LANCE: I’m Lance McCormack, a Traditional Panel Beater living in London.
What we’re working on at the moment is a 1969 Mulliner Park Ward coachbuilt two-door Bentley,
one of, I believe, 89 made.
What I'm going to do is put some dignity back in it, and we’re going to start today
with the manufacture and fitting of a front wheel arch.
The first thing we do is to get the correct thickness of material,
in this case it’s 20-gauge mild steel.
I’m using the same paper that dressmakers use, it’s pattern paper.
The pattern, correctly measured, will ease the whole process.
First we'll use an electric nibbler, which
is like an electric shear, and that gives us the rough cut.
And then I use aviation tin snips and that gives me a finer line.
I’m using the wheeling machine here for stretching the edge
of the material on our wheel arch repair section.
This car here is like having a time machine in front of you,
it takes me back to Mulliner Park Ward, in fact, the same skills
are being used in its restoration as we used in the manufacture of this car.
I’m using this boxwood mallet to set the edge of the material,
whereas if I introduce a hammer I’m going to be stretching the material.
Once the repair section has been made,
we then put some engineer’s glue on the body and scribe one single line.
Then we tack-weld the repair section into place.
I’ve taught my son, Algy, the very way I was taught, by jumping in at the deep end.
He’s become a very accomplished welder.
It’s almost a dance, he’s there with this little fine flame, this light,
and then I come in, crash, bang, wallop with a hammer and an anvil, making all this noise.
But they're essential components in getting this right.
This is the start of a process called metal finishing.
It’s very important that, for where we go, the people working
on the car put the same amount of care and attention and indeed love into these cars.
It’s going to be a long journey but I can’t wait to see the finish of the body
and then all the jewellery, the bright work around the car.
It’s a journey.