-[Mike] This time... -Hello!
Yes, I want to find parts for my Rolls-Royce. Cheap parts.
[Mike] ...it's a roller coaster of a renovation...
Oh, listen to it. Da-da-da-da-da. [mimicking machine]
[Mike] ...as we attempt to live the Champagne lifestyle...
Do I want to go to five grand?
-That's definitely a no. -[Mike] ...on lemonade money.
I'm not painting a roller with a roller, if that's what you're thinking.
[Mike] But motors this big come with big problems.
What on earth is that? You are joking.
What a ridiculous piece of over engineering.
[Mike] So can Elvis take this car from economy class...
I'm James.
[Mike] ...to first class?
See didn't I'll tell you,
owning a Rolls-Royce opens up all kinds of doors for you.
Oh, yes!
I'm Mike Brewer and I've been buying and selling cars for nearly 40 years.
It's rattly, smelly and it blew me brilliant.
Now I've setup shop in Britain's motoring Heritage Heartland...
Yet again, I am bringing a car back to the workshop that's on a trailer.
[Mike] ...along with ex-Formula One mechanic Mark Elvis Priestly.
That engine management light never put you off then?
[Mike] Together, we're going to buy...
I think you're the right man for it.
Top man?
[Mike] ...and fix up...
-Are you actually pushing? -Of course, I'm pushing.
[Mike] ...the most iconic and exciting cars on the market.
This is gonna be epic.
Bolt a supercharger to it and you end up with a car that does this!
[Mike] With Elvis's engineering skill...
Like trying to wake Sleeping Beauty, innit?
Apart from the beauty bit.
[Mike] ...and my car dealing clout...
It's a fair price. You got yourself a deal.
[Mike] ...we should be able to make ourselves a tidy profit.
Because this is my job and I bloomin' love it. It's great.
-Hey, Elvis, can I borrow ya? -Yeah, mate.
I've been looking up some cars that would have cost hundreds of thousands of pounds
when they were new that have now plummeted in price.
You may amazed what's there. You can get Aston Martins,
Bentleys, Rolls-Royces for not a lot of money.
Amazing cars, but if they are cheap, there's a good reason.
You know, there's gonna be stuff wrong with them.
They're gonna be expensive to fix the parts.
They're gonna cost a fortune as well.
But I've stumbled upon a car that looks,
well, almost exactly like this,
a 1980s Rolls-Royce Spirit.
But get this, this car's only done 26,000 miles.
Has it? Well, that is loaded.
-How much? Yeah. -Like Ford Fiesta money?
-Me and you, we could be dining at the top table. -Yeah, I mean, I like it.
I can deal with the color. I'm more interested in how it runs.
-It's going to have things wrong with it. -[laughs]
-You do know that, don't you? -But it is low mileage, so that's good.
Listen, I'm on board, and if we can do this, right,
if we can turn out a proper fancy car at that price,
you can also, at the end of this project,
take me out for a nice fancy meal in our nice fancy car.
-That would be lovely. -Yes.
Bring a hat, 'cause I'll sit in the back. You can chauffer me.
[Mike] The Silver Spirit was the quintessential
1980s status symbol
that would have set you back a whopping
£140,000 in today's money.
Every element from its six and three quarter liter engine
to the retractable Spirit-of-Ecstasy bonnet ornament,
is the ultimate in luxury automotive engineering.
Owning one isn't cheap.
Spare parts are pricey
and filling the 107-liter fuel tank is gonna hurt.
But if we're smart about how we go about things,
we might not only get a taste of how the other half live
but also make a cheeky profit on the side.
So, the guy that's got it for sale
is saying that he just wants it gone,
and he wants it gone quickly and cheaply.
He was asking six and half grand,
but over the phone he'd come down to six grand.
And then he said, "Turn up and make me a bid."
His name's Ian.
And I'm thinking if I can get this car off of Ian,
then possibly what we could do
is turn it around on the cheap.
That way we could end up with a really cheap Rolls-Royce
to come and dine at that high table.
But I won't know if any of this is going to work
until I go and stand in front of the car.
So, Ian, I'm on me way.
There is the Rolls-Royce,
the car I've come to see. Look at that.
How good is that? Looks right, doesn't it?
It's that grille, very famous.
[doorbell rings]
Ian? Mike, hi. How you doing? Nice to see you.
Nice to see this Rolls-Royce sitting on the driveway. How did you come by it?
When I retired, I decided to, um, spend
some of my retirement money on Rolls-Royces,
but it's had, needs a few more bits of work than I can do.
Apparently, it was held in an underground garage.
Was a judge that owned it.
-Was it? -Yeah. Okay.
And look at her, The Spirit of Ecstasy.
You little... She's a bit wobbly.
Straight car, I mean, it does look remarkably straight.
Oh, look at the carpet.
I'm wondering whether 'cause it's been stored, it's rotted.
It's got split seats, door cards are nasty.
Yeah. But I have got a period interior for it.
New carpets, new door cards.
-I was gonna replace the whole lot. -Really?
Yeah. And you can have that as well to go with it.
-Okay. Lovely. Does it run? -It runs. Yeah, yeah.
-I'll fire it up? -Yeah, yeah.
[engine starting]
It's the most unRolls-Royce noise I think I've ever heard.
-Trying to be nice. -[laughs]
Oh, listen to it. Da-da-da-da-da. Yeah, yeah.
Can hear the manifold. Yeah. But the engine itself
there's no knocks or bangs coming from the engine. That seems good.
[laughs] That sounds like an American P-8.
I'm just gonna look at the boot. Turn it off.
What a mess! Ah, lights are good.
-Standard. -The lights are very good at the back.
-The bumper's good as well. -Any chance I can take it
-for a drive? -Yeah, please. Take it out for a good drive. Enjoy it.
-Yeah. All right. I won't be too long. -See you later.
[grunts] you know, every time you step into a Rolls-Royce,
it's courtesy to wipe your feet to dust them off.
I think I've been wiping my feet and dusting them off
when I get out of this Rolls-Royce.
I've never been in such a thing
that is so, um, well, luxurious,
I mean, it's horrible inside here.
It really is. The interior, it's shot.
-The engine, listen to it. -[engine sputtering]
That is just hideous, isn't it?
It's making all kinds of noises from that manifold.
It really is kind of hilarious.
And I have to be serious for a minute because
this is a vehicle that needs a lot, a lot of attention.
So everywhere you look, the paintwork is
rough and ready in the edges. And when I do turn into left,
there is a notch coming from the steering rack.
It's going to need a lot of work.
The air conditioning is working fine by the way.
That's kinda nice. And the dashboard looks good.
Even cheekily, look, the electric windows,
still working and the electric mirrors, still working.
So there's some good stuff. It's just the bad stuff
that's going to need a lot of attention.
Now my target price for this car
would be more like four grand.
And I know that's a big hit for Ian.
But, you know, Ian doesn't have to sell this car to me
but if he wants to get rid of it, I feel that it's a gamble
that me and Elvis can take on.
But if we could find ways
to do all of this stuff on the cheap and really do it on the cheap,
we could end up with quite a good Rolls-Royce,
for not a lot of money.
[grunts]
-Ian, you about? -Yeah. Yeah.
-Thought I could... Yes. -You've come back?
Made it back in sort of one piece.
-It drives noisily... -Yeah.
And it's not getting quieter, it's unlike a Rolls-Royce.
-You wanted how much for it? -I've got it out for six and a half.
That's with the interior and everything?
That's interior thrown in, yeah, as well.
Okay. Uh...
You don't have to sell this car to me
but I'm going to make a very brave bid of four grand.
Yeah. You don't think you'd go to five?
Do I want to go to five grand?
-No. No. -That's definitely a no.
I think four grand's all it's at.
But as I say, it's entirely up to you.
Don't feel pressured to sell it.
No. It would be nice to see it back on the road. Four's fair.
-Yeah? Lovely. -It's a fair price.
-Well done, Ian. -No problem.
I just bought myself a beaten up old Rolls-Royce.
-Yeah. -Elvis better get the posh tools ready.
He's gonna be over the moon, ain't he?
Hello! Yes. I want to buy parts for my Rolls-Royce.
Cheap parts. Second-hand parts. Have 'em delivered.
Brilliant. Right.
Back round... Oh, no. There's that lock on the steering.
Right back round the corner from the workshop.
Just about to drop this big brown Rolls-Royce on Elvis' toes.
If Elvis jumps on board, though, with what we can do with it,
and he doesn't get too frightened about the amount of work
in front of him, I think we're gonna have an amazing vehicle.
So, it'll still be the cheapest Rolls-Royce for sale in the country.
Maybe a great Rolls-Royce. Does the hooter work?
-[honks] -Yes! He's going to hear it out, ain't he?
[rattling, squeaking]
[honks]
[laughs]
Oh. Wow.
The smoothness of a gentle Rolls-Royce.
You were gonna see one of the cheapest Rolls-Royces?
Now I see why it was so cheap. Look at the state of it.
It's a Rolls-Royce Spirit. What's up with ya?
I'm sure it was lovely back in the day, but look at the paintwork.
There's bits hanging off everywhere.
Look at it. It's got Spirit of Ecstasy and everything.
It's a brilliant engineering. [laughs]
-Look at that. -She twerks at you.
-Even that's broken. -She's like that.
[speaking indistinctly]
It's quite funny, and you're right about the paint work.
But look underneath the swage line, it's perfect.
It's only got to be painted above the swage line.
You know how many layers of paint on a roller?
-Seven. -Seven layers of paint.
Seven. Expensive paint as well.
Let's not do seven layers of expensive paint.
Let's do one layer of thick, cheaper paint.
I'm not painting a roller with a roller,
if that's what you're thinking. It might end up being like that.
You think it's a little bit tatty on the outside?
Take a breath and suck in the Rolls-Royce interior.
Oh, wow. Man, that stinks in there.
I'm glad I took a deep breath before I opened the door.
Have you seen that carpet?
Oh, mate, that's horrible. Look, the seats are split as well.
It's just tatty, isn't it? It's not Rolls-Royce.
Yep. Not only did I manage to negotiate the purchase
of said Rolls-Royce, I also managed to negotiate the purchase
-of a complete interior. -Mate, that is amazing. Yeah, well done.
-Right, engine. -Oh, yeah, how's it drive?
-Well, you heard me when I pulled up, didn't you? -Oh, yeah.
It was a rhetorical question, really. I did hear it coming a mile off.
So the gasket on the manifold has not only just come loose,
it's actually blown out. There is no gasket there.
There's two of them, obviously, but they're buried right down here.
Very difficult to get to 'em. I'll find a way, obviously, but they are tucked away.
All right. But while you're there, you might have to remove
the steering rack because when you go around a corner in this,
it's got a real flat spot or notch in the steering.
-I think needs a bit of a rebuild. -Okay, well,
somewhere down there is a steering rack, again, totally inaccessible.
But we'll find it, mate. That's not the end of the world.
When you find out the ridiculous price that we paid for this car...
-Go on, then. What is it? -Well, he advertised it for 6500.
-That's all right. Yeah. -And I gave him four grand for it.
-What? Really? I mean, that is incredible. Yeah. -Yeah.
I mean, Okay, that probably is one of the cheapest Rolls in the country.
But it's still going to cost a fortune to fix it up, isn't it?
The paint itself could be four or five grand.
-That's just labor. -All the bits and pieces,
-the parts... But nothing is cheap. -Second-hand.
We're gonna spend the appropriate word for this car in front of us, a grand.
-Have you lost your mind? -The aim of this is at the end,
we're gonna be dining at that top table,
living a lifestyle that we don't deserve
and we've done it all for five grand.
Now, that part I really like.
But, yeah, look, why not? I love a challenge, mate.
-So, why not? Let's do it. -It's the biggest challenge yet.
It's one of the biggest cars we've got. Will it actually fit on the ramp?
Listen, you've got to get your hands dirty if you're doing it for a grand.
I mean, I could hear this car coming
long before Mike even tooted the horn outside the workshop.
A Rolls-Royce shouldn't sound like that.
Shouldn't sound like a tractor. It should be quiet,
it should be smooth. Refined.
My first job is gonna be to replace these blowing exhaust gaskets.
These gaskets create a seal
between the cylinder head and the exhaust manifold.
Over time, due to constant heating and cooling of the engine,
they can deform, meaning the exhaust gases can escape
which should be why our car currently sounds
more Massey Ferguson, than Rolls-Royce.
[grunts]
It's so corroded. They've been in there for years.
Probably never been undone.
I just can't get any purchase on the head of the bolt now.
It's so rounded. It's got no corners left,
and there's nothing now to grip on.
I've got no tools left that I can get in there
that will give me any hope of getting that undone.
I can't bear it, but, oh... [panting]
I think the only thing I can do
is think about taking this engine out.
That's an enormous, enormous amount of work.
I've been worrying about the amount of work
it's gonna take to remove this massive engine.
But the good news is, I don't think
it's gonna be quite as tough as I first thought.
I think I've a right result here because in the great British
engineering brilliance of Rolls-Royce,
what they did when they designed this car
was mount the engine on a separate standalone sub frame
at the front of the car that's not attached to the rest of the body.
It is mounted on these four main mounting points under here.
And by disconnecting those
plus a number of ancillary parts,
I should, in theory, be able to raise the body of the car
up in the air on the ramp, leaving behind the engine
and giving me that all important access
to those really difficult to reach exhaust manifold bolts.
Before I start on that, I'm going to take off
this steering rack, as Mike says it has a problem.
He's also offered to fix it, so I'm gonna give it to him
while I crack on with the rest of the car.
First, I'm disconnecting the high pressure hydraulic line
and draining the power steering fluid...
before unbolting the rack from the chassis.
Here it comes.
Mate, I have got that steering rack off the Rolls-Royce.
To save your precious little hands getting dirty, I've wrapped it up
-and stuck in the back of the car for you. -That's very kind of you.
I do know a company that, years ago,
I actually went there to buy a Rolls-Royce ended up buying a Bentley,
and they are specialists in refurbishing old Rolls-Royce parts.
If it's in the truck I'm gonna take it now.
It can save us a few quid, so, yeah, all right.
-Nice one. -Cheers, pal.
Good. With Mike taking care of the steering rack,
I can start thinking about getting the body off this thing.
That should be fun.
First off, I need to disconnect the major components from the engine
that connects between it and the body in the hope that
when I've done that, I can eventually lift one off the other.
Okay, we are almost there.
The only thing holding this enormous engine and gearbox in
together with all the suspension and everything else
that's mounted to that subframe,
are these four big bolts.
I can't undo them now because the whole thing would literally fall on my head.
When I lower the car, I'll be lying on the floor,
scrabbling around on my back to undo them.
So what I'm going to do now, is just crack them off
to make that job a little bit easier.
Now comes the interesting bit, because now I've got to lower the car
and support that enormous subframe on extra stands.
Right. There we go.
That's everything. Well, at least I hope it is.
This is where we find out if anything is left connected.
I need to do this incredibly gradually
and keep checking around the car
to make sure I've not missed disconnecting anything.
Thankfully, it all looks good
and just look at what's left behind.
Wow, what an enormous lump.
That might have been a really daunting prospect,
but it was so well engineered that actually
it was nowhere near as bad as I thought.
And importantly, I can now get access to those really
hard to reach exhaust manifold bolts and change the gasket.
Particularly that annoying one around that side that I rounded off.
So, I'm on my way to go and see a company
that I once visited almost two decades ago.
They're called Flying Spares.
They want £424 just to rebuild a steering rack.
And that means I'm going to eat away
almost half of the £1,000 budget
that I had given Elvis to get this car back on the road.
Now, I don't want to pay that.
So, I am hoping that because I know these guys,
I can strike a deal and bring the cost down a bit.
-Brad. -Hello, Mike.
-How you doing, bud? -I'm all good, mate. You?
-Great to see you. -And you.
-Shall whip around and come join you? -Yeah, come around, mate.
Right. Here we go.
This is the rack that I spoke to you about.
So, rather than replace it,
I'd like to repair it and keep the original rack.
So, what's the process of doing that then?
We'll have a quick look at it. We'll strip it down,
make sure everything's okay,
rebuild over a brand new kit. And get you on your way.
-If I were to get involved... -Mm-hm.
...when you strip it down, do some of the cleaning
maybe do a little bit spannering work...
-Yeah. -Can we bring the costs down a little for me?
Sure we can.
-We can? -Yeah.
-Lovely, top man. Should we get stuck in then? -Yeah.
First off, we need to sort out that notch
I felt when I turned the car to the left on the test drive.
What we're gonna do now is check for some play.
-Oh, that doesn't look good, does it? -Yeah.
You might have a little bit of play there,
but that's a little bit excessive.
So, we can adjust the play by taking some shims out
-or adding some shim. -Oh, Okay.
What's happened is that all the gears
inside the pinion have worn away.
Play is developed, which creates that notchy feeling
when you steer to the left.
The shims work as spaces between the parts.
So to remedy it, we need to remove one or two and tighten it back up.
Right. There's more shims behind here.
Which means that Rolls-Royce
must have known that this would be a wearable part.
I don't think I've ever seen that before, that sort of engineering
and protecting the future, isn't it?
-Yeah. That's why you pay Rolls-Royce tax. -[chuckles]
Just gonna take one of them shims off,
fit the pinion back in and we've eliminated that play.
-That's much different. -Yeah, I mean,
-before it was bub-bub-bub, you could feel it. -Yeah.
Now that's really closed it up a bit.
Next, we'll be stripping the rack down,
because when we come to rebuild it later,
we'll be using a lot of brand new parts.
-Ready? -Yeah.
[groans] Oh, here we go.
Right. Okay. So what's next?
We're gonna take it out of the vice and put it in the parts cleaner.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Remember I said I want to reduce the cost
by doing some of the work myself.
-So, the parts cleaner is around the corner? -Yeah, just around the corner.
-I'll clean that up. You get the rest of the bits. -Yeah.
Right. That is all done.
-Nice and clean. Right. Ready to rebuild it, then? -Yeah.
[Mike] We're using a steering rack reconditioning kit
that contains new seals, bearings and bushes.
Once that's fitted, it will hopefully
make our car feel like a Rolls-Royce should.
With everything back together, we need to make sure it's working.
So Brad's connected it up to a test rig
and using the handle to simulate the steering input.
If it moves smoothly as we turn it here,
-it should do the same on the road. -[machine whirring]
-I'm really happy with that. -Yeah.
-That's it. Can I have a little test? -Yeah. Have a test.
Oh, it's like a Rolls-Royce.
Oh, it's lovely and there's no notchy feeling at all.
Mate, that is fantastic. So what do we do next with it?
I'm gonna give it a paint job for ya
-and then you can take it away. -Top man.
And you want to know the best bit? Thanks to all my hard work,
Brad's only charging me 296 quid.
I reckon there might be a profit in this old roller yet.
Right. Let's get this back to the workshop.
But before I do, I want to swing past Ian
and pick up that interior on the way.
There's lots of stuff for Elvis to do.
Now I've got the engine and gearbox clear of the body,
I can access and replace the blown exhaust gaskets.
That is assuming I can get the bolts off.
But my next level up here is to use a 12 pointed socket
that's, crucially, a little bit smaller.
But if you look at the head of the bolt, that only has six sides.
So these little 12 grooves are effectively
going to cut 12 slots into the top of that bolt head
and hopefully give us 12 points of contact
to transmit the torque from the ratchet,
give us a better chance of getting it undone.
[grunts]
It's just starting to turn, but I can't work out
if it's about to completely round it off or undo it.
[grunts] Oh, yes, I think so.
Yes. [exhales] Success.
It's coming undone.
Oh, wow.
What an enormous amount of work just to get that manifold off.
And now in fact, there you go, I can very clearly see
where that gasket's been blowing. Let's have a look.
Yeah, there it is. All because of that.
That tiny little gasket has blown through,
allowing the exhaust gases to escape.
So, once I've cleaned up these surfaces and replaced the gaskets,
it should purr the way a Rolls-Royce should.
I've got to the other side, and give the engine
a good clean-up and service while it's out of the car.
Then I can pop it back in and bring the whole thing back together.
Having already spent roughly half
the £1,000 renovation budget Mike's given me,
it's time to think outside the box,
or in this case, the booth.
Because whilst I wait for Mike
to turn up with my paint and spray gun, I've started to put together
a homemade paint booth from plastic sheeting
that's both cheap and practical.
Mate, you look like you've been busy lately.
Oh, I've been working very hard for us. Yep.
Look at that. It's a whole boot of Rolls-Royce for us.
-How'd you get on with the steering rack? -It's all done.
Yeah, it's in there, like brand new in a box.
I spent a lot of time doing it myself to bring the price down.
-Remember, we're on a budget. -That is brilliant.
Uh, is this my spray gun?
Uh, yes. If you give it a little shake,
you'll find that, that's 12 little spray guns.
That's not a spray gun.
Oh, come on. What did we to talk about? That's rattle cans, isn't it?
-It is rattle cans, yeah. -You can't paint a Rolls-Royce with rattle cans.
-Who said you can't? -Come on.
These aren't your normal paints that you go get in the corner shop.
This is a special paint. It lays down really thickly.
I mean, how'd you get about matching the color? You haven't been in here.
I didn't match the color. What'd you mean?
-What color's that then? -Gold.
-What? The car's brown. -Gold. Yeah.
I know it is. But think about it. The car's brown.
We established the bottom half of the car is in good shape,
so we don't need to paint that
only the top half above that's swage line.
So we're going to go full out 1980s two-tone,
going to paint the top half gold with rattle cans.
You've lost your mind. But it's gonna save us a bit of cash.
Yeah, you'll get a nice coating with these cans
-once you get in that paint booth. -Yeah.
I'm nearly there. A few more bits to sort out. We're on the way, mate.
All right. I'll get this interior cleaned up and in to ya.
Sweet.
[Elvis] Now this homemade paint booth might look a bit amateur,
but when I'm done, it's gonna work just as well as the real thing.
I've still got high standards even if we're doing things on the cheap.
If I'm painting a car the size of a Rolls-Royce in there,
there's gonna be a lot of paint flying around,
and I need to protect myself with PPE
but I also want to keep the air circulating
and keep the environment as clean as possible. And so this is my solution.
I've knocked up this box out of sheets of plywood,
tied up together in the corners.
I got an old industrial fan that I had lying around
out the back that's gonna go at one end,
then this piece of filtration material at the other.
This cost me just about £10.
So as the air is pumped through using the fan,
most of the harmful particulates from the paint,
are gonna get trapped in this material here.
Now I've got it assembled as best I can,
it's time to stick it to the plastic wall,
creating a nice tight seal.
And then my last bit of booth prep
is to shoot outside and stick the fan in place,
tape it up and we should be good to go.
[Mike] Whilst you do that, buddy boy, I'm going to save us some money
by revitalizing that reclaimed interior I picked up from Ian.
And although it might be a different color
from the original, it's in way better condition.
And I reckon it's going to match perfectly
with the two-tone paint job.
Now these are made of some of the finest quality leather.
So what I've gathered together
from my local farrier shop, you're gonna like this...
What's the saddle made out of, on a horse?
It's made out of leather. So, this is called a saddle soap,
and it really is a good cleaner to get into the leather
and to bring out all that dirt.
And the best news is all this stuff
hasn't cost me a pony either.
Everything I'm using has set us back just 30 quid.
[gasps]
Look... you sit on that.
People sit on that and you don't know it's there.
That's what I mean. God, it's disgusting.
Saddle soap. See? It's genius.
The paint work on our Rolls-Royce really lets it down.
Apparently it was set under a tarpaulin for ages,
which is why just the top half
has deteriorated in the way that it has.
It does mean that the decision
to just paint the top half was a good one for two reasons,
first of all, it will save a load of cash
and secondly, it should add a ton of value to the car.
So, my job is just to key that surface area
to allow the new paint to stick.
[machine whirring]
I'm using a fairly abrasive pad
to remove the top layer of clear coat
and to rough up the paintwork underneath.
This is gonna create a little bit of texture
that'll help the new paint adhere to the surface.
[Mike] Outside, it's going like a dream.
So now it's time to move on to the next stage of this beauty regime.
You wouldn't think with a leather seat if it's got any rough edges,
you should tackle it with anything
other than moisturizer and try and flatten it down.
But actually, you can use the scarab part of a little sponge
and just scratch off some of those raised bit.
Look, it's taken the edge off.
Now I can move on to the sponge side and add a bit of moisturizer.
Be generous with the amount of moisturizer you use here.
Don't worry about getting the seat wet
because just like your skin, it will soak in.
And if you want to take things a step further,
you could always give it the full service
I like the proper method, of hands. Just rub it in.
Not even Mrs. Brewer gets treatment as good as this.
I feel I should've lit some candles and struck some wild music on.
And trust me, this seat is loving this right now.
It really is. It's having a massage.
Now I need to get the seat to swallow that moisturizer.
What I'm gonna do is wrap the seat in polythene,
a little bit like a greenhouse.
And I'm hoping even on this overcast but warm day,
the sun will pop out and what it should do,
it would create a greenhouse effect on this seat.
And then that will heat the seat up
and all that moisturizer will get sucked in.
And the seat, well, it should feel like brand new.
[Elvis] Whilst Mike and that seat continue their special moment,
I've finished keying the bodywork, and I've pushed the car
into the paint booth, ready to start spraying.
The paint on the top half was in worse condition than I thought.
I've ended up rubbing back quite a few areas
all the way back to bare metal.
I've now treated that with a coat of primer.
I'm just about to go over the whole thing with a tack wipe
before I apply our new polyurethane paint.
This removes any traces of dirt or dust from the body work
so that we have a perfectly clean surface for the paint to go on to.
All right, it's the moment of truth time.
We finally get to see the new color going on to our Rolls-Royce.
I'm using JC12 polyurethane aerosol paint,
which is specifically formulated to be hard wearing
but also forgiving when it goes on.
And for only £7 a can, it's worth a try.
I'm starting off by applying a very light mist coat.
Using slow, gentle motions,
I want to make the application as even as possible,
something that's relatively tricky
when the paint dries as quick as this stuff.
I needed to change can every ten minutes.
Right, that's the mist coat now done.
But it's almost dry, so I can already start building up the layers.
In total, I'll need to apply three coats to the car
to get a paint job thick enough to deal
with the weathering it's gonna experience on the road.
[Mike] While budget Banksy cracks on with that,
It's been a few hours since I moisturized the seats.
So now it's time to check the results.
[laughs] That is one happy face. Look at that.
Do you remember what this seat looked like a few hours ago?
It looked like it was, well, rubbish.
But now, it's all been ingested in. Let's give it a little bath.
That's the Rolls-Royce quality shining through.
Let's just hope Elvis' exterior
is coming together as nicely as my interior.
Well, there we go. It's done. [chuckles]
The top half of our Rolls-Royce is gold.
I mean, the finish might not quite be as good as a 2-pack paint,
but, I mean, come on, it's come out of a rattle can. I think it's pretty good.
Of course the big test is gonna be when we unveil the bottom half.
That's when we find out if Mike got his color choice right or horribly wrong.
And I can't do that until this is cured for another 48 hours.
It's been a huge undertaking,
getting this massive car back in shape.
And I'm starting to feel like we might actually pull
this £1,000 renovation off
'cause I've only got a couple more jobs left to do.
This is called the Spirit of Ecstasy, this little lady.
And it should have some flex in it
to absorb some energy in the event of an impact
but it definitely shouldn't be that loose and wobbly.
It should disappear
down inside the grille itself, keeping it safe.
But as you can see, whilst ours is going some way down
it's definitely not disappearing.
So, the only thing I can think to do is to take it apart
and have a look and try and fix it.
I'm hoping that a little bit of tightening up
and some lubrication might do the job here.
And whilst that soaks in, I can get to work
putting Mike's revamped interior back into the car.
And I've got to say, he's done us proud with this makeover.
I'm James.
But we can't go anywhere without our radiator grille.
So let's see if a little lubrication has done the job.
Let's give it a go, then.
Nearly. [chuckles] It's definitely better.
It's smoother than it was, but it's not going down all the way.
It should disappear completely inside the radiator grille.
That means we're going to need some more investigation.
And this was supposed to be the easy job on the car.
You are joking.
They've actually put a little,
what looks like an oil-filled damper
to control the smooth operation.
What a ridiculous piece of over engineering.
Oh, look at that, I think I might just have found the problem.
As you push the ornament down,
this damper passes oil from one cylinder to another,
and it's absolutely full of air, can see in this tiny little clear tube.
Those air bubbles, could probably be the thing that's stopping it
having its full retraction into the radiator grille.
So what I'm going to need to do, and thankfully this is a cheap fix,
is remove the damper from the grille.
Then, with it secured in the vice, I can drain out the old oil
and replace it with some new stuff that I've already got in the workshop.
So much better now. It's a silky smooth operation,
which is exactly how it should be.
Now, all I've got left to do is put it all back together
and we'll be ready to roll into high society
and hopefully sell this beauty for a tidy profit.
[laughs]
No way! Call Elton.
-His car's ready. -Ain't it amazing?
-That's out of a rattle can. -I know. I mean, I'm surprised, too.
When I started this job, I wasn't 100 percent sure
how it was going to turn out. But that's incredible. And the two-tone effect.
Mate, that was a great idea, cause it suits the car.
-What about the rest of it? -Oh, it's all fixed.
-Remember the wobbly lady? -She was broken. Yeah.
-Is it all done? -Give her a little wobble.
-Look at that. -Nice one.
Only does she not wobble anymore,
but she now retracts nicely inside this grille.
You wouldn't believe the technology that's in there. It's brilliant.
And that lovely new steering rack, it's silky smooth again, mate.
-The interior, look at that. -I mean, I cleaned it up,
but I didn't realize it looked that good inside the car.
And you've mixed and matched it with the original interior.
Yeah, I wasn't sure. But it's actually turned out nice, isn't it?
This car has turned out so well
that I'm a little bit worried because back in the day
you'd have to rob a bank to own a car like this.
And no doubt you busted my bank by restoring it
because I gave you a budget of £1,000
so we can end up with a five grand roller.
And there's no way you can do this
to a Rolls-Royce in a grand.
So clearly you've blown that, haven't you?
Well, listen, it was a tall order, wasn't it?
It's a big ask. Try and do it for a grand.
Yeah. Smashed it the other way.
£661.
-You're kidding? -No.
You spent £661 on there.
-Or is that it? -Yeah.
What did the one pound come from?
Yeah, you smell what it was like inside.
-Had to buy an air freshener. -It was rancid.
It was nasty. You know Ian, the guy that got the car from...
Oh, yeah.
Well, he never got to do any of this work, and he really wanted to do it.
But now we've done all the work,
I think he'd like to buy this car back.
He won't even recognize it now.
He won't. No. But before we present it to him,
we need to see if this roller is going to turn us two into high rollers.
Shall I set the satnav to Windsor Castle then?
Not quite. But I've got something lined up for us.
You'll need to change your work clothes.
Put a shirt and jacket on.
-I'll go and do to the same. -Let's see what I can do.
This has been a renovation of epic proportions.
We're gonna spend the appropriate word
for this car in front of us, a grand.
You've lost your mind.
[Mike] We transformed one of the cheapest Rolls-Royces in the country.
Wow. What an enormous amount of work just to get that manifold off.
From something you'd be embarrassed to pull up at a scrap yard in...
[gasps] People sit on that and you don't know it's there.
...to an automobile fit for high society.
Well, there we go. It's done.
The top half of our Rolls-Royce is gold.
[Mike] And we've even got change from our £1,000 budget.
But how did we pull it off?
I originally bought the car bonus interior, carpets and headliner
from Ian for four grand.
The parts for the exhaust manifold repair
sets us back 56 quid.
My hard work on the steering rack repair saved us a bit.
So it was just £296.
Painting materials for the re-spray was 278.
The cleaning products to brighten up the interior were meagre, 30 quid.
Oh, and don't forget the air freshener, a pound.
That gives us a total spend
of £4661,
which is an absolute result.
And just look at it.
Talk about rags to riches story.
And now we're all togged up and looking sharp as our Rolls-Royce.
We're doing like Rolls-Royce's owners do,
and have popped out for a drive around the country estate.
Here we go. I told you we're gonna get special treatment.
We're being waved onto the castle's main drive.
How good was that? See?
Didn't I tell you, owning a Rolls-Royce
opens up all kinds of doors for you or in this case, a gate.
We're driving up the main driveway to Belvoir Castle...
The home of the Duke and Duchess of Rutland.
...where we're going for high tea.
That is amazing. Can't wait to meet them.
Well, Okay.
At three o'clock every day in the workshop, what do we do?
-Stop for a cup of tea. -Well, it was invented here.
This is where afternoon tea was invented.
-It's amazing. What a place, eh? What a place! -It's fantastic.
And look what we're arriving in. We are arriving in style.
And remember when it started out like, it was like an old tractor
when I pulled into the workshop. It was noisy.
It was smelly. It actually stunk,
-this car, didn't it? -Mate, I heard you coming
and smelt you coming before you actually arrived.
The carpets were bad and interior was nasty.
But now look at this. Look, I can't believe
what this car, and it's just a car,
what it can do for us. It's only down to hard work
-'cause we haven't spent a lot of money, have we? -[Elvis] No.
[Mike] There's somebody out there right now
buying a five, six year-old Ford Fiesta, right,
which is not gonna open the door to anywhere for them
where they could've gone and got a car like this.
And I've got to say, all right,
even just sat behind the wheel, the experience...
Quite often, you're in the back of one of these.
If you own a Rolls-Royce, you're probably not driving it.
-You probably sat in the back. -Hold on a minute.
You just said if you own a Rolls-Royce,
you're usually not driving it. So I think you'll find
a Rolls-Royce owner always has a man driving him around.
That's why I've got you driving me around today.
Good to see you're a man of the people and have come up front with me today.
-Nice one. Yeah. -I'm sitting in the stalls.
But I see what a lovely experience it is.
So for all those people who have a job
to drive the wealthy owner around, it's a pretty good experience.
It's smooth. D'you know what? Up there,
just there, in fact, 6.75 liter roaring V8. Can't even hear it.
-You can't. -It's cathedral quiet here.
We're actually gonna meet the Duke and Duchess?
Yes. You just drive up towards the castle.
Now, I should probably have told Elvis the truth by now.
Our budget Rolls may have swung access to the driveway,
but it was never going to get us in to actually take tea
with the Duke and Duchess in their splendid home.
-Look at that castle. -Oh, wow. Look at that.
That is amazing, isn't it?
Tea on the cafe veranda will have to do,
although the weather has just taken a turn for the worst.
Did you really think I had arranged
for us to see the Duke and Duchess of Rutland?
-Yes. -Mate, I'm good, but I'm not that good.
I don't know the Duke and Duchess of Rutland.
No, I just know where they live. Mate, you're just gonna have to accept
that you are dining at the top table with me?
Whoa!
We're literally losing food.
You're wearing food. That's what you're doing.
-It's an expensive suit. -Cheers.
-Blimey. -I'll say. This is my top table, mate.
-What? -I'll tell you, this is my top table.
Lovely.
Oh, the tea's gone so cold.
-That better not stain my suit. -It will stain your suit.
A few days after our taste of the high life,
and we're back where we belong.
And guess what? There's a familiar looking face in a workshop,
and he's come for a look at our roller.
Now, when I bought this Rolls-Royce
off the young chap called Ian,
it was at the time, the cheapest Rolls-Royce for sale
in the United Kingdom.
And guess what?
It's still the cheapest Rolls-Royce for sale in the United Kingdom
after all the work that me and Elvis have done.
Now, Ian, who I bought the car from,
he intended to do all the work that we've done
but we've stretched it a little bit further.
So, of course, he's beaten a path to my door
and wants to buy the car back.
Let's hope he likes what we've done.
-So, then, Ian... -Hello, Mike.
I mean, what you're going to say about it?
-Bet you don't recognize it, Ian. -Absolutely stunning.
I mean, you've done a really, really good...
It's, it's really shocked me when I saw it.
It's actually really good.
I mean, the interior, it's just made it look like new.
That's the old scrappy interior I got from you.
Got all the seats back here cleaned them all up
and then did a mix and match with the old interior.
And it offsets against this two tone paint job.
-Lovely, doesn't it? -It's like a custom job,
as if somebody's ordered that as a custom interior.
Yeah, it's just like that. So, you always intended
-to do this kind of work to the car yourself. -Yeah.
I'm giving you the first right of refusal on the car.
When I bought it from you, it was a cheap car,
-but it's still a cheap car. -Yeah.
-So I need £6,000 for it.
-Could you do five-five? -No.
-No? -No.
Um, well, look, you've got to put some fuel in it.
Yeah. Because you've got to drive it home,
I'll give you 100 pound off. So I'll let you have it for £5,900.
Agreed. That's an absolute bargain.
-Cheers, Mike. -Top man.
-Thank you for that. -Just bought your roller back.
[Ian] Thank you.
Well done, Eleanor Velasco Thornton,
otherwise known as the Spirit of Ecstasy.
We did it, didn't we? We proved
that you can be a high roller
but you don't have to rob the bank to do it.
Now, if you want to see more iconic cars like this
being turned around by me and Elvis,
then join us again soon on, Wheeler Dealers. Ta-la.