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
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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.
01:59There's so much I can do with regards to expanding my business online, running things from home.
02:03Beyond that, I think there's a great deal of comfort in both a vendor and a buyer knowing
02:08that you've got a purpose-built set-up where their cars are going to be safe and secure.
02:12People want the confidence of knowing that they're dealing with a proper business person, a proper
02:17business. I think that without this, I'm not going to be able to take things up to the level
02:21that I need to in order to keep everything afloat.
02:24However, such an ambitious project does not come cheap.
02:28The rent is a lot. The rates alone are £1,000 a month and to decorate the place to get it to where I want it to be
02:35is going to be probably another £10,000 to £15,000.
02:38But the work available makes the risk worthwhile, as demand for their services constantly exceeds their current resources.
02:45The expansion for Dad is very, very, very needed right now. He's outgrown the place he is.
02:52We need more staff. We're telling people for a full restoration, there's a two and a half year waiting list at the moment,
02:56which the next time a job comes in, that will increase to three and a half years.
03:00We're really, really, really busy. We're blessed. But that backlog of work, we could filter through very quickly
03:06if we had the expansion of both the premises and the workforce.
03:10It's perfect for me. It's next door to Dad. He's tight on space. There's plenty of space for everyone here.
03:15It means he can expand his business, I can expand my business, and it should work very well for both of us.
03:19The location of their new building may be perfect, but the current state of the interior leaves a lot to be desired.
03:26The floor is gone. It's beyond repair, so we're going to have to put a whole new concrete floor in.
03:32The roof is leaking. Some of the wood's rotten upstairs in the floorboards,
03:35so obviously it's not safe for anyone to go upstairs at the moment, woodworm and whatnot.
03:38There isn't currently a staircase upstairs. There's only a ladder.
03:41Such extensive renovation comes at a price, as Merlin knows.
03:45In order to pay for all of that, it's probably going to take me a couple of months of hard grafting.
03:50It's not going to be the easiest task. It's a bit of a challenge for me.
03:55I think I'll be alright with the amount of money I have left at the end of it.
04:00I've budgeted, I'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 to an extent and be full of cars.
04:25Next time on Rasta Riches, Lance looks into Aston Martins in very different conditions.
04:31Yeah, I don't think this screwdriver is going to cure that.
04:34This is an Aston Martin DB4 shell showing the principle of superleggera.
04:38This one's in for a hell of a lot of work.
04:41This one's in for a hell of a lot of work.