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.
Category
🚗
MotorTranscript
00:00001 00 MASTER CRAFTSMAN
00:03Master 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.
00:21On 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.
00:29My own personal insurance should go up as I touch it.
00:32But Lance had a more humble start to his career.
00:38They 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, so it's a tragedy
00:49that the skills have gone and almost every metal worker that I know from there has either
00:54retired or got out of the trade and I just kept going, that's all I really knew.
00:58So from being a dodo to being a go-to man for bespoke metal work.
01:03Helping to manage the business is Lance's son Merlin, who also runs his own classic
01:08car dealership, Duke of London.
01:10And this is a Merlin.
01:13I've been around Dad's business since I was born.
01:15He used to sort of babysit us while we were still in our cots and while he was at work.
01:20I started buying and selling cars when I was 11.
01:22I found a gap in the market with eBay.
01:24I was sort of buying heaps of junk, getting them through an MOT and flogging them on.
01:29I went into the city for a while, despite doing quite well, I decided that I had to
01:33come back and do something with cars again.
01:35And Merlin's modern approach perfectly complements Lance's traditional craftsmanship.
01:40I've sold three cars on Instagram, I've sold a couple of cars through Facebook.
01:44I've managed those pages as well as I've 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 if I didn't have the confidence
01:56in our relationship.
01:57The father and son combination is paying dividends.
02:01And now the pair have a two-year waiting list of customers.
02:04Their current projects include this amazing Ferrari.
02:07It's a very important, historic car and this car at some point in its life would have been
02:12worth tens of thousands, now we're talking about ten million plus.
02:21And they look at a rare Aston Martin with engine trouble.
02:25Yep, I don't think this screwdriver's going to cure that.
02:34Looking slightly less glamorous at the moment is another Aston Martin project.
02:37This is an Aston Martin DB4 shell, showing the principle of superleggera.
02:42This one's in for a hell of a lot of work, we're doing a Zagato replica on an original
02:48Aston chassis here.
02:49And this thing here has cost us a quarter of a million pounds, our one finished would
02:53be just over a million pounds, it would be a faithful replica of a Zagato.
02:59Clearly 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, I've got a huge amount of responsibility
03:08when it's in my care.
03:09These race cars and one-offs, you may own them but you're a custodian of them and I'm
03:13sort 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, I get to smell them, recreate features
03:21that have been lost in them.
03:23The name I coined after a couple of drinks one night.
03:27My ex-wife used to work for Vogue and as a result I used to go to some very swanky parties
03:32with all these sort of dowager duchess types and they would all ask, what do you do?
03:36And rather than just say, I work at Rolls Royce, I'm a metal worker or a restorer, I'd
03:40say I'm with the Romance of Rust, oh really dear?
03:43And they would often leave it at that but it was just a little joke I had going on.
03:47Once I'd started up on my own I was with the Romance of Rust, you know, it applies if you
03:51think about it to these cars because there's a great romantic notion, they're often substitutes
03:57for children, wives, you name it baby.
04:00With 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 and they don't seem to be slowing
04:08down.
04:09The business is looking very rosy, we've never been busier.
04:11But with all this demand for restoration and sales, Lance and Merlin need to expand
04:16rapidly to keep up.
04:17And despite the pressures brought by success, the McCormacks are passionate about what they
04:21do.
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.
04:32Next time on Rust to Riches, the Ferrari's windscreen needs resealing.
04:36But work on such an expensive car is never without its worries.
04:40There's a big scratch here in the glass.
04:43If you took it out and broke it, we're in trouble here, it's nightmarish if that happens.