Rust Valley Restorers

My name is Mike Hall.

Over the last 40 years, against better judgement,

I've managed to amass over 400 classic cars.

These cars are my legacy

but I'm running out of time to restore 'em all.

So I opened a restoration shop with my son Connor,

and my best friend Avery,

to try and turn my passion into profits,

restoring cars that the average person can afford.

But it's tough making a buck,

so I'm gonna have to get the whole car-crazed town behind me

to help get the job done.

But that's how things roll here in Rust Valley.

In the remote interior of British Columbia,

somewhere between the desert and the Rocky Mountains...

We call it Rust Valley.

There are literally hundreds and hundreds of classic cars waiting to be restored.

The air is dry, and it preserves them

so it's become the center of this amazing classic car culture.

I just happen to have one of the largest collections around.

There's almost two million dollars in rust right here.

The last 40 years I've worked very hard.

I started my own construction company from nothing.

I made good money, but it's all gone back into my cars.

I'm addicted to rust!

Right about there!

Mike's putting everything he's got into opening his dream shop...

Rust Bros Restorations.

I'm 62 years old almost. Now's the time.

I'm gonna give it my best shot, but I've got to get some income coming back.

'Cause I mean just ca-ching ca-ching!

It's probably 300,000 plus of my hard-earned dollars,

standing there and laughing at me!

Mike's never in his life been under budget.

He has to treat it like a job.

No more doing it for fun. He's doing it for money now.

Now or never. I said go big or go home.

We're going big. Hopefully we don't have to go home!

- What do you figure, Mike? - Sunbeams are too much work.

We could do an AMX.

There's another AMX and we got a Javelin for parts.

This morning, Mike and Avery are hunting for a car they can restore and sell fast

to get some money in the bank.

I like this car, even though it looks like it needs a million dollars' worth of work.

This is a 1970, 440, four-speed RT. They made 440 of these.

But we still need ten, 15 grand's worth of sheet metal.

We'll put this on the back burner. What about this Chev?

- We could slam a V8 in 'er. - It ain't worth nothing.

It is hard trying to pick one to restore,

because we have so many cars that should be brought back to life.

- It needs rockers, original up- - Mike!

OK, OK, OK!

I've known Mike for ten years. It's important to me Rust Bros succeeds.

When we pick a car, it's gotta be worth something when it's done.

How about this one? This is a Swinger.

You know what the cool thing is, Ave? These cars were born here.

Back in the 1970s, they actually built these cars in Canada,

and then shipped them for sale to America!

- That's kinda cool. - I know.

They're the exact same car.

Except this is an original 340 four-speed car and this was a 318 air.

1970 Dodge Dart Swinger.

It's one of the most popular A bodies Dodge made, and one of my favorites.

In the days of mini skirts and bell bottoms,

the Swinger, introduced in 1969,

was an affordable everyman's muscle car.

With a price tag under $3,000,

it was low frills and lightweight, but big on power.

- Both of these cars are 1970. - This says '71 on it.

Well, it's wrong. That's 1970. Between the two, we can make one, buddy.

Look under here! Factory air! No rust.

This would actually increase the value four or five grand.

The motor ran, so maybe it's a good engine still.

This is the one, Ave.

Take that 318, polish her up and make that thing growl!

That old B5 blue interior and upholstery going to sexy jet black.

Top it off with that nasty 340 twin snorkel hood,

and I've always wanted to paint one pink.

- Hehehehe, yeah. - Always! What you think?

- What's this thing worth finished? - Somewhere around 20 grand.

Two, one, sale. Let's load 'er up.

You're good!

Put it in neutral.

If we can invest a small amount around 1,500 dollars,

and keep it to 200 hours, make a good profit out of it.

I hope he doesn't fall in love with it and decide to spend a pile of money.

We need to get in there, get out, get this car finished and on to the next one.

We'll drop this one off, come back and get the other one. Where's my dog?

Minnie! Come on!

Come on, leave those groundhogs alone.

Good girl. Get in that truck.

Open her up there.

Somebody's changed the ignition module.

It's full of oil. I mean, who knows why it stopped running.

We're gonna see how bad of shape it is,

try gettin' it started.

It'll tell us whether we've got to put a whole bunch more work into this car.

If Mike and Avery can get the Swinger's 48-year-old engine running,

it will save them a costly 50-hour rebuild.

OK, put some gas in it.

That Swinger's been parked for maybe ten, 15, years.

All that gas in there is no good.

So you just pour a little bit in the carb, bypass the fuel system,

give it the best chance to start.

- OK. - Perfect. OK, start it up!

Come on!

- - Come on!

Well, that was positive!

me! Boom boom boom boom! Love the sound of Dodge starters.

Let's try it again!

- OK, whoa! Jeez! - Well, there's a bit much in there.

I think so!

I'd say it's flooded.

- She's flooded good. Like Jeez, Ave. - It's good. It'll loosen everything up.

You're like my kid. You got an answer for everything.

Here, you go turn it over. Gentle!

Just wait!

Holy Mike! Where's the fire extinguisher at?

OK, we're out.

It's gonna run.

Yeah! It's one hot motor!

The engine flooded, one backfire, poof and it lights!

When you're working, you gotta be careful 'cause it only takes one second.

But the thing runs well, it's gonna be cool.

- Hey. - Hey, kid.

- What do you think of the '70s Swinger? - It's not that bad.

Basically, the only thing I'd buy for it would be a couple Swinger emblems.

- Brakes. Maybe tranny. - Don't fall in love with it, Mike!

You're gonna spend 12 grand on it and make two grand off of it.

Use some of the parts up that we have laying around here.

- That's a good idea. - And possibly make some money.

I wouldn't go that far!

Everything he builds, he ends up over budget.

Then he'll sell it for less than he has into it.

This shop needs to make money. If it's losing money, it's gonna fail.

Anyway... Now I'm starting to like this car.

- Let's get it outta here. - Oh!

Let's get it out of here before I form an emotional attachment.

Nice car!

The shop is open for business,

and Mike is hoping to score a deal with his very first client.

- Suicide doors. What is it, '66? - That's right.

- Almost as old as me but not quite! - I'm Mike.

Mike, I'm Mike. Good to meet you.

In 1966 the Lincoln Continental was the pinnacle of American luxury vehicles.

It was longer, wider, heavier.

It had those beautiful suicide doors that open wide from the middle.

but there were only 3,000 soft tops produced, it's super rare.

The iconic Continental will forever be known as the car

President John F Kennedy was riding in when he was assassinated.

In 1966, you could bring home a convertible for a little over $6,000,

more than the average family made in a year.

Let's just take a look under the hood, see what we got.

Mike Poulton has dreamt of restoring his 1966 Lincoln Continental for 15 years.

- Just needs a little clean-up. - Yeah, a little TLC. Yeah.

I'm thinking just a paint job, you know.

- The interior needs a refresh. - Yeah.

- Got a few little rust spots there. - Yeah, just starting to pop through.

I've had this car ever since my ski accident.

Spent about eight months rehabbing and sorting out, figuring out life.

But one of my nurses, her dad's friend was selling the car,

and in lots of ways the car actually gave me a little spark to life again.

Can we pop the trunk? Oh, Jesus.

- Power trunk. - Yeah, that's kinda sweet.

What I like about this car is I can do it all.

- From your chair which is pretty cool. - It's awesome, like a dream come true.

I do feel like I owe it something and wanna restore it to its former glory.

There is a lot of work to be done,

but all in all, for a 55-year-old car, it's not outrageous.

- I'm happy to hear. - It's not gonna sink you to fix it.

- What's your budget? - If we can land in the 13K range.

And be dialed in for the summer.

13K is a little light. I was thinking closer to about 17, 18.

- This is a bit of a stretch already, so... - How about we meet in the middle, 15K?

If you think you can make something work...

I think I can make something work for you at 15K.

- Six to eight weeks, we can do it. - Fantastic.

I just dropped 250, 300 grand building this shop.

I'm running out of money right now, but this guy owned that car 15 years.

That's a long time to maintain a dream.

If we can help bring that dream to fruition, that's pretty cool.

That's something I wanna do for him.

Oh! I see you guys found it.

- You didn't buy this, did you? - I did not buy it.

This car is for a special client, and this is his dream car.

He's brought it to us 'cause we're gonna do right by him.

That's cool, man.

I quoted him $15,000.

- Yeah. - That's a bit of a gift.

This is a big car.

I promised him eight weeks.

Mike, I...

We're doing it.

OK!

My dad's put us in a tight spot. It's a big car.

15 grand gives us 150 hours to work with and that's not a lot of wiggle room.

Let's get started on this turkey.

The first thing we're gonna do is start taking it apart.

Lift this convertible top.

Oh, look what I found!