Richard.Hammonds.Workshop.S01E03

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Richard.Hammonds.Workshop.S01E03

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Transcript
00:00This time, a job.
00:09Who doesn't love a classic Mini?
00:11Finally, I bring in some work for my classic car restoration business.
00:16It's a snappy turnaround, quick, but the boys are not impressed.
00:22Do you realise, seriously, how much money we've spent on this car?
00:26A rare barn find Bentley offers the promise of better jobs ahead.
00:31Oh my word, I so want us to have a shot at that car.
00:36But will my big ideas for the business bleed me dry?
00:39This could easily turn out to be a very expensive folly that I regret.
00:44It's all very real now.
00:48Cars have been my life.
00:52Talking about them.
00:53This is the force of nature.
00:54Thrashing them.
00:55That's not what I wanted to see.
00:59And crashing them.
01:02But now...
01:03Don't panic, I'm here.
01:05I'm fulfilling my lifelong dream and starting my own classic car workshop.
01:11Should I get my overalls on?
01:13Restoring some of the finest classic cars in the world.
01:17Heavenly automotive lord.
01:19With father and son team, Neil and Anthony Greenhouse.
01:22We're trusting him with our reputation.
01:24Don't look away.
01:25Bodging in process.
01:26Oh, you son of a...
01:28I'll be learning how to be a businessman.
01:30What you need is the smallest cog.
01:32To be honest, you've got my attention a bit now.
01:35And getting my hands dirty.
01:36I'm going to swallow this screw in a minute and die.
01:39Can you do it quietly?
01:40It'll test my bank balance.
01:42We could ruin the business.
01:43Quaise.
01:44And my relationships.
01:45You'll enjoy it.
01:46Will I?
01:47As I take my obsession to a whole new level.
01:50It's the best game I've ever played and the most terrifying.
01:54The London Classic Car Show was, in many ways, a big success.
02:07I mean, it was busy, but we haven't really signed a lot of work from it, if any.
02:15I thought having a face off the telly in the business would bring the work in.
02:19But actually, it just turned out to be a distraction.
02:23I promised Neil and Anthony high-end classics and a new workshop to restore them in.
02:29At the moment, they've got neither.
02:32And if I don't deliver soon, they'll lose faith in me.
02:37I need to get them some work.
02:39I was hoping for something special, but right now, anything will do.
02:45I'm on my way to pick up a job.
02:47It's a car, classic mini.
02:50That's the good news.
02:51The slightly trickier news is it belongs to my daughter's boyfriend.
03:01It's in a hedge.
03:02How do?
03:03All right?
03:04Hello.
03:05That's it, then?
03:06This is the beast.
03:07Right.
03:08What happened?
03:09Sort of going a bit fast and 180'd it into a hedge.
03:17How long has it been?
03:18About four years.
03:19It's been nowhere.
03:20Right, well, we'd better get it out of the hedge.
03:23Would it roll?
03:24It should do.
03:25Well, come on, then.
03:26Make yourself useful.
03:27Not rolled for a while.
03:28One, two, three.
03:31Right.
03:32There it is in all its glory.
03:35Oh, it's got crappy sports seats.
03:42There is going to be rot here, isn't there?
03:44You said it was just a bit dented.
03:46Oh.
03:47Oh.
03:49It's all so rusty.
03:52Oh.
03:53Oh, God.
03:54The cobwebs are quite something.
03:55Heavenly automotive lord.
03:56It is a slightly bigger job than I thought.
03:57What sort of level do you want to take this to?
03:58Just sort of running.
03:59Pristine.
04:00You know.
04:01You.
04:02You.
04:03You.
04:04You.
04:05You.
04:06You.
04:07You.
04:08You.
04:09You.
04:10You.
04:11You.
04:12You.
04:13You.
04:14You.
04:15You.
04:16You.
04:17You.
04:19I can go on silent.
04:20Yes.
04:23He seems happy, doesn't he?
04:26I think he loves it.
04:29I did strike a bit of a deal with Daddy.
04:32He needed a project.
04:34Kam has a project, two and two together.
04:37Voilà.
04:38And heave.
04:41Yeah.
04:42Stop, stop, stop.
04:44Stop!
04:47Youth!
04:53I don't think Tam can actually afford all the work that Min is going to need just to get it going.
04:59He says he's got a budget of about a grand.
05:03It's not going to cover it.
05:05I may have to make up the difference out of my own pocket.
05:10I don't think I'm going to share that piece of information with Neil and Antony.
05:15It's a pain, John.
05:22Ah, John.
05:24Interesting little thing.
05:25Who doesn't love a classic Mini?
05:26It's been in the demolition derby, hasn't it?
05:28It's a younger customer and it hasn't run in a while.
05:32I think what we're going for here...
05:34It's a full resto.
05:36It's down from a full resto.
05:38It's a snappy turnaround, quick.
05:40Boom.
05:41You're trying to say he's budget conscious.
05:43Yes, he is.
05:46Right, shall we get it in and get it on?
05:49You steer or push.
05:54This is kind of a moment of truth, isn't it?
05:56Yep.
06:00Oh.
06:02Look at that.
06:04That's the floor pan.
06:05Oh, yeah.
06:06Oh, God.
06:07That one's replacing.
06:09Seals won't replace them.
06:10The front panel's rotted out.
06:12It'll want brakes.
06:14The discs will be rotten.
06:16The exhaust is rotten.
06:17Yeah, exhaust has had it.
06:18Is that it?
06:20We're getting there.
06:26We can cut the doors off, put complete skins on.
06:29Can't you get...
06:30Half skins?
06:32Depends how good a job you want to do.
06:34It's just price.
06:35It's more labour, mate.
06:37Yeah, but we can do that.
06:40I'll go through our list.
06:41We've got near-side, off-side seals, rear subframe,
06:43A-panels, exhaust, front panel,
06:46pair of bumpers, wheel stud,
06:48shock absorbers times four,
06:50window strip, door buttons.
06:52How much is all that lot going to cost?
06:54It's not going to be cheap.
06:55It's going to be 1,200 quid, I would say.
06:57Do you reckon we should give them a call first?
06:59I would just go ordering all those bits.
07:01Trouble is, if you do all this work and you can't pay,
07:03what are you going to do then?
07:05Look, I was going to say,
07:08it belongs to my daughter's boyfriend, Cam.
07:12He's doing it on a tight budget,
07:14but he'll pay what he can.
07:16I'll pay the difference.
07:18It's work.
07:19It's through the books.
07:20Now, if we're doing the work, I'll pay for the work.
07:24That's not an easy job.
07:26It's the hours.
07:27You could spend 100 hours on that car.
07:29You could spend 5,000 pounds in labour.
07:31And that's reality.
07:32And he needs a bit of reality to make him see
07:35that when you're promising the world,
07:37it's not as easy as it sounds.
07:39At least you could do some work,
07:40keep the labour costs down a little bit, can't you?
07:43The quicker you work, the less hours it gets charged.
07:46Well, let's start pulling bits off it.
07:53Hello, spider.
07:54I hate these.
08:00Bodging in process.
08:01Look away.
08:02Oh, come on. Don't be silly now.
08:05You're coming off.
08:06Ha-ha-ha!
08:07Oh, right up the thumbnail.
08:09Oh!
08:11Where's the screwdrivers?
08:12Let me guess, they're kept with sink plungers and roller skates.
08:16This is the trouble with having a small garage,
08:18where you're tripping over everything all the time.
08:20Just put everything away where it should be.
08:22Yeah, but when you're busy,
08:23you're just trying to keep on top of everything.
08:25Well, it saves time in the long run.
08:30Have you looked in the black drawer, that end?
08:34I've looked every drawer.
08:35The far end. Have you looked in there?
08:39How Neil ever gets any work done, I don't know.
08:47There is a garage on your left, quite a big, posh one.
08:50That's not us.
08:52Turn right opposite that.
08:54Keep going until it gets really grotty,
08:57and then it's a bit grottier, and then that's where we are.
09:00You'll see my Land Rover.
09:01Bye!
09:03Mindy is coming down for the first time to the workshop.
09:08She's driving out here to service her own car.
09:11OK, that makes it a weird day, officially.
09:13I don't know what's going to happen next.
09:15Maybe I'm going to ride the Grand National on a horse.
09:20Hello.
09:21Hello.
09:25So, what are you going to do?
09:26Everything.
09:28Can I get my overalls on?
09:30So, you're going to do this, but under Anthony's guidance.
09:35Yeah.
09:36So, Anthony is the master.
09:38Well, knock yourselves out.
09:39I'll stay out of your way, I promise.
09:42Got rid of him for a minute.
09:44So, when was the last time you played with an engine?
09:4730 years ago.
09:49What can you remember?
09:50Righty-tighty, lefty-loosey.
09:51That's it.
09:54Do you want a little extension on there?
09:55Oh, thank you.
09:56Just to make it an extra little bit helps.
09:59Yes, a happy little help.
10:01That's it.
10:02So, have you done this before, much?
10:03I used to do it when I was a kid.
10:05It's all different now, isn't it?
10:06Oh, it's changed.
10:07It's all computers now.
10:09Is it me, or is it a funny angle?
10:11Yes, it goes back on itself.
10:13That is a faff.
10:15Oh, you attached it.
10:16Ah, getting the spark plugs out.
10:19They're flipping hidden.
10:21Good luck.
10:23Come on, baby, come out.
10:25Come on.
10:27She's genuinely losing herself in it.
10:30It's...
10:32I've not seen Mindy this involved with machinery
10:36since when we first started going out.
10:39I'd forgotten that that Mindy existed,
10:42the one in there in her overalls with a smudge of oil on her face,
10:46fettling a car and chattering away.
10:49I'd forgotten.
10:50It's fabulous.
10:52And she looks quite hot in her overalls, so that's good as well.
10:56They are going to have them in all the best boutiques
10:59by the end of the year.
11:00Yeah, when we get home this evening,
11:03we'll have shared ground to talk about,
11:06which is really cool.
11:08This is the first big step
11:11in me properly coming home
11:14and find my place again with Mindy and with the girls.
11:18I'm suddenly very fond of that car.
11:24He's not very busy, is he? He's not very hands-on.
11:27Look at his hands, moisturised.
11:30He does garden and he comes home with great big blisters.
11:33He occasionally has mucked out one stable.
11:35One stable?
11:36And the fuss and the blisters on his little precious soft hands.
11:40Precious little hands.
11:42Do you feel sorry for him? No. No.
11:45Mostly, he seems to read classic car magazines,
11:49drink tea, nap and eat biscuits.
11:54I'm a little bit concerned about productivity.
11:59What's going in and what's coming out
12:03and where the what's going in is coming from.
12:07LAUGHS
12:17Right, back to work.
12:19To prevent this mini-job hemorrhaging cash from my pocket,
12:23we need to do it quickly and cheaply.
12:25I reckon we can save some cash
12:27by fitting half instead of full door skins.
12:31Should just pop off.
12:34That's in. See that there, look, where it goes?
12:37So we've got to weld this to there.
12:39Neil, it's a bit long.
12:41Yeah, it's not original panel.
12:43That's where the skill comes in.
12:44You've got to make it look like it's an original thing.
12:47It's going to take hours to do that.
12:49So the minute I stop and pull the gun away,
12:52you blow it and get it cool.
12:54And if you get it too hot, that's when you risk buckling.
12:57Yeah, you've got to keep checking as you go along.
13:00OK, 3, 2, 1.
13:15I'm beginning to think it might have been better
13:17if I'd bought complete door skins.
13:19If I'm honest, none of this would have been necessary.
13:21He's now realised that it's not a two-minute job.
13:24He thinks he's being clever, trying to save a few quid,
13:27but it's not, and that's what he's got to learn.
13:31PHONE RINGS
13:34Has this literally just happened?
13:37I'll be there as quickly as I can.
13:40OK. Bye. Love you.
13:43Daughters? Yeah!
13:45Erm, Izzy has just hit a pothole,
13:48broken a wheel and burst a tyre.
13:50Erm, I'm going to have to go.
13:52I've got a rescue mission.
13:54Right, OK. I need a Land Rover and a trailer.
14:01All those years away from home,
14:03I've done it to support my family.
14:05I am a family man before I'm a television presenter or anything else.
14:10Setting up a business close to home and having this experience
14:14has reminded me just how much is actually involved in that.
14:19There she is.
14:21Oh, she looks sad.
14:23Oh, dear.
14:26Do you remember, Cam?
14:28Right, I'm going to put it on the trailer, baby.
14:32Not a good day. Not a good day.
14:35Nothing good's happened today.
14:41Stop laughing. He's laughing.
14:43Be supportive.
14:46Right. Which wheel is it?
14:49Oh, it's the flat one.
14:51Oh, well, you haven't done the wheel.
14:53That is just a tyre.
14:55We'll have a new one on that tomorrow and have it home again.
15:05Bye, baby. Have a nice evening.
15:07Love you.
15:09She'll cheer up. Cheers, mate. See you later.
15:17You're back, then?
15:19Yeah.
15:21Do you want to have something I've just noticed?
15:24Oh...
15:26Same pothole? I don't think it was the same.
15:28This boy won't get one free, is it?
15:30Yes. I'm sorry.
15:32You do realise, don't you, that the mini's still got to be finished?
15:36Oh, God.
15:41The reality of it is deadlines.
15:43I've got things to do, I can't be here,
15:45so I'm going to have to instruct him what to do.
15:47He's got to stand up now and carry on and keep working.
15:50In the morning, when I get here, I want this ready for primer.
15:53And you want to be able to put a ruler on it, look down it,
15:57make sure it's level.
15:59Understand? Yes.
16:01Good night. Make sure you lock up and put the alarm on.
16:06You chose it. I know.
16:18BIRDS CHIRP
16:27This is nice to be here. It's lovely, isn't it?
16:30Well, what do you think? In all fairness, you've done all right.
16:33Done it bad. What time did you finish?
16:35You know, late at night, it was that.
16:37I wasn't early in the morning.
16:39Quite. But how much would I have saved?
16:42It would have been, honestly, cheaper to put a door skin on it.
16:45And a whole door skin would have cost...
16:47Probably, that strip there was probably £30.
16:50A whole door skin would probably have been £60.
16:53Oh! Yeah.
16:55Oh!
16:56Give me a minute. Really? Yeah.
16:59And how many hours and hours have you had on that?
17:02More than 30 quid's worth of my life.
17:05Now are we going to listen? Yeah.
17:07Listen. Lesson learnt.
17:09Shaun did that again.
17:11Sorry.
17:14No more family favours or run-of-the-mill classics.
17:18I need to start setting my sights higher.
17:21Much higher.
17:33Well, I've had an idea for a possible lead.
17:37A guy called Dean.
17:39He got in touch with me because he loves his cars
17:42and he wanted to meet up.
17:44When I say he loves his cars, I mean he's totally nuts about them.
17:48Specifically, Bentleys.
17:50This that I've got, I've had it for years, I love it.
17:53It's absolutely the boggo Bentley of the 50s and into the 60s.
17:58The Bentleys he's got, you know, they're hand-built in aluminium.
18:02Incredibly rare.
18:05I'm touting for business. There's no getting away from it.
18:10Oh, hello. I think he's laid on a bit of a show for me.
18:13Dean. He couldn't resist it.
18:16He's got some of his toys out.
18:18I'll park here, right in the middle.
18:23That is a car.
18:25Dean, hello.
18:27Good to see you again. How are you? Are you well? Yeah.
18:31MUSIC PLAYS
18:36Really what I'm interested in is how do I move from where we are
18:41to where I want to go, which is a nicer class of car,
18:44a nicer class of restoration project, the big boy stuff.
18:47You need a starting point.
18:49You need to find one of those cars that fulfil that criteria,
18:56restore the car and prove to industry
19:01that you've restored the car in a professional manner.
19:05I have a car that I'd like to show you.
19:10I'm guessing it's some sort of Bentley.
19:12Absolutely. You've got it right. Spot on.
19:16And... It's convertible.
19:18Exactly.
19:20So, what we've got here is an R-Type.
19:25That's a rare car. Indeed.
19:28How rare? Well, the only ever, as you can see it here and now,
19:34made three.
19:36One no longer exists.
19:39So there's one other one than this.
19:42That is a rarity.
19:45That's the original seats there. It's beautiful. Exactly.
19:48It's been restored to pristine condition... But used.
19:52..but kept original elements that were always in the car.
19:57This would be the ultimate for our business model.
20:02So that's your kind of unicorn car?
20:05It's brilliant thought, Dean. Where's the other one?
20:08So, I have exactly the sister car of this one
20:12that is in need of restoration.
20:16The other one of these?
20:18The second one.
20:20So, Richard... Let's hope it's still inside.
20:23Yeah. Ready, steady, here we go.
20:26Oh, my word!
20:28Oh! Still there.
20:30It's tempting me.
20:32Right, let's have a look. Can we have a look?
20:34Yeah. Can we disrobe it?
20:36There's paint. Oh, yeah. There's paint on it.
20:38There we go.
20:42Oh, the wood's not bad at all.
20:45Oh, my word!
20:47If you are a car fan...
20:50..that's, like, goosebump moment
20:53when you find something that's in this particular state,
20:56unrestored, incredibly special.
21:00I mean, rarer than rare.
21:02Dean, what I need to do, then,
21:04is find a way that me and my boys can prove to you
21:09that we could take this in
21:12and turn it around into something as beautiful as it needs to be.
21:17Absolutely.
21:19I'm not a man that's often speechless,
21:21but I'm pretty close to it, innit?
21:23Very good. Right, let's put it away.
21:30God, I want a shot at that.
21:32God, I want a shot at that.
21:34I so want us to have a shot at that car.
21:37It's going to come down to doing a job for him.
21:41And I know he's jolly and...
21:43HE LAUGHS
21:45..but he's no idiot.
21:47He's going to need to see proof...
21:50..that we're up to the job.
21:56Back in Hereford, our rather more modest classic
21:59is turning out to be anything other than the quick and easy project
22:02I thought it would be.
22:04This job has just become a nightmare after nightmare after nightmare.
22:13The problem is, he's promised this car back for tomorrow morning
22:16and we're nowhere near.
22:18We've got to finish the prep, get it primed, get it painted,
22:21so it's going to be a late night, a proper late night.
22:25Afternoon, gentlemen. Hello.
22:29It's not painted.
22:31The little mini job, not little at all, is it?
22:34Do you realise, seriously, how much money we've spent on this car?
22:38It's just... Everything on it, everything.
22:41It's got brakes, it's got a subframe, it's got...
22:43Remember the sills?
22:45Sills, inner sills, outer sills, A-panels, door bottoms,
22:50discs, callipers, even the fuel tank's rotten.
22:54You cross?
22:57I'm a bit worried, Bill, to see if he can...
23:00Well, so am I. It's not done.
23:02The problem is, the bill is going to be getting close to what the car's worth.
23:05It's probably going to be four or five grand.
23:08It's all about the value of the car.
23:10If that was a £5,000 bill on a 100-grand car,
23:13it wouldn't be a lot of money.
23:15All right, there are lessons to be learned here.
23:17I need to learn perhaps not to get carried away
23:20and not talk to you before I talk about a job
23:23because sometimes there's more to be done than I can see.
23:25Get that! And I won't do it again.
23:27Good.
23:30To be honest, we love him to bits,
23:32but you've got to make him see it's not a game, is it?
23:35It's serious.
23:37If this was every day this was happening,
23:39you couldn't run a business because you'd just end up falling out.
23:42I wouldn't upset him for the world, but you've got to learn.
23:46Ah, don't blow it on the floor.
23:48Why not?
23:50It blows the dust up the stick in the paint.
23:52Start away from the panel.
23:54Ah, look!
23:56Right, OK, go back over there.
23:58Pull the trigger more.
24:00There you go.
24:02Stop. There we go.
24:04Nice and steady. Perfect.
24:06How long after being painted can it go back together?
24:09If you're lucky, 30 minutes.
24:11It's getting on a bit now. It's, like, 10 o'clock,
24:14and we're nowhere near finished yet.
24:16That wire's got to go up through there,
24:18then it goes through the channel there.
24:20I've really got my doubts about it,
24:22but we are going to go flat out.
24:24Come on!
24:26Oh, well done.
24:28We'll just do all we possibly can, and that's all we can do.
24:35Oh, yes!
24:38Oh, yes!
25:00Oh, my God!
25:02It's so shiny!
25:04We're actually driving.
25:06Wow!
25:08Whoa!
25:10Oh, my God!
25:14There's no rust.
25:16Isn't he lovely?
25:18Hello, dogs.
25:20Thank you very much.
25:22There it is.
25:24It does look really lovely.
25:26So that's been, you know, rejuvenated.
25:28There's no cobwebs.
25:30Well, there it is.
25:32No point standing around.
25:34We rebuilt it to drive, so drive it.
25:36Let's do it. Take it.
25:38Shake it down. That's what they say, you know.
25:40Give it a shake down.
25:42You young people.
25:44Seatbelts.
25:46It still works exactly as it used to.
25:48Don't bend it.
25:50Bye!
25:52That is proper satisfying.
25:54That's very cute.
25:56I'm pleased to get that done.
25:58It's gorgeous.
26:00I mean, you had minis.
26:02You know what they're like.
26:04I loved my mini.
26:06All right, baby.
26:12I've just given them the wedding card.
26:14You've not given them the wedding card.
26:16Careful.
26:26After endless delays,
26:28it's finally happened.
26:30The new workshop building is up,
26:32and I can show it to Neil and Anthony
26:34for the first time.
26:36This is what we've been
26:38trying to do all along.
26:40This is the point of this exercise.
26:42It's enormous!
26:46Blinky-deck!
26:48I've never had a building you can echo in.
26:50It is just vast!
26:54To be somewhere like this now
26:56is just unreal.
26:58It's just a different world altogether.
27:00This is, you know,
27:02ten times what I expected.
27:04He hasn't let us down.
27:06This is a fantastic workshop.
27:08So where are we with layout?
27:10What's going to go where?
27:12The oven is four metres, isn't it?
27:14That's the oven.
27:16The other thing is,
27:18you're going to need some newer kit.
27:20Make her a shopping list, isn't it?
27:22But we can't afford to get this wrong.
27:24We pay for everything we put in it.
27:26Every wall, every door,
27:28every tread of every stair costs.
27:34This could easily run away from me.
27:36This could easily turn out to be
27:38a very expensive folly
27:40that I regret.
27:42Right now I feel
27:44initially a bit scared.
27:48Then excited at the prospect.
27:50This is what I wanted to do all along.
27:52And then I feel scared again.
27:54Because then I realise to do this justice,
27:56to make it work,
27:58to make it pay for itself,
28:00I'm going to have to spend a lot of money.
28:02Yeah.
28:04It's both the best game
28:06I've ever played
28:08and the most terrifying, potentially.
28:23The single most important
28:25and most expensive piece of equipment
28:27in a classic car workshop
28:29is the paint oven.
28:31A second-rate paint job could ruin
28:33a top-end restoration.
28:35To save myself a small fortune,
28:37we're taking Neil's old oven with us.
28:40So Anthony's got an electrician in
28:42to plan the move.
28:45Ant, you're back.
28:47Hi, Kev. How are you?
28:49Yeah, good, thanks.
28:51I really need you to have a look over this thing
28:53because obviously it's going to be moving now.
28:55OK.
28:57Let me just turn it off and have a look.
29:01This spray booth is an old spray booth
29:03which, when it's in here, it's under old regulations.
29:05Once you move it to the new workshop,
29:07it will then be under all the modern regulations.
29:09And as you can see by the wiring,
29:11it wants a lot of improving
29:13to comply now.
29:15You're saying it's going to cost more to do this?
29:17It's going to cost a lot to do that.
29:19You could just take it from here and put it in there.
29:21But I'm more worried about the time.
29:23It could be out of action for two months.
29:25Yeah, I can't do that.
29:27This is our main machine, so it's got to go in and work straight away.
29:29Have you thought about getting a different one?
29:31No, because this was the plan of moving this.
29:33But I obviously didn't know this was going to be an issue.
29:35If you can get a new one,
29:37it might be a lot more practical.
29:39PHONE RINGS
29:43Hello?
29:45Hi, Rich.
29:47Yeah, not too bad.
29:49I've got some news on the oven.
29:51Yes.
29:53It's not in a good state, mate.
29:55Apparently it's going to cost a lot of money
29:57to move it and make it work
29:59in the new workshop.
30:01How much more?
30:03We're looking thousands.
30:05So what are we saying?
30:07Maybe getting a new one.
30:09A new oven?
30:11A new oven.
30:13How much is a new oven?
30:15You're looking 20-plus.
30:17OK.
30:19All right.
30:21I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
30:23No, it's all right, mate. Don't worry.
30:25Bye.
30:31Good!
30:33Another crisis.
30:35I love them.
30:39If the oven's not working, we're not working.
30:41I mean, I thought it might be
30:43a few thousand to move the oven,
30:45but 20 grand plus.
30:47That's a different level of spend.
30:51Right.
30:53I need to have a serious think about this.
31:05A few weeks ago,
31:07I bought this Escort RS2000
31:09for us to restore
31:11to make some quick money.
31:13With the business racking up bills,
31:15we need to get it done
31:17and out the door.
31:19Right, well...
31:21That bit was OK
31:23until Neil stabbed it.
31:25It's got to be done.
31:27You've got to see what you've got in your oven.
31:29It's got a bit of rot there.
31:31In all fairness, all that's original.
31:33I think you just suffered from rust more than anything.
31:35Which is typical for any old Ford.
31:37Drop it to the ground, but not on your father's head.
31:41I'm nervous about asking this.
31:43So,
31:45was it a good buy?
31:47At £24,000?
31:49I would say yes.
31:51You can't beat originality
31:53and that is all original.
31:55This one's a bit of work, but it's not a rock box.
31:57That's a real relief for me to hear because...
31:59With this car, we're not waiting for work to come to us.
32:01We're making our own work.
32:03We're taking control of our own destiny.
32:05We decide how we want it to be
32:07and we will sell it.
32:09And we go for the sort of
32:11£45,000 price point.
32:13Even after we've paid for parts
32:15and our own labour.
32:17There'll be profit in this.
32:19Right, we'll start it.
32:21Good plan.
32:23Time to crack on.
32:25The auction is in three weeks' time
32:27and there's tonnes to do.
32:35I'm in Wolverhampton because I have got,
32:37in the back of the car,
32:39all of the interior from the RS Escort.
32:41Because
32:43we cannot do that in-house.
32:45The materials you're using are different.
32:47Leather, plastic, metal.
32:49It's not the same set of skills.
32:51So these people that I'm going to go and see
32:53are specialists.
32:57Oh, we're here. This is us.
33:05Can I show you my Escort seat?
33:09I'm amazed
33:11how heavy these things are.
33:13Right, we'll take these to your
33:15appraisal place and have a look.
33:21Right, appraise.
33:23They're brilliant.
33:25It'll only cost £20 and you can have them done in a day.
33:27Yes, that's fine.
33:29That's the biggest worry.
33:31What's the verdict for these?
33:33I'm going to attempt to
33:35re-stretch and pull down
33:37and I'm going to redo it.
33:39Because you can't just buy a repair set, can you?
33:41No.
33:43It's one of the mysteries of the classic car world
33:45that these things remain like unicorns.
33:47Do you want to have a look at the back seat as well?
33:49Yes, we can grab that.
33:51OK, well there are clearly problems here.
33:53Like, it's gone.
33:55Yes, it looks like it's been chewed to death.
33:57Yes. Can you repair it?
33:59Yes. I'm going to call Roy now,
34:01our Ford magician, and he's going to explain
34:03all this to you.
34:05So, from this you can tell what year the car was
34:07originally manufactured.
34:09So if you go across, W, it's 1980.
34:11Good. And more to the point, what colour did they leave
34:13the factory in?
34:15I've got X8 is the colour.
34:17Which would have been a midnight blue.
34:19So it was midnight blue from you.
34:21So that's actually quite rare, I think.
34:23Yes, it is.
34:25They didn't make many in midnight blue, so it's special.
34:27The trim is A7.
34:29Originally A7, I believe, would have been black.
34:31Would it?
34:33Yes. Black and blue.
34:35Bit of a strange colour combination.
34:37Who orders a midnight blue car
34:39with a black interior? I am conflicted here.
34:41I'm stuck. I love originality.
34:43I just think beige would look...
34:45Beige would be more...
34:47It's a standout colour.
34:49It would just be a much nicer car.
34:51Right. Beige.
34:53Decision made. Beige.
34:55That's door cards and everything, isn't it?
34:57Right. It's beige. We're going beige.
34:59OK. Thank you, gentlemen.
35:01You may carry on. Beige.
35:03Definitely beige. It's beige.
35:05Oh, there's black.
35:11So, got the quote here.
35:13£2,548
35:15for the interior.
35:17That's fitted.
35:19So the car, plus the interior,
35:21plus other parts needed,
35:23come to about £31,000, £32,000.
35:25Then there's the labour,
35:27which I am going to take into account.
35:29Let's call it £5,000 of the labour
35:31cost to the business.
35:33That's the overall cost
35:35of the whole car,
35:37is £36,000.
35:39If I can sell it for £45,000,
35:41we're making money.
35:55Well, this is the inner wing
35:57of the RS2000,
35:59and you can see all this nasty
36:01repairs and all that
36:03just filler.
36:05Just tonnes of filler,
36:07just all
36:09clagged up in there.
36:11It's just atrocious.
36:13The idea was we were going to repair the pieces,
36:15but the deadline is looming
36:17on this auction, so the best thing to do
36:19is just buy some new panel and get it welded up.
36:21Otherwise, it's never going to get done.
36:23There's going to be a lot more welding
36:25involved, so I'm going to have to draft my brother Andrew
36:27in to give me a hand if we've got any chance
36:29of meeting any of these deadlines.
36:35Neil had better get that RS ready
36:37in time, because I'm about to go
36:39on a very scary spending spree.
36:43I'm going shopping.
36:45It's a big shopping trip because
36:47I'm shopping for
36:49the spray paint booth
36:51for the workshop.
36:53This is a really big step.
36:55This is big news.
36:57This is the heart of the business
36:59because that's where the paint is applied.
37:01And it doesn't matter
37:03how good a job we've done in fabricating it
37:05and preparing it,
37:07if the paint goes on badly,
37:09it ain't any good.
37:11But part of this is also
37:13signalling to potential customers
37:15and to the classic car
37:17industry that we're serious.
37:19If we don't have a serious oven,
37:21nobody's going to take us seriously.
37:23It's got to be good.
37:31It's going to be an expensive day.
37:33It just is. Don't get carried away.
37:35Right.
37:39So, this is an oven.
37:41Are they all the same?
37:43They are not. This is a really basic
37:45sort of booth, so it's rear extract.
37:47For the booth with a better performance,
37:49you want the downdraft for the floor.
37:51I've got the figures here.
37:53So, for your basic rear extract,
37:55you're looking at about £20,000.
37:57That's the basic?
37:59For the floor extract,
38:01this is a high-performance model,
38:03it's more like £50,000.
38:05Right. It's much better, is it?
38:07Yeah, the performance is
38:09considerably better.
38:11How much more does it cost to have windows?
38:13You're looking at £1,100 per window.
38:15Wow!
38:17I also need
38:19a paint-mixing room.
38:21We've got £6,000
38:23for a paint-mixing room, standard size.
38:25So, how much is a prep fee?
38:27For the prep room,
38:29we're looking at £14,000.
38:31All right.
38:33I knew it was going to be
38:35an expensive day out.
38:39It's just a bit of a shock
38:41because it's gone from, well,
38:43a few grand to move Neil's
38:45old, as it turns out,
38:47outdated oven, or
38:49£65,000 of the kit.
38:51But
38:53it's worth it.
38:55It's got to be the best, hasn't it?
38:57There's no good us saying we're really good
38:59if the kit's rubbish.
39:01Shopping for paint
39:03ovens and all the other big kit
39:05we need was never going to be cheap.
39:07I'm hoping
39:09the sale of the RS2000
39:11will get some desperately needed cash coming in.
39:13The auction's
39:15only a week away, so Neil has called in
39:17his body specialist brother, Andrew,
39:19to help get the job done.
39:23How's it going?
39:25It's coming, but
39:27got a long way to go.
39:29Well, this is the trouble, you know,
39:31the more you look, the more you see.
39:33Well, it's got to be right. It's got to be safe,
39:35and it's got to be right.
39:41I don't
39:43physically see how it's possible
39:45to do all this work
39:47and get it to a standard
39:49where it's worth a lot of money in such a short
39:51amount of time.
39:53So, we'll have to have a bit of a chat
39:55about that, I think.
39:59Chaps!
40:01Hello!
40:03Ooh, look at all this.
40:05Blimey!
40:07It's basically a new front end.
40:09Yeah. The problem you've got with it,
40:11this is the first job we've done as the smallest
40:13cog, and if you do
40:15one really bad job, your
40:17name is just no good.
40:19This has been collected next week for the auction.
40:21If you two aren't prepared to stand
40:23behind it and say, we did that as the smallest
40:25cog, if you're actually staring
40:27at your shoes thinking, I know it's not right...
40:29Put it this way, if you get it really good,
40:31you think it's really good, but you rush and get it to auction
40:33and it doesn't sell, then anything you've done
40:35you're not happy with, you're going to have to do again.
40:37So, I'll take your time, do it right.
40:39OK, decision is formally taken.
40:41Is it, by us three here present,
40:43we cannot, for a whole raft
40:45of reasons, risk leaving this
40:47in the auction, because it ain't going to be there.
40:49OK, I'm going to go and have a little cry.
40:51Don't cry. Look at me, I've a luring
40:53experience. Can I ask that you don't take
40:55your foot off the gas, though? No, no, we won't stop.
40:57Right, Chaps, carry on. Yep.
40:59Grip steady!
41:01I knew that was coming.
41:03Honestly,
41:05it, um...
41:07That was...
41:11The truth of it now,
41:13we are literally going to run out of money.
41:15As in,
41:17there won't be enough in the bank to pay their
41:19salaries, and to pay the rent.
41:21And then we've got
41:23the huge expense of moving.
41:25MUSIC PLAYS
41:33I'm an idiot.
41:35It's as simple as that.
41:37It's this capital bid I hadn't thought of.
41:39So the oven,
41:41to get what we want, it's going to be
41:4345,000.
41:45Then I need,
41:47if I'm going to do that, a prep room.
41:49It's going to be another 15 grand.
41:51Then we need the paint mix room.
41:53That's another five.
41:55So airlines,
41:57I'm going to put seven and keep it simple.
41:59Then we need
42:01just tools.
42:03It's going to be 10 grand.
42:05For a full set of everything we need.
42:07Right, so that's 87,000 pounds there.
42:09Then there's the mezzanine.
42:11Could be another 20. Right, we're at
42:13107,000 pounds.
42:15That's a chunk of change.
42:17MUSIC PLAYS
42:23Ah!
42:29Well, 107,000 pounds
42:31is what I need now.
42:33It doesn't keep us going.
42:35If we had got the RS ready
42:37for the auction,
42:39it wouldn't have raised that, would it?
42:41It might have had
42:4315 grand profit in it.
42:45Well, I need 10 times that.
42:47But maybe that auction
42:49isn't worth it.
42:51But maybe that auction
42:53is the answer. Maybe I don't take the RS.
42:55Maybe...
42:57I sell my cars.
42:59And then I
43:01put the money into the business.
43:03You know, but it's a choice, isn't it?
43:05I can have a classic car collection
43:07or a classic car business.
43:09And I've gone too far down the road
43:11towards a business to stop now.
43:13If I abandon it now, I've ruined Neil and Anthony.
43:15Because they've shut down their business.
43:17I'll do whatever it takes.
43:19If my business is selling my cars and bikes,
43:21I will sell them.
43:23Because this is the path I'm taking.
43:25This has been my home
43:27for 26 years.
43:29It's not your home anymore, is it?
43:31We need stuff, so I'm selling
43:33stuff to buy stuff.
43:35Lot number 5.
43:37I actually can't watch it. This is going to hurt.
43:3943, 44.
43:41They've just been singled out to pay the ultimate sacrifice.
43:43At 14,000 pounds...
43:49...
43:51...
43:53...
43:55...
43:57...
43:59...
44:01...
44:03...
44:05...