00:0007.5 million pounds, incredibly this Aston Martin hasn't been seen for almost 50 years.
00:13Discovered in a Gloucestershire barn, this is just one of the exciting projects currently
00:18being undertaken by Jonathan Wills and his company, Cotswold Classic Car Restorations.
00:24As a company we're really excited and just it's a privilege to be involved with this.
00:3007.5 million pounds, Jonathan started restoring classic cars while he was still at school in
00:35the 1990s and set up Cotswold Classic Car Restorations around four years ago with the aim of working
00:42on mainly British models such as Aston Martins and Jaguars. The company currently has a full
00:48workload and Jonathan shows us some of their current restoration projects.
00:54It's a three litre, six cylinder engine. Its stored conditions were perfect. It was in
01:01a dry, open, airy building that was heated during the winter. So the amount of corrosion that's
01:07occurred within the car is remarkable.
01:13What marks this car as absolutely unique is it's an Aston Martin DB2 for which the build
01:19numbers are only in a few hundreds anyway. The few that are left are absolutely cherished,
01:26command considerable values ever rising and for the Aston collector you're not going to
01:32find this again. Potentially that restoration typically is about a year's worth of work.
01:38Here we have the Maserati Cotroporte 1970. This is one of only two in the world and this particular
01:45car was a special commission by the Aga Khan. The other one was a special commission by the
01:49King of Spain. It took three years to build this car, Maserati themselves. This car features
01:55one of the most opulent interiors you'll ever see. The super soft calf leather that the seats
02:00are trimmed in. The deep Wilton style carpet interior you will not find on many, many firms at all.
02:06It's a lovely wooden dashboard with a very full complement of dials. This car would be apparently
02:13a discreet saloon. Discreet isn't a word I would use with it. And propelling this beautiful
02:19saloon car is a Codcam V8. Five litre in excess of 350 horsepower. It's a variation of Maserati's
02:26race engines. The design criteria from the Aga Khan is a car that we do not 60 under 6 seconds
02:33at 170 miles an hour. It's really ahead of its time. It's in absolutely beautiful and original
02:39condition pretty much as it left the factory all those years ago.
02:43Restoration projects are very time consuming and incredibly detailed.
02:48We actually break the car down into all its component pieces. We mark out any repairs that
02:53are required as well. We can either build the car as completely original or we may be able
02:58to modify it slightly to make the car actually more up to current speed of traffic. The chassis
03:04and body would be acid dipped. It's where the actual body and chassis are put into an acid
03:08tank and left there for 48 hours. And that removes all paint, it removes all the rust,
03:13all the sealers and corrosion. And when the body is removed it is then put into a neutralising
03:18tank. Then a car will come back to us and we'll inspect it for any cracks or, you know,
03:23perforation or where the panels have become thin through corrosion. Then we go through the
03:28various processes of the restoration which include body, paint, chassis rebuild and the retrimming
03:34of the leather and the hide and even down to the glass. If the glass is marked or damaged,
03:38we'll be looking at replacing the glass if the customer requires.
03:42The main challenges in a restoration of a vehicle is getting the originality correct
03:47and working closely with the customer to ensure that the refinish article is exactly what he wants.
03:54Despite all the beautiful vehicles Jonathan has worked on, he still has a wish list.
04:00A car we're yet to restore that we would absolutely love to be commissioned to restore.
04:04It would be an ex-Formula 1 car owned by Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Graham Hill, James Hunt.
04:11The history with those cars and the battles that they were involved with is just second to none
04:17and it would be an absolute privilege if one of those projects comes our way one day.
04:21It would be a dream of mine to restore one of those cars owned by one of those fantastic drivers.
04:27And it seems Jonathan has no plans to stop working on these classic cars any time soon.
04:32Working on a classic car is an absolute joy.
04:35It's something that I see me doing to the day I die and being involved with them.
04:38When the cars are actually completed and leaving your workshop and you've seen them progress over one or two years,
04:43it's good to see them out there being used again and the customer is enjoying them.
04:47You're welcome.
04:48I'm free to keep up until now.
04:50I'm free to keep up until now.
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