00:01 COMM: Master craftsman Lance McCormack owns
one of Britain's best classic car restoration businesses, 'Romance of Rust'.
Helping him manage it is his son Merlin, the cutting edge sales man who also runs his own
classic car dealership together they turn 'Rust To Riches'.
00:20 COMM: Up till now, Merlin has been fully capable
of running his car dealership, Duke of London from home.
00:27 MERLIN: All I need to run things is my phone,
my laptop and some good cars, within the industry, reputation is arguably the most important
thing, I've been lucky that I've had dad's reputation to use to my advantage, its something
that he's been working on for the past 30 years and I've almost got such a close relationship
with his clients that the trust that they've invested in me wouldn't necessarily be there
if it wasn't for him
00:55 COMM: And the strength of their combined reputation
means the business is booming
01:00 MERLIN: At the moment I'm in a position where
I've got 12 cars in stock, 2 motorbikes, of those 12 cars, 4 of them haven't even arrived
yet and I've sold them.
coming in and selling faster than i could even dream of which is great for me but it
means that I'm constantly searching for new stock which is a big struggle because everyone
is at it these days, after the market spiked a couple of years ago, everybody and their
brother thinks they can be a classic car dealer and the competition is fierce, people are
working on more or less 0 commission just to get a deal in through the door, to fill
up their show room.
01:30 COMM: To stay ahead of the competition, Merlin
has decided that its time to think bigger
01:35 MERLIN: This place here has been home to Romance
of Rust for quite a long time, the way things are moving its about time we expanded.
This building here was an engineering shop for the past 40 years, the plan is within
the next week or so we'll start stripping it out and turning it into a fully formed
show room, we've mapped it out and we can fit 10 cars in there and that is going to
be completely fine for what we want to do.
theres only so much I can do regards to expanding my business, online, running things from home
and beyond that I think there's a great deal of comfort in both a vendor and a buyer, knowing
that you've got a purpose built where their cars are going to be safe and secure people
want to the confidence to know they are dealing with a proper business person, a proper business,
I think that without this; I'm not going to be able to take things up to the level that
I need to um in order to keep everything a float.
02:27 COMM: However, such an ambitious project does
not come cheap.
02:31 MERLIN: The rent is a lot, the rate is alone
a thousand pound a month and the to decorate the place to where I want it to be will probably
be another ten to fifteen thousand.
02:40 COMM: But the work available makes the risk
worth while as demand for their services constantly exceeds their current resources.
02:48 MERLIN: The expansion for Dad is very, very,
very needed right now, he's outgrown the place for years, we need more staff, we've been
telling people with a full restoration its a two and a half year waiting list at the
moment which the next time a job comes in its three and a half years.
we're really, really, really busy at best but I mean that will only work if we could
filter through very quickly if we had the expansion of both the premises of the work
force, its perfect for me, its next door to dad, he's tight on space, there's plenty of
space for him in here, it means he can expand his business, I can expand my business and
it should work very well for both of us
03:21 COMM: The location of their new building may
not be perfect but the current state of the interior leaves a lot to be desired.
03:28 MERLIN: the floor is gone its beyond repair
so we're going to have to put a whole new concrete floor in, the roof is leaking, some
of the wood is rotten, the stairs and the floorboards is no safe to go upstairs at the
moment and wood wear and what not, there isn't currently a stair case there's only a ladder.
03:42 COMM: such extensive renovation comes at a
price as Merlin knows.
03:46 MERLIN: in order to pay for all of that it
probably going to take me a few months or crafting, its not going to be the easiest
task its a bit of a challenge for me.
I think I'll be alright with the amount of money I'll have left at the end of it, I've
budgeted, I've saved up, I've been sensible this year um which has enabled me to make
this big decision.
04:12 COMM: despite the challenges ahead Merlin
is still confident his plan can exceed
04:18 MERLIN: I cant see any reason why within the
next 6 - 8 weeks this place cant be glamourized to an extent and be full of cars.
04:27 COMM: next time on Rust to Riches Lance has
an Aston Martin in very different conditions.
04:32 LANCE: Yeah I don't think a screw driver is
going to cure that.
its an Aston Martin DB4 shell showing the principal of Pulargera this ones in for a
hell of a lot of work.