Too Many Cars - Rust To Riches - Rust To Riches - Episode 3 - video Dailymotion

Ridiculous Rides

MEET the father-and-son car restorers who are turning rust to riches by buying, selling and fixing some of the world's rarest cars. Lance, 52, a former panel beater for Rolls-Royce, is now the go-to guy for bespoke classic car restoration - while Merlin, 20, specialises in sales and acquisition. Some of the rarest cars treated at their business in Brentford, west London, can be worth upwards of $19m. This week Merlin's classic car dealership Duke of London needs a permanent home, and Romance of Rust is running out of space and has a two-and-half-year waiting list for restorations. To cope with demand, Merlin has ambitious plans to expand both businesses

Transcript

00:00Master Craftsman Lance McCormack owns one of Britain's best classic car restoration

00:05businesses, Romance of Rust. Helping him manage it is his son Merlin, the cutting-edge salesman,

00:12who also runs his own classic car dealership. Together they turn Rust to riches.

00:17Up till now, Merlin has been fully capable of running his car dealership, Duke of London

00:24from home.

00:25All I need to run things is my phone, my laptop and some good cars.

00:33Within the industry, reputation is arguably the most important thing. I've been lucky

00:38that I've had Dad's reputation to use to my advantage, something that he's been working

00:42on for the past 30 years. I've almost got such a close relationship with his clients that

00:49the trust that they've invested in me wouldn't necessarily have been there if it wasn't for

00:54him.

00:55The strength of their combined reputation means the business is booming.

00:58At the moment, I'm in a position where I've got 12 cars in stock, two motorbikes. Of those

01:0512 cars, four of them haven't even arrived yet and I've sold them. Stuff's coming in and

01:09selling faster than I can even dream of, which is great for me, but it means that I'm constantly

01:14searching for new stock, which is a big struggle because everyone's at it these days. After

01:18the market spiked a couple of years ago, everybody and their brother thinks they can be a classic

01:22car dealer and the competition's fierce. People are working more or less zero commission just

01:27to get a deal in through the door to fill up their showroom.

01:29To stay ahead of the competition, Merlin has decided it's time to think bigger.

01:34This place here has been home to Romance and Russ for quite a long time. The way things

01:38are moving, it's about time we expanded.

01:41This building here was an engineering shop for the past 40 years. The plan is, within the

01:46next week or so, we'll start stripping it out, turning it into a fully formed showroom.

01:51We've mapped it out and we can fit ten cars in there, which is going to be completely

01:56fine for what I want to do.

01:57There's only so much I can do with regards to expanding my business online, running things

02:02from home. Beyond that, I think there's a great deal of comfort in both a vendor and

02:08a buyer, knowing that you've got a purpose-built set-up where their cars are going to be safe

02:12and secure. People want the confidence of knowing that they're dealing with a proper business

02:16person, a proper business. I think that without this, I'm not going to be able to take things

02:21up to the level that I need to in order to keep everything afloat.

02:25However, such an ambitious project does not come cheap.

02:29The rent is a lot. The rates alone are £1,000 a month and to decorate the place to get it

02:36to where I want it to be is probably going to be another £10,000 to £15,000.

02:39But the work available makes the risk worthwhile, as demand for their services constantly exceeds

02:44their current resources.

02:46The expansion for Dad is very, very, very needed right now. He's outgrown the place

02:52he is. We need more staff. We're telling people for a full restoration. There's a two and a

02:56half year waiting list at the moment, which the next time a job comes in, that will increase

02:59to three and a half years. We're really, really, really busy. We're blessed. But I mean, that

03:04backlog of work, we could filter through very quickly if we had the expansion of both the

03:09premises and the workforce. It's perfect for me. It's next door to Dad. He's tight on space.

03:13There's plenty of space for him and here. It means he can expand his business. I can expand

03:17my business. And it should work very well for both of us.

03:20The location of their new building may be perfect, but the current state of the interior

03:25leaves a lot to be desired.

03:27The floor is gone. It's beyond repair. So we're going to have to put a whole new concrete

03:32floor in. The roof is leaking. Some of the wood's rotten upstairs in the floorboard.

03:36So obviously it's not safe for anyone to go upstairs at the moment, woodworm and whatnot.

03:39There isn't currently a staircase upstairs. There's only a ladder.

03:42Each extensive renovation comes at a price, as Merlin knows.

03:46In order to pay for all of that, it's probably going to take me a couple of months of hard

03:50grafting. It's not going to be the easiest task. It's a bit of a challenge for me. I think

03:57I'll be all right with the amount of money I have left at the end of it. I've budgeted.

04:02I've saved up. I've been sensible this year, which has enabled me to make this big decision.

04:10Despite the challenges ahead, Merlin is still confident that his plan can succeed.

04:15I can't see any reason why, within the next six to eight weeks, this place can't be glamorised

04:22to an extent and be full of cars.

04:26Next time on Rasta Riches, Lance looks into Aston Martins in very different conditions.

04:31Yep. I don't think this screwdriver's going to cure that. This is an Aston Martin DB4 shell,

04:37showing the principle of Superleggera. This one's in for a hell of a lot of work.

04:41it will work.

04:46Yeah it will work.

Too Many Cars - Rust To Riches - Rust To Riches - Episode 3

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