When Bristol owner Ian Warrener was told by his doctor in 2006 that he was going to need both his hip and knee joints replacing, it seemed like a good moment to step back from the property game and return to his first love of cars.
He had dealt in and restored a number of classics as a young man in Wales in the late ’70s and early ’80s.
“So I sold the property business,” he recalls, “dodging the bullet of the 2008 recession that would have sunk me, and then rented a railway arch in Herne Hill to concentrate on my old-car projects, mainly Astons, Bentleys and Bristols.
“I’ve always been interested in restoring things, be it buildings or classic cars, but I’m an organiser rather than being hands-on.”
In 2016, what had until then been a hobby became more serious when Warrener’s son Harry joined the team.
Having tried a variety of jobs, Warrener Jnr had never found anything totally satisfying, although he already knew he wanted to work with his hands.