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, a former panel beater for Rolls-Royce, is the go-to guy for bespoke classic car restoration - while Merlin, specialises in sales and acquisition. Some of the rarest cars treated at their businesses in Brentford, west London, can be worth upwards of $19m. Lance and Merlin show us the features of a historic Ferrari, which has been brought into Romance of Rust to have its leaking windscreen resealed.
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MotorTranscript
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.
00:20Today's project is a very special Ferrari, which is delivered by Merlin.
00:26The car we've got here is a 1956 Ferrari 250 GT long wheelbase Tour de France, 14 Louvre,
00:32it's a bit of a mouthful. This car was actually part of Disney at one point. Some of you might
00:38recognise it from the love bug, where it was sadly defeated by Herbie.
00:44It's a very important historic car, the flamboyant Italian Stallion. This would have looked very
00:48grubby at some point in its life and this car at some point in its life would have been worth
00:52tens of thousands. Now we're talking about ten million plus. My own personal insurance
00:57should go off as I touch it.
01:02It's quite basic, there's a bucket seat aspect to it.
01:06We've got the 14 louvres here and this is aluminium. To get that line in a double curvature panel
01:12is quite difficult. These were real craftsmen, these guys. Barani, they're like the Gucci of wheels.
01:17They're painted in silver. You could have them shiny but it shows its competition history. It's more
01:21about aggression and delivery of the power. Look at this little device here. The leather is worn
01:27to the point it's almost going to tear but that there shows you what lies beneath in the soul of
01:34this car and it's nice that someone's preserved these. The leather hasn't got a single drop of
01:38lanolin left in it. In fact, a few more times open and closing were those and there'd be history.
01:42Now that the car is being driven in British weather, it's been discovered that the windscreen
01:48is letting in the rain. It's been in America for a while, probably California, so there's probably
01:52no issue with it being watertight and it's not good for the car, not good for business.
01:57As Lance's main expertise lies in metalwork, he's called in some help for this job. Windscreen
02:02expert Phil, who's noticed something concerning. There's a big scratch here in the glass that's
02:08been polished out, so it's got a little bit of a weak point. I would try desperately not
02:14to take this out, just seal it in situ. It's too rare to take this apart.
02:18Normally, the team would carefully remove the windscreen to clean up the metalwork
02:22and remove the old seal before refitting and resealing it. But the potential weak point
02:27means Phil doesn't want to risk far worse damage.
02:29If you took it out and broke it, we're in trouble here. It's nightmarish if that happens.
02:34I can't really talk and do. I mean, you can watch, but I'd better carry on and not talk
02:40anymore because I really don't want to slip and damage the paint.
02:43Phil uses a range of tools to attack the seal, but one slip of his hand could cause
02:48damage in the tens of thousands. A lot of care has been taken here to remove the old sealer that's
02:54been put in layer upon layer to try to waterproof it. Once the old seal is cut away, Phil applies masking
03:01tape to protect the screen when the new seal is added.
03:04What we do here is a very careful, even bead will go around here and when it's finished,
03:10it just looks like it's meant to be there. That's what this man does very well.
03:14And now for the moment of truth. Phil carefully peels away the protective tape to reveal the
03:22newly sealed windscreen. With the work successfully completed, the Ferrari is now ready to be returned
03:28to its owner. It's a very important, historic car and it's now in the hands of someone that does it proud.
03:42Next time on Rust to Riches, business is booming and Merlin has ambitious plans to expand.
03:47Phil's coming in and selling faster than I can even dream of, which is great for me,
03:52but it means that I'm constantly searching for new stock, which is a big struggle. Everybody and their
03:57brother think they can be a classic car dealer and the competition is fierce.