Meet the experts at Custom Chrome

The company also designs and fits bespoke stainless-steel silencers, which replicate the richer tonal quality of a mild-steel system and eradicate the tinniness normally associated with stainless-steel exhausts.

(Having had Custom Chrome fit such a system to my Fiat 128, I can verify that claim.)

The silencers feature an ‘echo-revolve-echo-revolve’ chamber that Nigel likens to an “alluvial fan”, in which the exhaust gasses fan out from the confines of the pipe.

Custom Chrome has three pipe benders, so classic car exhausts can be built to any specification

The silencer – which is manufactured in China by a long-standing partner – has a wadding retainer to improve longevity and, along with the pipe, is made from 304-grade stainless steel, the quality of which is high enough for this specialist to offer a lifetime guarantee.

Nigel claims the steel is superior to the lower-grade stainless often used by new-car manufacturers, which is generally only designed to last the term of the vehicle’s warranty.

Custom Chrome can still build you a mild-steel system, but the cost is only around 20% less than stainless, with most customers now opting for the latter.

Custom Chrome’s ‘alluvial fan’ chamber in one of the firm’s bespoke silencers

With three tube-bending machines on site and nearly half a century’s worth of templates to work from, Nigel says Custom Chrome is more focused than ever on creating bespoke solutions for customers.

The brothers often work with clubs, who request low production runs of components, and build jigs to produce systems for popular classics such as 1950s Austins and sidevalve Fords.

Building exhausts from scratch for rare machinery is another specialty.

Recent work from historic race car restorer Hall & Hall required a system for a 1930s Alfa Romeo, while a Frazer Nash ‘Chain Gang’ and Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster have also visited Custom Chrome in the past few months.

Classic car silencer innards are wrapped in protective wadding retainers

Nothing, however, compared with an order from the makers of a movie franchise in 1999.

“We were approached by Elstree Studios,” Nigel recounts. “They had been rehearsing a boat chase on the Thames for the Bond film The World is Not Enough, but the jet boats they were using were drawing complaints from the Houses of Parliament.

“It was going to cost £1m a day to stop filming, so they asked us to make 20 Cherry Bomb systems to reduce the noise, which we did – overnight.

“Someone turned up with a suitcase full of money the next day.”

The team is nothing if not adaptable and, clearly, very talented, too.

Cherry Bombs were used to quieten the jet boats featured in a Bond movie

Custom Chrome has survived so long by changing and rescaling where necessary, according to the needs of the business and the wider industry. 

Back in the 1980s, when it was a major supplier of Cherry Bombs to Ripspeed, the brothers employed 23 staff.

And, while the mail-order Cherry Bomb business is today still buoyant, the company’s work is now more centered on the bespoke exhaust market, which requires a far smaller headcount. 

With retirement looming, Nigel tells us, the brothers’ plan is to find a buyer for Custom Chrome and the Cherry Bomb brand this year (2026).

Let’s hope their impressive legacy will continue.

Images: Jack Harrison

The knowledge

• Name Custom Chrome Ltd
• Address Lomond House, Weddington Terrace, Nuneaton, CV10 0AG, UK
• Staff Five
• Specialism Bespoke exhaust systems
• Prices Vary according to job (mild-steel Cherry Bomb c£180)
• Tel +44 (0)2476 387808
• Web custom-chrome.co.uk

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