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,
00:11who also runs his own classic car dealership. Together they turn Rust to riches.
00:19Up 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.
00:32Within 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
00:48that the trust that they've invested in me wouldn't necessarily have been there if it
00:53wasn't for him.
00:54And the strength of their combined reputation means the business is booming.
00:59At 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
01:17the 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.
01:29To stay ahead of the competition, Merlin has decided it's time to think bigger.
01:34This place here has been home to Romance and Russ for quite a long time. The way things
01:38are moving, it's about time we expanded. This building here was an engineering shop for
01:44the past 40 years. The plan is, within the next week or so, we'll start stripping it out,
01:49turning it into a fully formed showroom. We've mapped it out and we can fit 10 cars in there,
01:54which is going to be completely fine for what I want to do. There's only so much I can do
02:00with
02:00regards to expanding my business online, running things from home. Beyond that, I think there's
02:04a great deal of comfort in both a vendor and a buyer, knowing that you've got a purpose-built
02:11setup where their cars are going to be safe and secure. People want the confidence of knowing
02:15that they're dealing with a proper business person, a proper business. I think that without
02:19this, I'm not going to be able to take things up to the level that I need to in order
02:24to keep
02:24everything afloat. However, such an ambitious project does not come cheap.
02:29The rent is a lot. The rates alone are £1,000 a month and to decorate the place to get
02:35it
02:35to where I want it to be is probably going to be another £10,000 to £15,000.
02:39But the work available makes the risk worthwhile, as demand for their services constantly exceeds
02:44their current resources. The expansion for Dad is very, very, very needed right now. He's
02:51outgrown the place he is. We need more staff. We're telling people for a full restoration.
02:55There's a two and a half year waiting list at the moment, which the next time a job comes
02:59in, that will increase to three and a half years. We're really, really, really busy.
03:02We're blessed. But I mean, that backlog of work, we could filter through very quickly
03:06if we had the expansion of both the premises and the workforce. It's perfect for me. It's
03:21the expansion of their new building may be perfect, but the current state of the interior
03:24leaves 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
03:31floor in. The roof is leaking. Some of the wood's rotten upstairs in the floorboard, so
03:36obviously it's not safe for anyone to go upstairs at the moment, woodworm and whatnot. There
03:39isn't currently a staircase upstairs. There's only a ladder.
03:42Such 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
03:50grafting. It's not going to be the easiest task. It's a bit of a challenge for me. I
03:56think I'll be all right with the amount of money I have left at the end of it. I've budgeted.
04:02I've saved up. I've been sensible this year, which has enabled me to make this big decision.
04:11Despite 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
04:22to an extent and be full of cars.
04:26Next time on Rasta Riches, Lance looks into Aston Martins in very different conditions.
04:32Yep. I don't think his screwdriver's going to cure that. This is an Aston Martin DB4 shell,
04:37showing the principle of superleggera. This one's in for a hell of a lot of work.
04:41To be continued...
04:42You
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