A PAIR of father-and-son car restorers are turning rust to riches by buying, selling and fixing some of the world's rarest cars. Among the classics Lance and Merlin McCormack, have worked on included John Lennon's iconic white 1965 Rolls-Royce Phantom and motor's worth $18.5m plus. Testing their mechanical know-how, Lance and Merlin have found themselves the go-to guys for bespoke classic car restoration. Other rarities to have been treated at their garage in Brentford, West London, include Captain America's shield used in the 2011 blockbuster, and a scratched windscreen of a 1950s Ferrari. Their current project is one for Merlin - pulling his dad and their business into the 21st Century and getting themselves on social networks around the world.
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MotorTranscript
00:000000 Master craftsman Lance McCormack owns one of Britain's best classic car restoration
00:08businesses, Romance of Rust. Helping him manage it is his son Merlin, the cutting edge salesman,
00:14who also runs his own classic car dealership. Together, they turn rust to riches.
00:190000 On a daily basis, they work on some of the most desirable cars in the world.
00:24As much as 15 million for some of the top-end Ferraris.
00:28My own personal insurance should go up as I touch it.
00:31But Lance had a more humble start to his career.
00:37They stopped making idiots like me about 30 years ago.
00:40Now I'm a traditional panel beater, manufacturing panels, not crash repair.
00:44I worked at the Rolls-Royce coachbuilders called Mulliner Park Ward.
00:48So it's a tragedy that the skills have gone,
00:50and almost every metalworker that I know from there has either retired or got out of the trade.
00:55And I just kept going. That's all I really knew.
00:57So from being a dodo to being a go-to man for bespoke metalwork.
01:02Helping to manage the business is Lance's son Merlin,
01:05who also runs his own classic car dealership, Duke of London.
01:10And this is a Merlin.
01:12I've been around Dad's business since I was born.
01:14He used to babysit us while we were still in our cot and while he was at work.
01:19I started buying and selling cars when I was 11.
01:22I found a gap in the market with eBay.
01:24I was buying heaps of junk, getting them through an MOT and flogging them on.
01:28I went into the city for a while.
01:30Despite doing quite well, I decided that I had to come back and do something with cars again.
01:34And Merlin's modern approach perfectly complements Lance's traditional craftsmanship.
01:40I've sold three cars on Instagram.
01:41I've sold a couple of cars through Facebook.
01:43I've managed those pages as well as I managed my website.
01:47It's had its ups and downs over the years, but I think I wouldn't have taken the leap
01:51from a full-time, salaried job to something like this
01:55if I didn't have the confidence in our relationship.
01:57The father and son combination is paying dividends.
02:00And now the pair have a two-year waiting list of customers.
02:03Their current projects include this amazing Ferrari.
02:08It's a very important, historic car.
02:10And this car, at some point in its life, would have been worth tens of thousands.
02:13Now we're talking about ten million plus.
02:18And they look at a rare Aston Martin with engine trouble.
02:29Yeah, I don't think this screwdriver is going to cure that.
02:32Looking slightly less glamorous at the moment is another Aston Martin project.
02:37This is an Aston Martin DB4 shell showing the principle of superleggera.
02:41This one's in for a hell of a lot of work.
02:44We're doing a Zagato replica on an original Aston chassis here.
02:48And this thing here has cost us a quarter of a million pounds.
02:51Our one finished would be just over a million pounds.
02:54It would be a faithful replica of a Zagato.
02:58Clearly, Lance and Merlin love the cars they have the chance to work on.
03:02At the end of the day, it's a piece of art as well.
03:04I've got a huge amount of responsibility when it's in my care.
03:08These race cars and one-offs, you may own them, but you're a custodian of them.
03:12And I'm sort of blessed to be able to be a day custodian, shall we say.
03:16I look after them for the day. I get to drive them.
03:18I get to smell them, recreate features that have been lost in them.
03:22The name I coined after a couple of drinks one night.
03:26My ex-wife used to work for Vogue.
03:28And as a result, I used to go to some very swanky parties
03:31with all these sort of dowager duchess types.
03:33And they would all ask, well, what do you do?
03:35And rather than just say, I work at Rolls-Royce.
03:38I'm a metal worker. I'm a restorer.
03:39I say, I'm with the Romance of Rust.
03:41Oh, really, dear?
03:42And they would often leave it at that.
03:44But it was just a little joke I had going on.
03:46Once I'd started up on my own, I was with the Romance of Rust.
03:50It applies, if you think about it, to these cars
03:53because there's a great romantic notion.
03:55They're often substitutes for children, wives, you name it, baby.
03:59With the current state of the market, things are looking good for Lance and Merlin.
04:03That's a car that's about done gold for the last two years,
04:06and they don't seem to be slowing down.
04:08The business is looking very rosy. We've never been busier.
04:10But with all this demand for restoration and sales,
04:13Lance and Merlin need to expand rapidly to keep up.
04:16And despite the pressures brought by success,
04:19the McCormacks are passionate about what they do.
04:22It doesn't seem like work.
04:23I sort of pinch myself sometimes that I'm being paid to do something that I love.
04:26Next time on Rust to Riches, the Ferrari's windscreen needs resealing.
04:31But work on such an expensive car is never without its worries.
04:35There's a big scratch here in the glass.
04:38If you took it out and broke it, we're in trouble here,
04:40and it's nightmarish if that happens.