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Restoration

"The Romance of Rust"

With a combined 53 years of experience in the classic car restoration business, the McCormack family are well versed in restoring your pride and joy to its former glory.

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Headed up by Merlin’s father, Lance McCormack, Duke of London’s restoration wing is situated in their premises The Old Stables, opposite The Factory. Lance began at Rolls-Royce’s Mulliner Park-Ward coachbuilders in West London as an apprentice in 1976. Mastering the necessary skills as a panel beater He soon climbed the ranks to become Final Inspector on the production line by the ripe old age of 26.

 

In 1990 he opened the doors to his own classic car restoration and metalwork business and has been integral in countless high profile restorations including John Lennon’s Rolls-Royce Phantom VI, Walt Disney’s Ferrari 250 Tour de France and many other Concours winning cars.

 

Merlin’s brother, Algy McCormack, joined the business in 2014 fresh out of education. Now an accomplished panel beater, fabricator and mechanic in his own right, Algy is on board to oversee the day to day operations and plays a big role in the metalwork at Duke of London.

 

We are able to offer full metal work restoration services including (but not limited to!) rust repair, crash repair, bare metal resprays, paintwork, custom and bespoke metalwork; automotive, architectural, artwork and otherwise.

 

We can project manage your vehicle’s restoration from start to finish, liaising and overseeing the work of our network of specialist subcontractors with whom we have decades worth of relationships.

 

We can project manage all logistics relating to the transportation of the car to and from ourselves for strip, metalwork and refit and to our network of specialist subcontractors with whom we have decades worth of relationships and experience. We will advise on the evaluation, selection and appointment of said specialists, and supervising and coordinating their work until final handover.

Restoration: About Us
Restoration: Pro Gallery

Recent Projects

1969 Jaguar E-Type Series II OTS

Having been laid-up for just over a decade, we undertook this full but sympathetic restoration in 2019 on behalf of a client. Whilst restoring the car to its former glory, we carried out a number of discrete performance and functional upgrades. The car now lives with a happy owner in Saint-Tropez.

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1959 Mercedes-Benz 190SL

This rare right hand drive 190SL came to us in a poor state. The car had been restored in Europe in the 1980s but then put in storage in the earlier Noughties. Lance and the team set about a complete strip to bare metal repairing everything as necessary and replacing parts for new OEM where possible. The car's matching numbers engine has been completely rebuilt with tasteful upgrades including dynator conversion, unleaded conversion and Weber carburettor conversion. On track for completion Q3 2020.

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Restoration: Projects
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