70s, has been collecting auto electrical parts for decades, and he’s decided to call it a day. The Hinterland Times caught up with Kevin and his ultimate ‘boy’s shed’ full of a lifetime’s collection of car memorabilia.

You want it...Kevin Baker has probably got the electrical part you need, particularly if your car is British and from 1920 onwards

When he first started collecting Kevin somehow managed to sneak 16 trailer loads of auto parts under his house without his wife Eileen noticing.
“ I heard from a firm that they were selling Lucas parts”, says Kevin, still excited as he recalls what he discovered there in 1974.
“There were two fixtures three feet wide, six feet high, double-sided, with all brand new Lucas parts.  It was a passion with me this Lucas stuff, the numbering system, the books, the technology. There was only one other company in the world that could beat them and that was Caterpillar, and I had worked for them too, in New Guinea.
I think there were 12 sets, that’s 24 brand new Silver Shadow tail lights. There were S type Jaguar tail lights, Humbers, Rovers, complete lights. Thousands of switches. I couldn’t resist it so, I put a price in, close to three figures, and got it.”
Kevin started his working life as a shop fitter but then worked for a Brisbane company in 1963 that employed  45 auto electricians .
When Kevin found his treasure trove of parts he decided it was time to go out on his own. He started KB Classic Parts, and he and Eileen moved to Maleny about 12 years ago, complete with their thousands of auto parts.
“We’ve had calls for a range of cars”, says Kevin. “Mainly English cars, but also American cars with their Bendix drives and starters going back to 1915.
“There’s still a massive market out there for the old electrics”, says Kevin. We get auto electricians ringing up on week days, then we get the hobby restorers in the evenings and at weekends.
“I do get calls for odd things – Rolls Royce parts and parts of London Taxis that are used for weddings. One time there was a wedding on; it was pouring with rain and the windscreen wiper had broken on a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud. I worked out what the part was and met the guy in Caboolture. It was fixed ten minutes before the car was due at the wedding.
There is something rather special about a man who loves reading auto parts books full of pages of codes and numbers.
“You need a good visual memory”, insists Kevin. “I love numbers, and it fascinates me how the manufacturer arrives at those part numbers. If you turn up with a particular part, I will know exactly what it is and I can probably tell you the part number.”
For Kevin, a classic is any car up to 1975 because that’s when the auto industry changed from electrics to electronics. Kevin has no time for computers and lets Eileen maintain their database.
Kevin’s favourite classic is the modest Morris Minor 1000. He had a two door model for almost 40 years. He and Eileen have been along the coast from Brisbane to Adelaide in the Minor. Eileen and their daughters learned to drive on it too.
“It had done nearly 500,000 km when I sold it”, says Kevin proudly, “and it still had its original motor”.
Kevin is a walking encyclopaedia on the Lucas auto electrics company. He is a great admirer of the Lucas workmanship and the way they kept up their technical information to suppliers.
He has kept all the Lucas price books back to 1954 and he has 400 other auto instruction and parts manuals that are up for sale with the business. He is very proud of his rare, two volume, “Lucas the first 100 years”.
“I’ve been doing the same thing since 1963 and I am in my seventies,” says Kevin with a smile. “And I thought, I’ve got to slow it down”.
It is hard to imagine that Kevin Baker will ever put his razor sharp mind into neutral gear. If you want to contact Kevin call 54 94 4221.