I think my fairy godmother just arrived
and he's called Richard...
So, why don't you have a go in this with no pressure and do some skids?
Ha ha ha!
This is what I've got to do!
This is Field Marshal Montgomery's Rolls-Royce.
Don't be nervous...
It's nearly three years
since the Smallest Cog opened its doors...
The business still owes me a fortune...
I've been hiding bank statements, I'm basically running a social club!
So, it's time for a big shake-up...
Clock in in the morning, clock onto a job.
The dawn of a new era...
But not everyone likes change...
..I am very nervous about all of it.
This isn't going to tell me what to do!
I'll tell you that for nothing.
We make history
with our most important restoration yet.
Did Montgomery or Churchill ever imagine you sitting in it?
Probably not.
..The work must be completed on time.
Oh, she's eager!
Can we race into a bright new future...
..with me at the wheel?
Oh, oh, oh!
(THEME MUSIC)
(DRUM ROLLS)
Oh, look at that, look.
We'll get a shine out of these, I reckon.
I want to see my face in them. (LAUGHS)
Yeah, they're being idiots...
but they are taking it seriously I think
'cause this is our opportunity to look at a big job.
We've been asked by the MOD
to quote for restoration work
on Field Marshal Montgomery's Rolls-Royce.
It was the first civilian car over the beaches after D-Day.
This will be the first real test of whether we have upped our game
in terms of professionalism.
The eyes of the world will be on our work...
so we've got to be realistic in our quote.
Ah, look at this. Right! They're arriving.
You're all looking very crisp and smart.
I don't think you'll actually be inspected,
but if you are inspected everybody passes muster.
They've stopped, let's go and have a look.
Can we have that as our work truck?
No.
Hiya, Richard. Brigadier.
Good to see you again. How are you? Good to see you again. Very well.
As promised, Montgomery's Rolls-Royce.
And we've got a very capable, highly trained crew
who are gonna help you get the car off the truck.
Ah, it's actually arrived
and I'm, sort of, anticipating and dreading this moment
because this isn't just any car.
This is a 1939 Rolls-Royce Wraith and it's priceless.
This is a piece of history for this country.
And if we don't look after it, we'll be history!
Is it my turn, is it?
I'd like to stress in true military fashion,
young Isaac did not volunteer for this.
He was volunteered.
Just let it roll off, please.
Oh, god, I'm suddenly nervous.
Isaac, don't cock it up.
Oh, good lord.
Oh, my god, it is only as wide as the...
Ooh!
Look at his little face.
That is a man concentrating.
Well done. Thank goodness. That's a relief.
Well done, Isaac!
I'm gonna go and empty my trousers.
Our job now is...
we will go through that
and we will produce a proper, proper estimate.
Thank you. And you need detail, don't you?
We do.
Thank you, Richard. Nice to see you.
She's in your capable hands.
We will definitely look after her.
I think Isaac's gone for a lie down.
Jobs like that do not come along every other day.
I mean, there is only one of those cars.
We've got to provide them with a forensic line-by-line estimate of
what we would do, how we would do it,
and what it would cost...
and that is a job for our details focused consultant, Richard.
And his time with us is coming to an end soon,
so, he's gonna have to get a move on.
Are you scared?
No. OK.
Good, because everybody else is.
Well, if we produce
an accurate estimate,
which is what my forte is,
then we'll be making
an informed decision at the beginning.
I have every faith in you.
This is you doing what you do so good luck.
This is a bit of a military operation here.
This will test you. The more you look, the more you see.
The difficulty is that we've got
these repairs dotted all over the place.
And then when you join the dots, where do you stop and start here?
Where do you stop and start there?
Where do you stop and start here? Yeah.
Before you know it, they all blend into each other.
What we've got to do is work out what the total hours are
and the most efficient way of getting through that.
Yeah. Yeah.
And really we've got to put milestones in
where we think we're gonna be up to a certain point.
If you could draw a plan up... Yes.
..and then we can have a chat about it...
Yeah. ..and see what we come up with.
I would absolutely love to do this Rolls-Royce
because this is, well, it's just such an important car
and it would be the pinnacle of my career to actually do that.
I'm just a bit worried that...
it's easy to frighten people off with a massive quote.
It's the job of a lifetime and I would hate to lose it.
(BIRDS CHIRP)
Some years ago
I came dashing home through the front door...
guys look what I've got... I've got this!
And they went, pfff, whatever...
and so I put them away in the loft.
You can get games replicating,
like specific racetracks and even cars...
and I can practice.
Now, practice what you might ask.
Until recently, The Smallest Cog,
we were racing a little MGB GT race car...
And then I mothballed it not long ago in a local car museum.
That was the end of that until recently.
I've decided I might kick it off again.
OK, not a panic. This goes like that.
Thing is I'm off to do my racing licence test tomorrow
at Silverstone,
which I need to pass if I'm gonna be allowed to race.
That's damn near exactly the right position
for the gear lever on an MGB GT.
So, I reckon that goes there.
That's pretty much exactly right.
Er... power.
Ah! It's alive!
When you're driving on the telly like I've done all those years...
It's all about sliding it back
and making it look good for the camera and being flashy.
Race driving is all about icy cool, calm and calculating
and icy cool, calm and calculating's far from my resting state.
I'm gonna spend some time up here...
Uh... practising.
Green light, give it all you've got.
Wait a minute, oh, this is like the real thing for me.
That's a wall!
I did that in a Jaguar once...
2 Steve. Richard!
How are you, mate, nice to see you.
Right, I'm in the classroom. Where do I sit? What do I do?
Do you want to take a seat? I'll take a seat, OK.
The key thing is, you've done your revision.
OK.
When we go out on track and I sit alongside you.
What we need to see
is that you're safe, you're competent.
There will come a point when I'll stop talking.
And what I need to see is that you can drive me
for two or three laps without instruction,
fully under control, at a decent pace.
We'll do the track bit first. And then you're gonna sit my exam.
Cool, I'm ready. Bring it on.
The novice driver training test
that we do and the licence that is issued,
I would say it's very similar to a pilot's licence
with the same level of gravity, really.
So, the reality is we don't give these things away.
You have to earn them.
Here's your toy for the day. This is it. 410 horses.
So, sit on board. I'm in.
Helmet on Helmet going on.
Get yourself strapped in. Right.
I haven't taken a driving test in some considerable time.
What I'm gonna have to do is not apply the usual driving
that I've done for decades.
When you have one of the world's most famous car journalists
known like, globally, for really...
I'm gonna the word 'hooning' it,
I will be looking really closely
because any of that televisual stunting stuff
is really not gonna work on the racetrack.
OK, Rich, if you want to fire her up.
Handbrake off.
You've got green at the end of the pit line.
We're good to go.
So, we've come out onto the track, we're across to the left-hand side,
looking through the corner and then rotate.
So, we've ended up on the wrong side of the road
so, I'm gonna guide you on it the next time.
On the brakes, down the gears, in quite deep,
and then we turn across, over the curb...
I can't work this out.
That's alright. You will, you will. Where are we bloody going...
And then we're going to put it into the inside,
clip on the inside and out onto the hangar straight.
And then we ease gently back over to the right.
We come down the hill here.
I've already forgotten the bloody track, Steve!
It's massive. I'm useless.
It's enormous! Richard, it's massive.
It's not obvious where you're supposed to be.
No, but it will be if you look further ahead.
You're gonna have to trust me on this.
That's the one thing you're not doing.
I have been doing this very badly for a very long time, Steve!
I have a lot of stuff to relearn here!
Think how much hospital time I could have saved you!
(LAUGHS) Haha!
Get the flow. Just relax. Just stay relaxed.
There's your clipping point. Look at the exit.
Look at the exit. Good.
And now across to the left. Good. Perfect.
That's the sweet spot. And in.
Hard breaks. Look through the bend.
Smoothly in. Pick the gas up a little bit.
Good! Hold that one knot. Perfect!
Left. Yes. Yes!
About 1,000% better on that section. Really?
Let's just put it together for a couple of laps
'cause you are right on the tipping point.
You're there. Away you go!
Right, now the test starts for real.
Hold it together, Hammond. Concentrate.
(ENGINE REVS)
Right, we're going in because I need to pee.
Ha ha ha! Have I been that bad, Steve?
Oh, no!
From my point of view, that is, young man, a pass.
It's a long time since I've had that said to me in a car.
It's about 36 years.
The main thing is a pass.
Now, I've got to do the exam...
Oh, bugger.
Oh, my word, actually.
So, some of those I haven't revised... erm...
Just read the questions carefully, Rich.
Yeah. And use the common sense answers.
Do you want one of my sandwiches to keep you going?
No, I'm alright. Thank you.
Unless he absolutely nails it,
he's coming back again and again and again.
Right, I'm done.
Um...
Take that.
There were a few that I wasn't...
If I mess it up, I'll look like such a muppet.
Just say it, Steve. Just relax!
Oh, god! Thank you!
It's 100% pass.
Ooh...
I'm actually rather pleased with that.
100%.
Um, I'm not lying that is a relief.
Oh, thank goodness.
I can legally go and have a go in my little race car.
I think it will be great!
Although one thing...
I haven't yet told the Cogs about my new grand plan...
(BIRDS CHIRP)
Hello?
You alright, chaps?
How are you? Thanks for coming over.
Um... I'm sorry for having the chat here.
A bit unusual, but it's important that it's just us having a chat.
There has for a while
been a bit of an elephant in the workshop.
The elephant being racing.
It was hideously expensive... Costly.
..and it didn't bring in a lot of work.
No. No.
But I have recently had cause
to have my enthusiasm for it renewed.
So, my proposal is this, we go racing again.
OK.
There are some changes. Professional drivers cost.
Expensive, yeah. There's no way around it.
But there is in our circle somebody we all know, another driver,
pretty experienced, done a lot.
Isaac, he's done a lot of driving. Yeah.
There's also another driver
that's done a lot of driving all over the place...
It's me! I'm talking about me! Oh!
I'm talking about me. Oh... Yeah.
So, my proposal is this. Anthony, you and I are our drivers.
Neil, you run the pits and the car while we're racing.
To be honest, I thought that was the end.
No more racing, because it didn't bring the work in,
that was the end of... the end of the road.
So, I'm going home actually very, very happy.
And that's exactly why I am keen to go racing again.
They are motivated. But there is now a lot to be done...
The car needs testing. I need testing.
I've never actually driven it.
I need some track time...
and the race season begins in a few weeks.
We are gonna have to get going with this.
To racing? Yeah. To racing.
To racing. ..and to engineering!
And to engineering.
2 One thing that I have learned through bitter experience
is that whilst the big resto jobs
like, hopefully, the Rolls are great and prestigious
and they keep Neil busy.
We do still need those smaller, mechanical ones,
to keep Isaac and Anthony busy.
And I've got one coming in this morning
that could be interesting.
It's one of your favourites isn't it?
I love these, I love a 944, I've always liked these.
Clive!
Good to finally meet you having spoken on the phone.
And this-this is the car in question.
That is the car.
And it is an automatic which you need it to be
on account of your motorcycling mishap.
Yeah. We kind of had a bit of an accident.
Yeah. It wasn't. It was a while ago, was it?
Yeah, a while ago. 1985.
Same age as the car.
So, you bought this because you've always liked 944s...
They are a lovely car. Always liked these.
But I was always into motorbikes.
And I've just got too old,
too much arthritis in my hand so the bikes have all gone.
Just to be clear,
it was feeling too old that stopped you riding bikes,
not losing an arm in a bike crash.
No. So, you carried on riding?
Yes, for probably another 30 years, I suppose.
How?
Just converted so that I could use it.
Clutch and brake on the left and the throttle on the right foot.
I bet that was interesting the first time
you went out, wasn't it?
Oh! Yeah.
I forgot how... what I was doing and I went into a hedge.
Ah, yeah. They pulled me out.
I learnt again.
Go again. Yeah. Go again, yeah.
If it can be done I'm gonna do it.
It's not gonna stop me. If not, you're gonna try.
I'm going to try and try. Yeah.
All the bikes have gone now.
Yeah, so, this is an important car to you.
This is. Yeah.
This is your...this is your toy? This is my toy.
Yes! Number one toy.
So, this isn't 'body'. This is purely mechanical.
All mechanical.
And what needs doing? My department.
Yes, listen in.
Well, the main thing is the power steering.
Yeah. Because the power steering is OK.
It works.
But when you're at low speed,
it's very hard to pull and I have to yank it round.
Most cars now are electric power steering.
Yeah.
If you're happy to go down that route?
So, that'll be consistent the whole time if it's electric.
..consistent all the time then. Yeah...
Excellent. Alright.
Clive, real pleasure to meet you. And you.
And thank you for being an inspiration to bikers.
Thank you very much. Cheers, Clive.
It's going to be fun.
I love Clive's stories...
It's unreal how like losing one arm
you can't imagine how bad that would be.
But to actually still ride bikes and keeping the motoring alive
and now he's got a Porsche, which is a great-looking car.
First thing I'll do now is, I'll take it for a drive
and see how bad the power steering really is.
I'm now going to attempt a one-arm turn on a roundabout.
This could be interesting.
Oh, my god.
That's not the easiest.
Flippin heck. How does he drive like this?
I've only literally done not even a mile
and I can feel the muscles there
in the top of my arm working already.
Anything I can do
to make this better power steering-wise,
I can see how this is going to benefit Clive.
I've got to take my hat off to him.
It's amazing how he's adjusted to do this,
and how he ever rode a motorbike is beyond me?
(BIRDS CHIRP)
I'm getting ready for racing
and I've got to go and get kitted out with all my clobber
because my race suit, helmet, etc,
all went out of date.
Because it does.
This isn't gonna be a cheap visit.
The kit is expensive.
But it needs to be because if something goes wrong,
which let's be honest I'm driving, it probably will,
I need to be wearing the most protective clobber I can.
Morning, Tom! Good morning, how are you?
How are you? Yeah, very good are you OK?
I'm excited, so, I need the full set of clobber.
OK, alright, why don't we go into the warehouse?
Stuff. I like this bit. It's always shopping, isn't it?
It is. Yeah.
Right to protect my noggin,
my life has been saved by crash helmets more than once.
Yeah, infamously.
If you wanna chuck that on.
That looks good. So, we've got a lid.
Yeah.
Cool. Um, next.
Race suit.
Yes. I need one of those. Yeah. OK.
If you follow me...
Substantially smaller than Anthony's.
Well, yeah. There is that.
Is there a changing room or...
You can just hide behind,
sort of, the trailer or something, that's fine.
Right. I'll stand here and avert my eyes.
Racing is all about glamour, isn't it?
And I'm really feeling it. Right. Hang on.
There's quite a lot of it.
Haha, yeah. OK.
Maybe we need to find you the next size down.
Yes. Yeah. Alright.
Let me have a look.
I can't remember the last time I sold a size two...
Have you added it up? I have, yeah.
It comes to a grand total of 2,028 pounds...
It's quite expensive, racing isn't it?
..and 26 pence. OK.
I shall do it justice by not crashing too quickly.
Yeah, well, at least if that does happen,
you're about as geared up as you can be.
Yes.
And if there's any driver that needs it,
then it's probably gonna be you.
(WESTERN MUSIC)
This is making my head hurt, this is... in my head it works.
If I can change the diameter of that pulley
on the power steering pump to smaller,
which means then that the ratio it would be spinning
compared to the crank could be quicker at low revs,
it would make the steering lighter at lower revs.
And it would be cheaper for Clive
because he won't need a new power steering system.
And also, it'd be a lot quicker job
which Richard would be very happy about
because it would be in and out.
To get a pulley for that I believe if I take it off
and take it to our engineering friend next door, Hadrian,
he can actually make me one smaller.
(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
H? Got a question?
Got a Porsche. Yeah?
Customer's got one arm.
He's struggling with the steering.
It's quite heavy. Right.
Am I on the right path of thinking
if I shrink the pulley on the pump...
Yes. ..would it make it lighter...
Easier? Yes. ..easier at lower revs.
OK. Next question. Can you make one?
Let's have a look.
That one's 105 mil.
105.
What would you recommend?
I'd go for 90.
90? Yes.
So, how much would you charge me to do that?
It's not a lot of money to actually make that.
OK.
It's the fact that you've got to do a programme for it
so, the first one would be 100 quid.
Yeah. Alright?
Yeah, I'd be well up for that. Who do I see for this?
That'll be Matt in the workshop.
Is it OK if I go and grab him now?
Yep, help yourself. Thank you, H.
I'm not gonna lie, that is an absolute result.
Literally, a few steps from our workshop,
I can actually get this stuff made.
So, this could be 100-pound down the drain,
or I've actually come up with a good idea for once,
but we won't know until that pulley is fully made.
2 (BIRDS CHIRP)
(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
Do you reckon Rich is going to be nervous like I was?
On my first day?
Think of it this way, right. Yeah?
It's his first day of actually walking the walk
instead of talking the talk.
We're headed into deepest Wales to Llandow,
the little track where we do our testing
for our MGB GT race car.
But today it's different because, well, I'm driving.
Also Patrick Blakeney Edwards, an experienced team manager, racer,
classic car restoration workshop boss,
he's agreed to come over
so, he'll give his assessment on the car,
on Anthony, on me as a driver
so, thinking about it, the pressure is on.
Morning, chaps. Good morning.
So, the idea of today.
This is a test day.
We're testing the car and team and the drivers.
The problem is you've got to go fast and then be careful.
That's the trick, isn't it? Yeah, fast.
What was the other thing? Careful.
Careful.
Let's get her warmed up, ready.
(ENGINE REVS)
Patrick Blakeney Edwards is just hoving into view.
Morning. Morning.
Alright, fella?
Today is gonna end up with seeing
which of the three of us sets the fastest lap in the car.
There's no way around it. I completely agree.
We're-we're boys. It's going to happen.
Who's going out first, then? Patrick's going first.
Three laps and then start timing.
Right. Give it a go. Don't detonate it.
Bye. Honestly.
You wouldn't wanna be on an aeroplane with him would you,
he wouldn't shut the door, would he?
This is a guy who's raced a lot of classic cars
assessing our classic race car.
Yeah. Yeah.
I wanna hear what he makes of it. I'm really intrigued.
Oh, here we go, here we go.
51.60.
51.60? Yeah.
Oh, for (BLEEP) sake!
He's quick.
Well, he's done a lot of this. Yeah.
(ENGINE REVS)
51.25. Whoo-hoo-hoo!
All depends on his braking now as to whether he gets... 50.43.
Oh.
He's pitting.
Out of the box, I think that's not bad.
The whole thing is quite balanced. It's quite an easy car to drive.
It's not hard, is it? But really good.
It's a really positive start.
Alright. You've done a 50.43.
You did get quicker each lap... You did get quicker.
..almost as if you do a lot of racing.
No, pressure, Anthony.
If you could get it under the 50 it would be good!
Right. Go steady. Yeah.
I'm afraid it's 54.5.
He'll be disappointed. Well, that ain't bad though!
It's his first lap, give him a chance!
52.54. Oh, nice.
Here we go. Going in the right direction.
He's on it.
51.79. There we go!
That's his fast lap. That's really good.
He should be pleased with that.
OK?
Yeah, all good.
You did well.
51.79 is your quickest time. That's great!
Getting there. Now, it's Richard's turn.
Let's see what happens.
Right, keep your expectations moderate
and maybe get a fire engine nearby.
Ah, I'm in!
If Richard does well,
I'm hoping it'll give him a bit more enthusiasm
to get back into the driving seat of the garage
because as of late,
I think he's been having a lot of pressure
with running the workshop.
It would be nice to see him have a smile on his face.
Good luck. Look after it.
Thank you. Will do. Nobody trusts me.
Right, here I go. My first go in our little race car.
This has been quite a long journey for him.
Yeah. Very.
You know, obviously he's busy with other things that he's doing.
Of course. Yeah...
Tell you what... you're closer to the truth...
..than you ever realise.
He's been trying to run the garage,
running everything, doing his other job.
He really needs this to boost his-his passion back into the garage
because he's starting to lose the will.
Just watch myself here.
I'm very conscious of the lads watching.
They're convinced I'm going to crash it.
54.56.
He's doing well. He isn't far off.
The gear shift is lovely!
Oh, little MGB, you've had a second life.
Once you were a dowdy little classic,
now, you're a little race car!
53.67!
Good. That's better. Good man.
This feels great.
Now, there's a point to running a classic car restoration business
because I get to have fun!
Haha!
52.43.
I wonder whether we should be worried, Ant.
I'm thinking that as well!
(LAUGHTER)
This is it. This is gonna be the one.
51.61. He's quicker than me then.
He should be really happy with that. He's actually not bad, is he?
Hehehe. What an amazing little car.
I love it!
He's got a smile on his face!
It's lovely. What a great little car, isn't it?
Bless it.
The setup is professional. The car's really nicely prepared.
And I think Richard should be really, really pleased
with that performance.
He is certainly competent enough
to get out in that car and perform respectably.
I remember at the finish of last season,
I'd reached a point where I really,
well, I didn't just question, is this racing business worth it.
I answered it. No it's not, it's too expensive.
It's too much hassle. It's not worth the payoff.
But after a successful test day today
of team, car and drivers,
it is worth it and we're going to do it again.
So, we can press green on cog racing this year.
Go. Yeah!
Party time! And it's not broken.
(LAUGHTER)
2 (BIRDS CHIRP)
Come on, Isaac, got me coffee ready?
Yeah. Good lad.
So, Matt's made me a new pulley
and as you can see there, the size difference is quite big.
So, I'm hoping I put this on and the power steering gets lighter.
That's a good start. It lines up.
So, it's gonna be wheels on
and the moment of truth, the test drive.
(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
Alright, Clive? Hello there.
Without messing around
I reckon we should get out on the road
and see if it works.
Lovely job.
Hopefully, you'll feel the difference,
especially at the next roundabout
because you've got to go all the way around it.
Yeah. So, moment of truth.
How did you find that roundabout?
The steering's brilliant.
Is it OK, yeah? At the moment, yeah.
If we go straight down now. Yeah.
That'll take us to a car parking area.
That's lovely. Look at that.
Perfection! Perfection!
Is that OK?
Yeah, it's a lot better than it was.
Phew!
Alright, should we head back to the workshop?
Yeah. Let's do it. I'm happy with that.
Enjoy the 944.
That was a nice little job!
I'm actually surprised that something in there worked.
No, but it came in, assessed it,
came up with a solution, delivered it.
Customer happy.
Yeah. Under his budget. Under budget.
We obviously made our margin. Yeah.
And I should imagine, it feels pretty good for you.
I actually feel really good at the moment.
Something actually works. Well done. I like that.
Pleased with that. I'll try and keep it up.
(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
Today is the day the brigadier
and team come in
to discuss our quotes for the work
on the Rolls-Royce... Monty's Rolls-Royce.
I'm nervous because it's quite a lot of money.
But this quote is the bare minimum
to get that car looking properly smart,
in its Sunday best.
And that's between 29,347 and 32,990.
That's the ballpark.
And if they greenlight
it we will work through this line by line.
This is us growing up.
Hello. Hey, Richard.
Nice to see you again. Yeah, yeah.
Good to see you again.
Richard, can I introduce you, please, to Simon?
Simon, Museum Director. Nice to meet you.
And the Royal Logistical Museum curator, Sam.
Hi. Nice to meet you. Sam? Nice to meet you.
Right. First things first. Let's have a look at the car.
The reason it's covered in tape is, this is what we've been marking up.
The process has been, let's go through it
and spot every blemish,
every bit of damage and that's what you've done.
Yes. Wanna give us the headlines?
So, we've gone through and we've looked at the car.
Obviously, it's been repainted in the '70s at some point.
You can see where they've painted up to the bottom of the door here
so, this paint isn't the same as this paint.
Also down on the roof here
you can see where there's new paint under the old paint
and there's some damage on the top edge.
Yeah, so, she was actually damaged in April 1941
during an air raid in London.
That's the first car we've ever had in here
with bomb damage to it.
That's quite remarkable.
That's why you reckon that side bows out slightly.
Yeah.
Which that says, that is part of its story.
That's exactly what you probably wouldn't want to get rid of, that,
because that's-that's part of its history.
I think there's certainly gonna be a balance
between keeping it look-looking like a car
from 1939
and not making it look like it just came off a production line now
because we still want it to look like Monty's car.
Yeah. But with the damage addressed.
And so that's-that's the challenge we're going to face.
The numbers on here are not entirely small.
This is the projected cost for going through
and doing all the targeted bits rather than everything.
I'm going to assume from the variety of expressions...
The gurning!
..on the faces in front of us
that-that wouldn't go well back at base.
We talk about D-Day.
Well, this is gonna be D-Day
for Richard Joyce's new approach to estimating.
I just hope he's got it right.
OK, well, I think we're going to have to have a discussion.
I think this is slightly more than we wanted to spend.
It's a difficult discussion,
but it's where we're going to have to be.
We'll leave you to your deliberations,
fighting, shouting, screaming, wailing...
Right, now we wait...
When do we go back in?
I'd give them five minutes, shall we?
I'm going to have to knock on my own office door.
How did it go? How did you get on?
They're deliberating. Although I did a birth of thinking.
They were a bit scared. They went like this. Oh!
Yeah? Yeah? Come on in!
We're back.
So, having shocked and scared you, sorry.
What's your thinking?
I'm gonna disclose a figure I wasn't gonna disclose to you,
which was our maximum figure
and I'm afraid it's a little bit lower than yours.
We don't think we can afford to spend
more than 25,000 pounds.
It would be a great shame to have to descope
the package of works.
What we could do, if we cap it at 25,000 from you.
I wanna get all of it done for that
and if I go over your spend I'll suck it up.
Well, that's hugely, hugely great for this.
Fantastic.
You know, on behalf of the museum, the team, the trustees,
if you can do that, that would be greatly appreciated.
So, listen, the main news is we can get on with it.
It's 'green light'. It's 'go'.
Fantastic.
Wonderful. Brilliant.
Thank you very much indeed.
Honestly, I'm desperate to see the job's done.
Thank you. Thank you...
Well, we got the job.
Yeah, OK, I've said I'll soak up the difference
between their budget and what it's actually gonna cost.
But it is different this time
because that is a significant vehicle.
And I wanna play my part in preserving it,
in respecting it and showing it off to the world.
I realise that might look like
I'm running the business with my heart and not my head again,
but there is contingency in our estimate.
There's extra money in case we find problems.
And because this estimate is in such fine detail,
we can keep a close eye on that as we work through it,
so, assuming Neil doesn't discover any spectacular horrors,
I reckon we could bring this in for 25K.
That's what I'm gonna be pushing for.
We got the Rolls-Royce job which is great
but I feel for Richard a bit
because at the end of the day
if there is any overspend on this car
he's gonna have to soak it up.
But if you look at the car it's got five-stars,
that's exactly what it is.
It's a five-star job.
And it's the best and most important car we've ever, ever worked on
so, it's a great day for the business.
All credit to our consultant Richard,
he pulled that one out of the bag.
And it's good timing,
today's the last day of his consultancy period
so, he is going out with something of a hurrah.
To be honest, since he's come in, he has turned it around a bit.
He has. It has helped.
He's taught this old dog a few tricks, hasn't he?
RJ, I'm anxious.
If I said to you, yeah,
I'll let you know how we're doing in six months,
would you just laugh and say six months?
You won't be there. No, no.
With a bit more staff in there you'll keep on top of it.
More staff?
More staff. Definitely.
Mate, thank you very much for being here.
No, problem. It's been my pleasure.
Come on, Richard, we've got you a cake.
We've got you a cake. Look. Look at that...
He has got us organised so, I'm grateful to him for that.
But he's quite clear that we need more staff
and there is no doubt, we do.
The problem there is
the more people I've got out there on the workshop floor,
the more management they take and management also costs.
He leaves us in better shape than he found us.
But I don't think we're done yet.
What you've done in the long run will continue.
And if it doesn't it would be calling you
back to put it right!
They're going to go, "Argh, where's all the paint gone?"
They're going to notice.
It was black when they brought it in.
It's now silver.
Right, everybody, if you could start queuing.
This looks like boot camp, doesn't it?
Stop the van, don't take Richard.
Oh, dear.
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