DK Engineering was founded in 1977 and takes its name from the initials of the Christian names of David and
Kate Cottingham, the husband and wife team who formed the company and continue to run it today. The
business initially developed from David’s love of XK Jaguars. David first bought a lightweight XK 120 model in
1963 that he restored and raced. To help finance his racing hobby, he prepared and repaired other people’s
examples in his spare time. He built up a reputation within the Jaguar fraternity for his knowledge, standard of
work, and meticulous attention to detail. The demands on his time became so great that in 1977 he and Kate
decided to take the plunge and go into business full time with the formation of DK, with Kate taking on the
administrative duties.
Being of a mechanically inquisitive nature, and with all period Jaguars having basically the same straight six
engine configuration, David looked towards Ferraris as a further challenge to his skills, with their much
broader range of engine designs, and started restoring and rebuilding earlier examples of the marque. This
opened up new avenues of business. DK Engineering are thought to be the oldest surviving Ferrari
independent specialist in the UK (the first was David Clarke at Graypaul who are now of course a main
dealer).
As his company’s workmanship came to the attention of Ferrari enthusiasts, building up an international
clientele, the growth in the business necessitated a move from their original premises in Northwood to their
second premises in Watford in 1984. Since then the world has witnessed the meteoric rise in Ferrari prices of
the late eighties, and the subsequent crash at the beginning of the nineties. Where many businesses threw
caution to the wind during the height of the boom and expanded into larger more affluent premises, DK kept
their feet firmly on the ground, working the increased business into their existing space and thus survived
where many others failed, due to their reputation for consistent high quality. Restoration to perfection has
been the company motto. 2008 saw the move to their current premises in Chorleywood, a beautiful farm
ideally situated close to the M25 and local airports – a larger emphasis being on the now larger sales side of
the business at the new facility with a dedicated on site showroom.
They now employ ten mechanics regularly with juniors being trained in house, so that they understand the
working practises and standards required. Apart from restoration, rebuilding and general maintenance work,
they are also involved in historic competition, undertaking preparation and providing support crews for clients
at club and international event level.
The business is set to continue into the next generation, with David and Kate’s sons Justin, Jeremy and
James now taking an active involvement in the business, with both Jeremy and James also following in
their father’s footsteps behind the wheel in competition. Since the founding of the current sales department in
1996 by Jeremy Cottingham, DK has carried out over 3000 transactions. James Cottingham who co-runs the
department joined in 2002 part time, studied Mechanical Engineering at Bristol and joined full time in 2007
(taking a sabbatical in 2008 to project manage the restoration of our award winning premises). DK
Engineering have traditionally had a speciality for mainly 50’s sports Ferraris. David Cottingham is largely
acknowledged as a world leading expert on these models, and of course the classic 60’s GT models. Today
with young blood in the business Jeremy and James have managed to find their own niche specialising in the
new breed of classic Ferrari, the supercars. The pair have managed to sell over 100 F40’s alone, whilst
still maintaining their world leading expertise in the original models.
DK Engineering are proud of the fact that they are probably the only company in the world who specialise in
every aspect of Ferrari. DK can service, restore, source or sell your Ferrari, be it a 1951 340 America or a
2010 599 GTB.
Images Peter Singhof
www.ClassicCarPhotography.de
DK Engineering >>>
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