2 Dalton St, Darlington, DL1 1TN

Mazdadudes

Meet The Team

The hardworkers behind Mazdadudes!

Andrew Barrass and Mark Thornton

Directors

Directors of Mazdadudes and both share a love of MX5`s. Originally Andrew was a maintenance technician at Nissan Sunderland, leaving this role in 2017 to concentrate full time on Mazdadudes, and Mark has his own architectural business which he runs alongside Mazdadudes to this day.

It was Marks interest in building a MX5 for motorsport competition use, and meeting Andy who helped provide parts for Marks car. Mark has always dabbled in cars and sales and following a spell of dealing with each other a suggestion was made to join forces and so Mazdadudes was born.

We are both thrilled to be where we are today, it’s been a lot of work and effort but also made worthwhile by the people we have met over the years. Andy is based at the unit full time, and Mark has a more behind the scenes role looking after the business side of things from his desk and calling down when needed. Do they both own their own MX5’s….Yes, they do!

Andrew Wingrove

Fabrication

Andy left school and did an apprenticeship in a garage, learning the skills of the trade in mechanical maintenance and repair he also dabbled with welding. He left the garage business and became a HGV tanker driver for 15 years and then became a driving instructor for a 10 year stint.

He got his first MX5 in 2004 that needed some TLC and that’s where this education started. He got to know Andy whilst working on various MX5’s, started doing the occasional day at Mazdadudes before joining us full time in 2022.

His welding skill and attention to detail is simply astonishing. Does Andy have a MX5……NO! shame on him and we all say he should get another.

Owen Oliver

Workshop Manager

Owen was known to Andy and Mark for a few years prior to joining the team, in fact is Dad Brian was with us for a few years and there was an overlap of father and son working together.

Owens first experience of a garage was 2 weeks old but jumping forward to the age of 9 was helping his dad at his own garage not to far of a distance from where we are located. This was where his education began. At the age of 14 and very competent at wielding spanners Owen repaired a fire damaged Lotus Carlton by doing the loom repair and install on his own.

Over the years he has worked in various garages and all types of cars, from run of the mill runabouts to exotic super cars.

Owen manages the garage, co-ordinates bookings, allocates jobs, makes sure everyone knows what they are doing and is often a great point of reference for the team. In his own words he prefers Vodka over beer and red wine over white!! Does Owen own a MX5…..Yes, he does.