Richard.Hammonds.Workshop.S01E01
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00:00I'm gonna work but I'm going to work here. Normally going to work means passport, travel
00:18to airport, fly somewhere, away for two weeks. But I'm gonna go out that door now and I'll
00:23be home again this evening. It's like a lot of people doing it. It's just a bit new, it's
00:28very strange. I've started a classic car restoration business, for real. I'm not doing a report
00:35on a car. These will be customers' cars that we're restoring for them. So it's a totally
00:40new way of working with something that's very familiar. I'll see you this evening.
00:47Give me a kiss. Mind? Yeah? Hello. I'm going. You're actually going off to work? I am going
00:59to work. Right. And then I'll come back from work today. It's gonna be a bit of a culture
01:04shock, isn't it? Yeah, but I'm gonna do it. You sure you know what you're doing? I'm not
01:08listening to you now. Goodbye. Bye bye. Wish me luck, please. Luck. Thank you. Cars have
01:14been my life. Take it a little bit more. Talking about them. This is a force of nature. Thrashing
01:21them. That's not what I wanted to see. And crashing them. But now. Don't panic, I'm here.
01:31I'm fulfilling my lifelong dream and starting my own classic car workshop. Should I get
01:37my overalls on? Restoring some of the finest classic cars in the world. Heavenly automotive
01:44lord. With father and son team, Neil and Anthony Greenhouse. We're trusting him with
01:48our reputation. Look away. Bodging in process. Oh, you son of a... I'll be learning how to
01:54beat your businessman. What you need is the smallest cog. To be honest, you've got my
01:59attention a bit now. And getting my hands dirty. I'm gonna swallow this screw in a minute
02:04and die. You do it quietly. It'll test my bank balance. You could ruin the business,
02:09and my relationships. You'll enjoy it. Will I? As I take my obsession to a whole new level.
02:15It's the best game I've ever played and the most terrifying.
02:18At 51, I am suddenly thinking, is it time to stop living out of a suitcase? What started
02:43as an idea, now it's suddenly becoming very, very real. And people will know I'm doing
02:48this in the car world, and they will be waiting, I'm sorry, for me to fail. And we will. And
02:55I don't blame them, because I'd be waiting for them to fail. That's how it works. Actually,
03:00I've suddenly realised that's going to be really scary, isn't it? What is it? Poacher
03:05turned gamekeeper. Richard's come along and offered this opportunity where he's going to
03:16put some money up. We're going to put in all our equipment, time, materials, and most of all,
03:21experience, and hopefully we're going to make it work. For us, it's about moving on to bigger
03:26things, hopefully. And Richard can bring that with him as well. Yeah. I turned up at this
03:31scruffy little workshop, and out came Neil. They repaired one of my cars. And I did think,
03:36that is really good. And then I took him another car, and then I thought, no, that's actually
03:42really good. I've always thought they're being wasted. There's nothing wrong with spending your
03:49career repairing a Vauxhall Corsa that's backed into a bollard in the supermarket car park. But
03:54they can do so much more. So what I'm doing with this is trying to move them up to the next league.
04:00Dad's been here now 26 years. My mum used to drop me off here nearly every night after school. So
04:09my love of cars really is from my dad. And that's all we ever did was cars, cars, cars. The dream
04:15for me in this job has always been to work on classic cars. Things I've always dreamt of working
04:20on. Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bentleys, Rolls Royces. I can't wait. Imagine what it'd be like
04:25to have a proper building set up right. This garage isn't really efficient. It's not really,
04:30never been big enough. Never, for the minute we moved in. Yeah, really exciting, really exciting.
04:36I'm going to go and see my mate Adrian. He's building a new unit that we're going to base
04:44our business in. It's quite big. I've seen the site. I've seen where, I know the site,
04:49where it's going to go. I haven't seen how far he's got. It's not going to be finished,
04:54but I want to start looking around and thinking, what's going where?
04:57Oh, well, I was hoping it might be further than this. H, I knew I was going to have to use a bit
05:11of imagination, but why is there nothing there? Well, we had a little bit of a run in with the
05:17council, but I mean, it's easy to picture what it's going to be like, isn't it? It'll be amazing.
05:25Where am I going to be here? The building is the same as that. Yeah. Here, yeah, there's a
05:34massive roller shutter door here. Roller shutter door. And then there'll be a personnel door,
05:38window for like your reception. So you can be posh. Doors here. This would be like reception.
05:47Yeah. So I'm going to have like a desk. Yeah. And then we've got to get the ramps in. I'm
05:53going to have a lift. And I think the spray booth is going right up there. Yeah. Come in.
05:57Your Lamborghini, sir. Is this going? No, this all gets lifted and your floor is about there. Right.
06:07That's your puddle. Thank you. The financial side of this, running a business, that's new to me.
06:23Don't spend what you haven't got is the key motto, because otherwise it'll just go downhill so rapid.
06:30Your biggest problem over there is how many hours you're going to have to spend on a job
06:34to get it right. That's the financial clock, that is. Because it's not just the wages,
06:39it's the rent, rates, electric, heating. Especially if someone doesn't pay you on time,
06:45you could end up in a big mess. It's all very grown up, isn't it? It is grown up, yeah. That's
06:51why so many people work for other people. Which is what I've done all my life.
06:59I hope it works. Mindy will kill me. I think like many couples, you've got one of you who
07:05works away a lot and suddenly they're not working away a lot. They then have to sort of integrate
07:11into family life completely, which has been interesting. Let's put it, interesting.
07:17I'm probably just the worrier. I'm the one who worries. That's my job, in a way. I worry.
07:26But that's why I'm sort of keen that there is a proper business plan and it's not going to just
07:31sort of choke and die later on. Because that would be bad. Very, very bad.
07:40You can't let people down and, you know, when people are reliant on you for their livelihood,
07:48you know, that comes with a lot of responsibility. A bit of a worry.
07:56This is not a good day in my business world. Not moving into that workshop,
08:00that's more than just a disappointment. Because my whole business plan was based on
08:05going into this bigger, brighter, better, newer workshop with better kit in it.
08:11It looks better. We can get more work in and charge more for the work that we do.
08:15Nobody's going to bring their million pound car to be restored in Neil's little old workshop.
08:23Worse still, I've now got to tell Neil and Anthony.
08:28Morning.
08:34Morning. Morning. Morning. How are we?
08:37This thing's still here then? Work in progress, mate. Work in progress.
08:41Work in progress.
08:44On the workshop, it's not finished yet. Not far off though.
08:51Is it built at all? No.
08:56But once it gets going, still frame up, clad, done. We'll be in there before we know it.
09:00Meanwhile, can we live in here a bit longer?
09:03We've been here 26 years, I don't think it's going to matter a bit longer, is it?
09:07It's all right.
09:08It's the only place I've worked. 17 years.
09:10You've worked here? Wow.
09:12No, he's been here.
09:16Yeah, we'll be in there before we know it and then we will have all the space in the world,
09:19I promise. Talking of space, I do need a little office. I should have one, really.
09:24What, an executive office or a little office?
09:26Well, you belong in here being all skilled and craftsperson. I need, you know...
09:32You can use the office out there.
09:34Can I use your chair, your desk?
09:35You can use, yeah, the chair, yeah, and you can use my kettle as well.
09:39I don't want to use your kettle, I'm not falling for that.
09:41Two sugars in my tea.
09:42No, I'm setting up my office.
09:45Oh, dog.
09:49So the workshop isn't ready. We can't move into it yet,
09:53which means the business can't really begin properly, but I am committed.
09:58So I've got to make the best of our situation now whilst we hold our breath,
10:03ready to get into the workshop and expand to the size we need to be and get those big jobs in.
10:14At least we've still got some of Neil's old regular customers.
10:19Who's... Well, he's got one of these.
10:22Hello, boys.
10:22Hello, you must be Mac.
10:24It's a Bond bug.
10:26Why have you got one of these, though?
10:28It's not your everyday car, is it?
10:30I'm not an everyday sort of bloke.
10:32I wanted one when I was a kid.
10:34Never got around to it. Here I am.
10:35Everybody wanted one of these. They're just epic.
10:38They're fabulous little things.
10:40Designed by the guy who designed the rally chopper.
10:42That's him. That's him.
10:43And you can see it, can't you?
10:45It just says 70s all over it.
10:47What do the people of Ross think of it?
10:48Yeah, they love it.
10:50Kids especially love it, you know.
10:52Last summer, I took her in to Sainsbury's,
10:54and some little kids, only about six or seven,
10:55come out with his mum and he was going,
10:58Mum! Mum! Look at that! Look at that!
11:01And he said to me, how fast does it go?
11:02And I said, about 300 miles an hour.
11:05And he went, Dad! Dad! It does 300 miles an hour!
11:11So what's up with it?
11:12Diff leak. Canopy rattles.
11:14There's a tappity-tappity noise coming from the engine.
11:16Yeah.
11:17Don't know if that's normal.
11:18Ah, right.
11:19I also noticed there's a button on the steering wheel
11:21that says World Peace.
11:22Yeah, that's broke, mate.
11:22I don't think it's ever worked, to be honest.
11:24Right. Okay. Well, we'll set to and get that done.
11:27Brilliant. Yes.
11:28Go. And fix me World Peace button.
11:31Get in there.
11:34Seatbelt?
11:35Yeah, the seatbelt is just a little bit on the snug side.
11:39I'm in. You would be, wouldn't you?
11:42It's not happening, is it?
11:45It's like you're doing my tie-up for me.
11:51Oh, hello.
11:53There.
11:55Works.
12:01This is like I'm driving a big lump of red Leicester down the road.
12:08Back in the 70s, this is what they thought the year 2000 was going to be.
12:13And it's 2021 and we're still in them.
12:16Yeah, we're still in them.
12:19Right, what are we learning, then?
12:20There's a little bit of tappet noise.
12:22It sounds good on the gearbox and the dip.
12:24There's no whining.
12:25It's got that rattle there.
12:27Yeah.
12:27And there's a bit of a rattle coming down the bottom stem out.
12:31Do you hear that rattling now?
12:34Yes, yes.
12:36And that's, that is, that could be big end fuel or it could be...
12:42Yeah, I can hear it.
12:46Feel that suspension now.
12:49Oh, yeah, what suspension?
12:50Yeah, exactly.
12:53I'm glad we got our first customer in
12:55and I'm glad it's the little bun bug because, well, they're unusual.
12:59Um, and yeah, it's just bits and pieces here and there.
13:03Some of it cosmetic, little bits of fixes and rattles.
13:05The only slight worry is what Neil was saying about that big end type knock.
13:09That's from the bottom of the engine.
13:11And if it is the big end, that's, that'd be bad news for Mac.
13:16That's an engine rebuild.
13:20Well, it's been rather a sobering start to my new classic car restoration business.
13:27We've got to clear a hundred grand a year.
13:30Yeah, and that's just a standstill.
13:32That's not to make profit.
13:33That's just purely just to be there.
13:35So let's just, for clarity's sake, peg that at 10 grand a month.
13:39Yeah.
13:40After day one, suddenly 10 grand.
13:43That's a lot of bun bugs.
13:45It's a lot of bun bugs.
13:46You've got to start looking.
13:47It's a lot of money.
13:48Bigger cars.
13:49But we don't want to turn away the reasonably priced cars.
13:51No, no, no.
13:52No, no, no.
13:53We would need to do the small jobs to keep the money coming in
13:57and do the big jobs to try and get the bigger money coming in to move on and progress.
14:02The thing I can do for the business, I will get out and try and bring you those cars in.
14:05I will try and...
14:06That's what we need.
14:07I want to arrive at the workshop with a job and you run out and it's like,
14:11oh God, I've never even seen one in the flesh.
14:13I've always wanted to work on one and then get at it.
14:15That's what we want.
14:17I will try my hardest to bring you those cars.
14:19That would be good.
14:21Final thing.
14:23We need a name.
14:24Name?
14:25You thought of a name?
14:26We need a name for this whole operation.
14:29It's a bit like the saying,
14:30them that know don't need to show but you need to put that into a name.
14:34I've got a suggestion.
14:36Yeah.
14:36What about that?
14:39The smallest cog.
14:40The what?
14:41What?
14:41The smallest cog.
14:43You speak for yourself.
14:44Like the smallest...
14:45Because we will go right down to the last minutiae, the smallest cog.
14:52Do you think?
14:53It's quite solid catchy but...
14:57Thing is, I've had 150 of these made.
14:59Oh, how many?
15:00There's one each.
15:02Oh, thank you very much.
15:03I've got one.
15:04You see?
15:06Mechanical, old school, attention to detail, right down to the smallest cog.
15:13I sense a slight reticence.
15:20Let's run with it for a bit.
15:21If you change your mind, we change our mind.
15:24To the smallest cog.
15:25To the smallest cog.
15:26Cheers.
15:27It's going to be huge.
15:28You watch.
15:29Hopefully.
15:35If we're ever going to make a success of this business,
15:38I've got to start bringing in some high-end cars
15:41and I've had a brainwave about how I might just be able to do it.
15:46What are you doing in that?
15:47There's a reason for this.
15:48Apart from it's just nice to drive.
15:50There is a 60th anniversary of the E-type gathering of classics at Prescott Hill Climb.
15:56So I'm taking this.
15:57I'm going to go to the show and just tell people about how wonderful we are.
16:01And so I've brought it in today because since you did it, I've used it.
16:06So you're saying you haven't looked after it since you've had it parked?
16:08I have looked after it.
16:09I spent hours under there.
16:10I'm not going to every time I've driven it.
16:12What's the show?
16:13It's the 60th anniversary.
16:15E-type.
16:16Owners.
16:17I want me to detail it.
16:18Well, I want it to be like it was when you first did it.
16:20It's a beautiful looking car.
16:22It is.
16:22And it's your work.
16:23Your work.
16:24So well done.
16:24Get it back to how it was when you first presented it to me.
16:27So you're using this as an advert?
16:29Yeah.
16:35It's all yours, mate.
16:35Thanks.
16:36Sorry, I didn't see it, did I?
16:37Yeah, no, it's no problem.
16:39It's an accident.
16:40I'm old, I'm allowed to make mistakes.
16:42Yeah, normally at night time you have your water accident.
16:47This is exactly the sort of thing I should be doing.
16:49I need to get our name out there.
16:51It's really important that people see our work.
16:55Not just to get people to trust us,
16:57but I need them also to get past thinking,
16:58oh, wait a minute, it's that little fella off the car show.
17:01I know him.
17:01Yes, I know.
17:02But forget about that for now.
17:04Our business is our business.
17:05The Smallest Garden is about quality work
17:08that Neil and Anthony do because they're craftsmen.
17:11It's nice when you can just stand back and look at that car
17:14and just think, wow, we actually painted that.
17:18Total re-spray, wasn't it?
17:19Yeah, total re-spray inside and out.
17:21Does it still look this good after all the years we've done it?
17:24If I look that good when I'm 60, I won't be complaining.
17:26Well, you haven't got far, have you?
17:36This Jaguar meet is a social event as well,
17:40so getting the family along could be the clincher.
17:43Thing is, though, getting them to swap who's for tyres
17:47is a bit of a hard sell.
17:51We'll be like, you know, there with one of the cars
17:53and we'll be part of it.
17:55I'm pretty sure I'll come.
17:57OK.
17:57If I have no prior engagements.
18:00Right.
18:02I mean, you might actually enjoy it.
18:04I mean, you might actually enjoy it.
18:05There might be bits of it that you think,
18:06hey, that's really cool, I've not seen that.
18:10There might even be shops, you can buy stuff.
18:12I'll get back to you in three to five working days.
18:15It's going to go well.
18:16She's going to, she's, I can just see
18:18there's a glimmer of something there.
18:21It's piqued her interest.
18:22I think she'll come.
18:25I've just got to try the other two now.
18:33Willow, the younger daughter, has already bailed.
18:46But Izzy hopefully is coming with her boyfriend Cam.
18:51Mrs Hammond also will be joining.
18:53It's quite weary this morning.
18:56We had a very late night.
18:58But we're fresh as a daisy today.
19:00Well, the car is ready.
19:06Right, the making of the picnic.
19:08I can do this.
19:11Did you want me to tell you what to put in?
19:13No.
19:13OK.
19:14I'm just going to do my own thing.
19:15OK.
19:17My date, I'm asking you to do it for me as a favour,
19:19so I will prepare the picnic.
19:21You're not going to make any egg sandwiches, are you?
19:22Please tell me you're not making any egg sandwiches.
19:24Please tell me you're not.
19:25No.
19:27Have you got any gherkins?
19:28At the top, top, top, top.
19:29I'd say top, top, back of the...
19:32This is so far out of your comfort zone.
19:34What about pickled onions?
19:39Not many people slice a pickled onion and put it in a sandwich.
19:42Can I just...
19:42Am I making this picnic or are you?
19:49Oh, that'll be really nice.
19:51I'm going to take this and put it in the car and then we'll be ready to go.
20:03Oh.
20:06Oh, bloody hell.
20:11It'll be a big classic car day.
20:13Loads of E-types there and just classic car fans generally.
20:16And I need to get our name out there.
20:21It is people in E-types coming together to look at one another's cars
20:29and celebrate the 60th anniversary of undoubtedly one of,
20:32if not the most beautiful cars ever built.
20:44Sorry, are we interrupting your picnic?
20:48Hello.
20:48Hello.
20:49I don't, I haven't done many of this, much of this sort of thing really.
20:52Where do we want to...
20:52Oh, Lord.
20:53Check out, it's really old.
20:54What, you sit and you have like a little picnic and then people come and talk to us and...
20:58Right.
20:59Team briefing.
20:59Because there's a lot of people around, they're already looking.
21:02Right.
21:03People are going to come and talk and if you look,
21:05people go up and down and look at the different cars and talk about them.
21:08Now, we're in a 1962 E-type, Series 1.
21:12E-type?
21:13Series 1.
21:14Series 1.
21:15It's a proper Series 1, not a...
21:161962 E-type, Series 1.
21:18I forgot that then.
21:19What size engine is it?
21:21Medium.
21:243.6?
21:2580.
21:253.8.
21:26Straight six.
21:27Let me give you some of these.
21:28So you get chatting, yeah, we're in the...
21:30Blue one.
21:30The blue one.
21:31That'll do it.
21:32There, hand those out.
21:34And then if they're really special, if you're really getting on well...
21:39I'm not going to give someone a car.
21:40No.
21:41It's not a crackerjack.
21:42That's merch, isn't it?
21:43That's what people do.
21:44Merch, yeah.
21:45Okay.
21:46Right.
21:47Can we eat your interesting lunch now?
21:49Yes.
21:49Oh my giddy aunt.
21:51Why have you bought a whole thing of mayonnaise?
21:54Well, everybody likes mayonnaise, don't they?
21:57Why have you bought a whole thing of parmesan?
21:59Cheese, isn't it?
21:59Everybody likes cheese.
22:01Nobody eats parmesan like cheese.
22:03That's really weird.
22:05Ham and cheese, good.
22:08Ham and mustard.
22:10There's a surprise in the ham and mustard ones.
22:12Oh no.
22:13It's pickled onion.
22:18Did you do a salmon one?
22:20Was the salmon in a tin?
22:21Oh, and smoked salmon, obviously.
22:25I didn't find it.
22:26Do you want ham and cheese?
22:28I don't like cheese.
22:31I don't like pickled onions.
22:33Marmite, you're having marmite.
22:35Oh, yay.
22:38Richard, please don't.
22:39Please don't get that.
22:40No, no, no.
22:42Oh, that is just wrong.
22:43Oh no.
22:45What?
22:45What's wrong with you?
22:45I'm going to have to ask some people because that is wrong.
22:48It's not.
22:49Yes, it is.
22:51No one eats parmesan like that.
22:52No.
22:52They do.
22:53No, you don't.
22:54You shave it onto pasta.
22:56No, you can eat it.
22:57Please don't.
22:59I'm going to carry on eating my cheese and drinking my special alcohol-free Prosecco.
23:05Cheers, cheers, cheers.
23:07I'm going to go and drum up some business.
23:13Hello.
23:15This is what everybody's after right now, isn't it?
23:18A barn fire.
23:18I'm sorry it's not running today.
23:19Otherwise, I'd say...
23:20You're not going to be exercising, you'd have to help.
23:22Bricks don't work.
23:23Are you going to be doing anything to it?
23:24Are you going to leave it all patinated and genuine?
23:26I think something will need to be done.
23:28What I'm worried about is rust.
23:30We've set up a classic car restoration business and that's our number.
23:33That gives us a call.
23:34We can certainly help with anything on this.
23:36Yeah, thank you for this.
23:37Please, you're most welcome.
23:38Right, cheers.
23:39Well, I'm doing all the work now, team.
23:41I need to see you do more work.
23:42I need to go and talk to some people.
23:43I got fired from my sales job, so...
23:45I'm just going to smile.
23:46Maybe that's my job.
23:47Yeah.
23:50Hello.
23:51Lovely car.
23:52Oh, look, see, straight, not messy.
23:54Mindy's going in.
23:54In for the kill.
23:55In for the kill.
23:56Have you had it for long?
23:57And do you come to the hill climb very often?
23:59Mindy, you've got the killer instinct.
24:00Did you see that?
24:01She just went straight in.
24:03That one looks like it needs some paint.
24:04I did think that.
24:05Doesn't it?
24:06Hello, how are you doing?
24:07What you need is the smallest cog.
24:11Oh my...
24:12Good lord.
24:13Oh, that's a lot of green manifolds going on.
24:14Wow.
24:15We are offering services, restoring cars.
24:17So give us a call if anything drops off.
24:23My last hill climb attempt ended with a fire
24:26and a trip in an air ambulance.
24:29So Mindy's going to be doing the driving today.
24:35I have never driven...
24:36God, the brakes are a bit spongy, Richard.
24:38They are really spongy.
24:39Oh, well, thanks for telling me now.
24:41Yeah, they're really rubbish brakes.
24:42Oh my god.
24:43Sorry about that.
24:44I don't know where we go.
24:45Where do we go?
24:45Where do we go?
24:46Where do we go?
24:46Do we go left?
24:49Where do we go?
24:49Oh, maybe we go there.
24:50Go there?
24:54What have you noticed?
24:55It's fuel.
24:56Fluid leak.
24:57I think it's fuel, Richard.
25:03Oh, that's fuel.
25:04It's probably got a sunk float.
25:06It was overfueling because the float stuck.
25:10It's not as fast-fuelled and exciting as I imagined.
25:15Well, it is fast-fuelled, but the fuel's more running out of the car.
25:19What happened?
25:20The float is sticking in the carburettor, so it's overfueling.
25:24It's not the best thing to have squirting around.
25:26It's highly flammable.
25:27Petrol is quite flammable, yeah.
25:28It's one of the features of it that makes it so useful in cars.
25:31It's probably fuel.
25:33Oh, it's a float.
25:33It's probably fuel.
25:34Oh, yeah.
25:35That's why it's sinking.
25:36The ethanol in the petrol eats into it, it fills with fuel and sinks,
25:40and then it doesn't work anymore because it doesn't float.
25:45Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
25:47We'll need a float, please.
25:50Oh, dear.
25:51That's not embarrassing.
25:53No, I'm not embarrassed.
25:55Can anyone rescue Richard Hammond?
25:57One of his floats has sunk.
25:59This isn't the best possible advert.
26:07I mainly need to hide the business cards.
26:10Mindy, have you seen the business cards?
26:12Should we just hide them?
26:14Yeah.
26:17Is that going to do the job?
26:19That will do the job.
26:26Well, there's no fuel coming out of it now.
26:30I think we got away with that.
26:32Nobody noticed.
26:33Um, are we confident?
26:37We almost guaranteed not to explode.
26:39Pretty much.
26:40Do you want to come out with me again?
26:42If this was the first date, would you go for a second date?
26:55Do you think they got lost?
27:00Hang on, hang on.
27:05It's very slow.
27:07Yes, well, I don't know where I'm going, Richard.
27:10Come on, man.
27:12Not going for the record, are they?
27:14Not the fastest I've seen all day.
27:18There we are, she's kicking on now.
27:21Go on, man.
27:30Yeah, we've got this deep rumbling noise in this engine.
27:33Yeah.
27:33Mac was complaining about.
27:35On the test drive, it sounds really bottom-end-y.
27:38Yeah.
27:38Really like the big ends on their way out.
27:40Not good.
27:41Let's have a look at the oil.
27:43Oh, that's thin.
27:43Oh, it is thin, isn't it?
27:45Just small.
27:46Oh, it's all right.
27:48There's petrol in there.
27:49Real petrol.
27:49There's petrol.
27:50There's more petrol and oil in there.
27:53It's anechoic oil, isn't it?
27:54Yeah.
27:55It's anechoic oil.
27:56Yeah.
27:56There's more petrol and oil in there.
27:59It's had a carburettor conversion,
28:00and it doesn't look like it's been set up properly.
28:02And we think the carburettor is just overfueling.
28:05The engine is not able to burn all the fuel off,
28:08so it's filling the petrol.
28:09It's going past the piston into the oil, filling the oil out.
28:12The oil is absolutely like water.
28:15It's really so thin.
28:16So if we can get it to run where it's burning the right amount of fuel,
28:20then that should cure it.
28:21It'll stop it from being a catastrophe,
28:23because it would have exploded, definitely.
28:25You'll be driving it one day and it'll just bang.
28:28Big proper bang end of the road, isn't it?
28:41Breaking down at the E-Type event
28:43wasn't the great advertisement that the business had hoped for.
28:47The phone's not exactly been ringing off the hook.
28:50Time for a pep talk.
28:51And where all these green bits go, I've no idea.
28:53The trouble is, they shouldn't all be on the board.
28:56If you put them out here,
28:58you've got room to let the dog see the rabbit.
29:07I haven't seen that one before, have I?
29:09Yeah, you have.
29:10Is this one of your very own? It's a Triumph, isn't it?
29:121958, the Triumph trophy.
29:141958? Oh, yeah.
29:15It's almost as old as I am.
29:17It's good, isn't it? You've seen that one before.
29:19Right, let me talk to you about my new exciting business venture.
29:21You can help me in helping me establish my credibility in this area.
29:26OK.
29:27And it matters that I have some credence and credibility
29:31as an engineer-type person.
29:34Right, OK.
29:34Let's discuss it over tea.
29:36Right.
29:36Is that Molo?
29:37Piece of Molo.
29:37Oh, yeah.
29:38Oh, yeah.
29:39Oh, yeah.
29:39Oh, yeah.
29:40Oh, yeah.
29:40Oh, yeah.
29:41Oh, yeah.
29:41Oh, yeah.
29:42Oh, yeah.
29:42Oh, yeah.
29:43Oh, yeah.
29:43Oh, yeah.
29:44Oh, yeah.
29:44Oh, yeah.
29:45Oh, yeah.
29:45Oh, yeah.
29:46Oh, yeah.
29:46Oh, yeah.
29:47Oh, yeah.
29:47Oh, yeah.
29:48The legendary malt loaf.
29:53Grandad, your dad, worked in the car industry.
29:55He didn't start off in the car industry.
29:57He started off trained as a cabinetmaker,
30:00which is why you had so many toys that he made as a youngster.
30:04But then World War II, the bottom fell out of the cabinetmaking business
30:09and he went to work for the BSA.
30:12Yeah.
30:13Building tanks.
30:14And then he progressed from there and went to Mulliners.
30:18But that's the Mulliners in Birmingham, isn't it?
30:20It's Mulliners in Birmingham.
30:21Because there were two.
30:21There's one, the posh one in London that did Bentleys and Rolls-Royce
30:25and then the Birmingham one did all the...
30:27Not quite so flash.
30:28Don't need to do that.
30:29OK.
30:30But then from there, he went to Jensen and he worked on the Interceptor
30:36and he ended up being senior inspector,
30:40which meant that he was the last one to check out the car
30:43before it was handed over to the new owner.
30:46And he did that until he retired, which was 1972.
30:53Have you got any photographs of Grandad particularly,
30:57any motor industry connected type photographs?
30:59Anything, or just with cars?
31:03Right, now this is the one of you.
31:05No, that's not necessary.
31:06We don't...
31:06Nobody needs to see that.
31:07No, there, there.
31:09Mother.
31:10What?
31:11They're school.
31:12They're school photos.
31:13But look at me.
31:15That...
31:16I know, you look a pillock.
31:18What have you done to my hair?
31:19You didn't pay for that.
31:21Yeah, I did.
31:22I know.
31:26There's the car that Grandad made.
31:28He recycled that.
31:30He restored that one.
31:31I remember building a bird table in the shed.
31:34I was younger than that.
31:36Yeah.
31:36And we were making the joints for the base of it,
31:38like crossing two pieces of wood.
31:39And he used to...
31:40Ah, you ninny.
31:41When I was trying to cut...
31:42Ninny was his dad's...
31:43Oh, it was.
31:44Yeah.
31:45Because he could work anything, wood, metal, leather,
31:49and he could just see how it should be done.
31:50That made him a little impatient of a nine-year-old me.
31:53Exactly.
31:54Why do I do it like this?
31:55No, you ninny.
31:56Oh, OK.
31:59Right, here we go.
32:00These are fabulous.
32:03So I can totally claim,
32:05with this classic car restoration business,
32:07it's in my blood.
32:08I mean, I come from...
32:08It's in your genes.
32:09Absolutely, yeah.
32:10Yeah.
32:10Yeah.
32:11What do you think about me setting up this car restoration business?
32:15I think it's very exciting.
32:17To run a business,
32:18the business has got to deal with something you know about
32:20and care about and love, if you like.
32:22And that's exactly the case with what you're doing.
32:25Does it feel a bit like coming full circle?
32:27Yes, very much so to me.
32:29Grandad would have been immensely proud,
32:32but he would have frustrated the hell out of you
32:34because he'd be coming to telling you how to do it.
32:36That's right, you ninny.
32:39You don't do it like that.
32:40You don't do it like that.
32:41That's right, yes.
32:48I do have a genuine motoring heritage.
32:51I just can't shake the feeling that my grandad
32:53wouldn't be too impressed with my slice of the motor industry today.
32:59Have we got any glass cleaner?
33:00Do we have anything in sophistication beyond a hammer and a rag?
33:05Neil, are you using a dirty rag?
33:08Because I get the impression I'm following you around
33:10and round and round and round.
33:11I'm doing the bit you've missed.
33:15Hello, chaps.
33:16Morning.
33:16Hiya, Mac.
33:17Hiya, Mac.
33:17Ta-da!
33:18It works.
33:19It never.
33:20It does.
33:21Didn't it work when I brought it in?
33:22It works better.
33:23Leak was the big thing.
33:25It's a good thing you brought this in when you did.
33:27This car's had a conversion to SU carburettor.
33:30It filled the engine oil up with petrol.
33:34Right.
33:34And that was also why it was rumbling.
33:36When you were driving, it was rattling.
33:38You tap at your thing that was going on?
33:39Yeah.
33:40If you'd have kept going and going, it would have just blown up.
33:42So now not only does it run better,
33:44and you can see behind you in the mirrors and it doesn't rattle,
33:46it's also no longer a death trap.
33:50It comes to £650.
33:52I'm chuffed with that, boys.
33:53Are you?
33:53Really.
33:54Good.
33:54Yeah, now stop at £650, but yeah.
33:56Okay, we'll stop.
33:57So we will send you an invoice for that because that's...
34:00Brilliant.
34:01Yes, what you do.
34:02Yeah, we can do that.
34:03Okay, right.
34:03Then we will send an invoice for that and there it is.
34:06You can enjoy.
34:06We've done a job.
34:07Thank you, chaps.
34:08One and all.
34:09Brilliant.
34:09Nice to know it'll still be on the road.
34:13First paying customer.
34:14It's good news financially, not massive news.
34:18I'm in, what, £650.
34:20I can't remember how much in parts there was,
34:22but I can't London a sow, so chunk of that's gone.
34:26But it means we've reversed the money flow briefly.
34:29So there's money coming in rather than just going out.
34:32But I think it's not going to be enough for us to just sit here and hope,
34:36like a spider in his web, that work comes to us.
34:39I think I'm going to have to work harder at getting out and bringing that work in.
34:46Actual satisfied customer.
34:48Great.
34:48First one done.
34:49Real thing.
34:50One down.
34:50Yeah.
34:51Loads more to go.
34:52Yeah.
35:00Unfortunately, after Mac, we haven't got any more work booked in.
35:06And none on the horizon either.
35:08The phone did ring once.
35:10It was Kamla, the company accountant, to say she needed to come and see me.
35:15So Richard, the £50,000 that you've loaned to the company, that's almost wiped out.
35:19But that's still in this workshop.
35:22Yes, that's before we move.
35:25Where's the £50,000 that I put in gone?
35:27How much have we spent?
35:28Overhead salaries, rent, insurance, etc.
35:31We don't have funds coming in.
35:32We only have your loan, which isn't a profit.
35:34That's just a loan to the company.
35:36So we don't have any income.
35:37We're just spending at the moment.
35:39Right.
35:40We've also got the move coming up.
35:42Increased rent, increased insurance.
35:44We need a little buffer for that.
35:46Well, I say a little buffer, quite a big buffer.
35:48We've got moving costs.
35:49So you're £10.5 a month.
35:51That's the rent here.
35:53When I move into the new workshop, fine.
35:55Those costs will increase.
35:56That's going to be more than £10.5.
35:57Absolutely, yeah.
35:59That stops being funny quite quickly.
36:02Yeah.
36:04We're going to need a lot more money than I thought.
36:08I don't know if that was a reality check or an intervention,
36:11but it had to be said.
36:12And yeah, it all feels a bit serious now.
36:15It all feels like, oh, this actually is a business.
36:17We need to get some work.
36:18I'm visiting one of the most prestigious classic car shows of the year,
36:37the London Concours, where I'm hoping to meet some future clients.
36:43I've started a little restoration operation
36:45with the guys who've done all the restos on my cars.
36:48Hello.
36:49So is this yours?
36:50This one is mine, yeah.
36:51V12 Alpina.
36:53Absolutely belting car, by the way.
36:55Good, if anything drops off, right, this is my restoration business.
36:58That comes from my sales.
36:59So I've got a couple of brilliant guys.
37:00Absolute pleasure to talk to you.
37:02Oh, you're a Lamborghini man?
37:03Yeah.
37:04I do like my Jags.
37:07The classic car industry is worth about £18 billion a year,
37:12and that's just in the UK.
37:14This event is a magnet for car restorers who want a piece of the action.
37:21Why has this example of your work just caught everybody's imagination?
37:26It has a presence.
37:27So that's the first thing, the design.
37:29Then it is in the details.
37:30We did things like, there's no chrome on this car.
37:32We took all the chrome off and it's all bright nickel.
37:34It's a slightly warmer feel.
37:35It's absolutely beautiful, but I adore nickel.
37:38Yeah.
37:38And then we just have to make sure everything works properly.
37:41It's got to be right.
37:42And it's got to be right.
37:43And by the way, you can't charge for all your hours.
37:45You never charge for all your hours.
37:46Really?
37:47Yeah.
37:47Oh, God.
37:48No.
37:49I was rather hoping I might be able to.
37:50No, no.
37:51My entire plan is based pretty closely on being able to do that.
37:54We lost a shedload of money for the first few years.
37:57Is there one or two things I can focus on that gives us a shot of growing?
38:01The answer above all is the relationships you build with the owners.
38:04I recognise that if I wanted to get a car from somebody,
38:09and I was a newcomer,
38:10then they've probably been working with other people.
38:12Why would they switch and come to us?
38:14The answer was to be transparent, honest, and do great work.
38:19Do great work.
38:22Okay, so what do I have to do to get one of these owners to choose us in the first place?
38:30Ari, you're now starting to have award-winning cars and all that sort of thing.
38:34Yes.
38:35So how do I get people to take me seriously so that we get to do competition-winning cars?
38:40I've got three cars under restoration at the moment.
38:42Right, and what do you look for when the guy's doing it?
38:44Expertise. Had they done it before,
38:46it's the only way you can tell a quality restoration is by previous work.
38:51The restoration companies I have used on all three,
38:55I've seen work they've done and chosen it from there.
38:58There's also a problem I'm going to suffer with,
39:00which is that I'm going to have to do a lot of work to get it done.
39:04Which is people have loyalty to those that they use.
39:07You're loyal to the guys that you do your restorations with.
39:09I want to see your previous work,
39:10so you show me that you're that really good at this restoration game.
39:15I will see that, and then I'll see if we want to do one of mine.
39:33I learned today you need the right clients.
39:38You need the right place to do it.
39:39You need time to grow the business to prove that you can do it.
39:43It's a long job.
39:46I'm not the world's most patient human being,
39:48but I'm going to have to be patient and stick with it here
39:51because this isn't going to happen overnight.
39:55It's going to take time, effort, money, determination.
40:00Talking to people at the show,
40:02you know that feeling when everybody else belongs and you don't really,
40:06and you think, I'm a bit of an imposter.
40:18Yeah, I need quality work,
40:21and the best way of attracting that is going to be to get into our new workshop.
40:26So today, I'm hoping Hadrian has good news on progress.
40:31It won't be finished, I know that,
40:33but there's going to be enough for me to start planning and thinking
40:38what's going to be where.
40:39It's going to be the other side of this one.
40:50Nothing's happened.
40:57I really thought I'd see something.
41:02Paige?
41:04There's nothing.
41:10You've spotted it's not up.
41:13No.
41:13No, we've got a bit of a stumbling block, really.
41:15What?
41:17Planning.
41:18And what's the problem?
41:19I thought it was...
41:20We've got planning.
41:21But we've got about that many conditions.
41:26What conditions?
41:28What light bulbs.
41:30Energy value of the office seat.
41:33I mean, they're all ridiculous things.
41:35But they want new business in the area, or not?
41:38Well, they do, but they seem to want it with bells and whistles.
41:44But, mate, I really...
41:45I mean, we need...
41:49Well, we need this.
41:51We need a base.
41:52Well, yeah.
41:53I mean, I need to put it up.
41:54I mean, everything's lined up.
41:56I'm afraid it's one of those stand-up and run-up things.
41:58It's one of those stand-up and lie-down moments.
42:02Sorry.
42:05It's going to start getting a bit tricky if I can't get in here soon.
42:10How long is it going to take to actually build it once we've got permission?
42:15Once we've got it, it should be done within a couple of months.
42:24Right.
42:25I thought these buildings were quick to go up.
42:28That's quick in building terms.
42:30I don't know what to say to you, really, mate.
42:35I've seen him look happier.
42:37Well, he's setting up a new business, yeah?
42:39And when it's your money, it hurts a bit more.
42:43So I can understand why he wants it, and he wants it now.
42:48I promised to Neil and Anton we are going to have a proper big place.
42:52It's going to look great.
42:53It's going to look great.
42:54It's not here.
42:56And at the moment, they're going to be thinking,
42:57why are we doing this with this guy?
43:00What's he bringing to the party?
43:01This was supposed to be it.
43:03I promised them a new workshop, and I haven't given them a new workshop yet.
43:09What can I say?
43:09I can't have a go at Hadrian about it.
43:12One, it's not technically his fault, and two, he's bigger than me.
43:16But it does need to be sorted now.
43:20Like, now, now.
43:24The smallest cog is going to be exhibiting at the London Classic Car Show.
43:30They're coming in the next hour.
43:34This is utterly terrifying.
43:37Begin.
43:38I've had a lovely time in TV world.
43:40I don't like it in the real world.
43:43We could ruin the business quite easily.