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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00:00 COMM: Master craftsman Lance McCormack owns
00:03 one of Britain's best classic car restoration businesses, Romance of Rust. Helping him manage
00:08 it is his son Merlin, the cutting edge salesman, who also runs his own classic car dealership.
00:14 Together they turn rust to riches.
00:18 COMM: Up till now Merlin has been fully capable
00:21 of running his car dealership, Duke of London, from home.
00:25 LANCE MCCORMACK: All I need to run things is
00:27 my phone, my laptop and some good cars. Within the industry reputation is arguably the most
00:36 important thing. I've been lucky that I've had dad's reputation to use to my advantage,
00:42 something that he's been working on for the past 30 years. I've almost got such a close
00:47 relationship with his clients that the trust that they've invested in me wouldn't necessarily
00:52 have been there if it wasn't for him.
00:54 COMM: And the strength of their combined reputation
00:57 means that business is booming.
00:58 LANCE MCCORMACK: At the moment I'm in a position
01:00 where I've got 12 cars in stock, two motorbikes. Of those 12 cars, four of them haven't even
01:06 arrived yet and I've sold them. Stuff's coming in and selling faster than I can even
01:10 dream of, which is great for me but it means that I'm constantly searching for new stock,
01:15 which is a big struggle because everyone's at it these days. After the market spiked
01:18 a couple of years ago, everybody and their brother thinks they can be a classic car dealer
01:22 and the competition's fierce. People are working more or less zero commission just
01:27 to get a deal in through the door to fill up their showroom.
01:29 COMM: To stay ahead of the competition, Merlin
01:31 has decided it's time to think bigger.
01:33 LANCE MCCORMACK: This place here has been
01:35 home to Romance and Rust for quite a long time. The way things are moving, it's about
01:39 time we expanded. This building here was an engineering shop for the past 40 years. Plan
01:46 is within the next week or so we'll start stripping it out, turning it into a fully
01:50 formed showroom. We've mapped it out and we can fit 10 cars in there, which is going
01:55 to be completely fine for what I want to do.
01:57 There's only so much I can do with regards to expanding my business online, running things
02:02 from home. Beyond that, I think there's a great deal of comfort in both a vendor and
02:08 a buyer knowing that you've got a purpose-built setup where their cars are going to be safe
02:12 and secure. People want the confidence of knowing that they're dealing with a proper
02:16 business person, a proper business. I think that without this, I'm not going to be able
02:21 to take things up to the level that I need to in order to keep everything afloat.
02:25 However, such an ambitious project has not come cheap.
02:29 The rent is a lot. The rates alone are ÂŁ1,000 a month and to decorate the place, to get
02:35 it to where I want it to be, is going to be probably another ÂŁ10,000 to ÂŁ15,000.
02:39 But the work available makes the risk worthwhile, as demand for their services constantly exceeds
02:44 their current resources.
02:46 The expansion for Dad is very, very, very needed right now. He's outgrowing the place
02:52 he is. We need more staff. We're telling people for a full restoration, there's a two and
02:56 a half year waiting list at the moment, which next time a job comes in, that will increase
02:59 to three and a half years. We're really, really, really busy. We're blessed, but that backlog
03:04 of work, we could filter through very quickly if we had the expansion of both the premises
03:09 and the workforce.
03:11 It's perfect for me. It's next door to Dad. He's tight on space. There's plenty of space
03:14 for everyone here. He can expand his business, I can expand my business and it should work
03:19 very well for both of us.
03:20 The location of their new building may be perfect, but the current state of the interior
03:25 leaves a lot to be desired.
03:27 The floor is gone. It's beyond repair, so we're going to have to put a whole new concrete
03:32 floor in. The roof is leaking. Some of the wood's rotten upstairs in the floorboards,
03:35 so obviously it's not safe for anyone to go upstairs at the moment, woodworm and what
03:38 not. There isn't currently a staircase upstairs, there's only a ladder.
03:42 Such extensive renovation comes at a price, as Merlin knows.
03:46 In order to pay for all of that, it's probably going to take me a couple of months of hard
03:50 grafting. It's not going to be the easiest task. It's a bit of a challenge for me. I
03:56 think I'll be alright with the amount of money I'll have left at the end of it. I've budgeted,
04:02 I've saved up, I've been sensible this year, which has enabled me to make this big decision.
04:09 Despite the challenges ahead, Merlin is still confident that his plan can succeed.
04:15 I can't see any reason why within the next six to eight weeks this place can't be glamourised
04:22 to an extent and be full of cars.
04:26 Next time on Rustor Riches, Lance looks into Aston Martins in very different conditions.
04:33 I'm not sure I was going to kill it. This is an Aston Martin DB4 shell, showing the
04:37 principle of superleggera. This one's in for a hell of a lot of work.
04:41 (upbeat music)