| Episode | Date | Car | Description | Ratings |
|---|
| 2/1 | 14 April 2014 | Porsche 928 GT | In the first episode of series 2, Bernie and Mario look for a Porsche 928 to restore in three weeks. Because over 80% of all 928s sold in the UK were automatic, the manual version is rarer and can fetch more money. After struggling to find one in working condition, the duo buy a black 1991 928 GT at a specialist garage for £5,000, despite the car missing half of its interior and in need of a new paint job. The Porsche's arrival at the workshop is met with enthusiasm from the mechanics, and despite Bernie's cynicism toward the time window and the £7,000 restoration budget given by Mario, Dan'l, the lead mechanic, agrees on a £50 bet with Bernie that his team can do the job on time. The initial assessment shows that the 928 needs an engine service, new brakes, body repair and a full respray, but while the team flexes their muscles on loosening the aged bolts, Mario has difficulty finding new seats until he decides to buy them off a unit the duo previously walked out on for £250. Consequently, it takes two weeks to have the white leather seats refurbished and re-upholstered. As the 928 is being resprayed, the workshop suffers a power outage, forcing the team to re-sand and redo the paint job the next day. After the Porsche's faulty immobiliser jams the central locking system and locks Mario inside, an electrical specialist is called upon to fix the complex wiring. Once the engine is serviced, Bernie takes the 928 to a rolling road, where it is rated at 343.2 bhp at the flywheel. Despite blowing their £7,000 budget, the team manages to restore the 928 in time for classic car expert and former racing driver Paul O'Neil to test it and appraise its value. Before Paul gets a chance to do a top speed test, the car suddenly sprays water all over the engine bay due to a faulty water hose. Following the engine fix, the car is valued at £13,000 - a profit of £700. [11] | |
| 2/2 | 21 April 2014 | Fiat 500 | Mario travels to Milan, Italy, on the search for a Fiat 500 as his and Bernie's next project car. However, Bernie buys a non-running 1973 unit back in the UK for £1,500 against Mario's advice. Mario gives the team two weeks and a budget of £6,000 to restore the car. Once Bernie gets the engine running, he has an engine specialist polish and port the cylinder head and install a new carburettor for a 6 bhp increase and £2,000, promptly infuriating Mario. Because of this expense, Mario is forced to cancel his plans to re-upholster the seats to leather. The body is mended of all rusty spots and repainted from red to ivory. Tempers continue to flare when Bernie has difficulty starting the engine; once it manages to start, it smokes oil all over the shop due to a faulty oil pressure switch seal. Due to the engine upgrade, the restoration goes £1,000 over its budget. The new Guards Red seats, roof, and interior trim are installed, as well as the brightwork and new wheels before the car is given to Paul for testing. The 500 fails an uphill test due to a worn clutch. The car is valued at £8,900 - a profit of £400. [12] | |
| 2/3 | 28 Apr 2014 | Mercedes Benz 450 SL | Mario and Bernie set their sights on buying and restoring a Mercedes-Benz R107 380 SL. The duo spot a rusty burgundy 1986 SL on an online auction and Mario buys it for £1,250 before Bernie even finishes assessing it. Mario gives the team four weeks and a £12,000 budget to bring the SL back in shape. Bernie gets the engine running after replacing the fuel pump, but discovers that the gearbox is shot. Nick, one of the mechanics, reconnects the gear stick to the gearbox, saving the team valuable time and money. However, Bernie discovers that the bulkhead is completely rotten, forcing the team to scrap it. As a means of retribution, Mario buys a green SL for £3,000 as the new project car, which has an intact bulkhead but as much body rust as the first car. Combining the best parts of both cars, the team gives the SL an engine service and a body respray to metallic green. When Mario backs the car out of the spray booth, the exhaust falls off its mountings; during the argument, Mario damages the paint job. Desperate for a profit, Mario sells the scrapped SL for £1,400. The SL is fitted with a new custom exhaust, refurbished interior, and all of its brightwork. In the end, Paul appraises the SL's value at £13,800 - a loss of £350. [13] | |
| 2/4 | 12 May 2014 | Volkswagen Camper | In this episode, Mario and Bernie return to Toronto to hunt down and restore a Volkswagen Camper - particularly the pre-1968 split screen model. After finding no luck at a breakers' yard, Bernie flies home while Mario continues his search. He finds a green 1966 Camper that needs body work and a new interior, and pays CDN$7,500 (roughly £4,000). Mario gives the team four weeks and a budget of £10,000 to restore the Camper. The team is not amused by the amount of rust all over the vehicle. An arriving Bernie is further infuriated when he discover that the steering kingpins are worn out. Sat, one of the mechanics, suggests a disc brake conversion while working on the steering system. Mario buys an abandoned 1979 Porsche 911 project car for £3,500 for its disc brakes and new calipers. During the teardown, the team discovers that the entire interior and the spare side doors are completely unusable. Bernie and apprentice Tammy remove the engine for rebuilding before the body is shipped for sodablasting. Once the body returns to the shop, the team cracks on to replace all of the rotten steel panels. Diego, the head mechanic, attempts to loosen a seized rear wheel hub with a blowtorch, but tempers flare between Bernie and Diego and Sat when the wheel hub begins to smoke. After managing to remove the seized hub, the team installs the new front disc brakes and fills up the bodywork. Diego, having a background in kitchen design, comes up with a new interior design for the Camper. Mario manages to score two working side doors in exchange for the Porsche he bought. The Camper is then given a full body respray to a white and blue colour scheme, but during reassembly, Diego accidentally dents the front end. The team races to fix and respray the damaged panel. Paul appraises the Camper's value at £21,200 - a profit of £5,100. [14] | |
| 2/5 | 19 May 2014 | DeLorean | While in Toronto, Mario and Bernie look for a 1981 DeLorean to restore. After turning down a wrecked unit, the duo head to a barn to check out another DeLorean, only to discover that it is painted red over its stainless steel body, the engine does not start, and it is fitted with non-original wheels. Nonetheless, Mario buys it for CDN$9,500 (roughly £5,100). Upon the car's arrival at the garage, the team discovers other faults such as a right door with a faulty gas strut, seized brakes, and a rusty steel frame. Adding to the pressure is Mario's three-week time window coupled with a £5,000 budget. Since DeLorean parts are hard to come by, Mario substitutes the old radiator with a slightly longer Jeep unit. The team uses chemical paint stripper to remove the red paint without damaging the stainless steel grain pattern. During this process, the left wing is discovered to have layers of filler. Mario flies to the DMC factory in Texas to purchase new parts and a refurbished left wing. While the team assesses the right door, it slams shut when a pipe supporting it falls off, shattering the window in the process. The team mends the rusty frame, replaces the brakes and shock absorbers, and does a full engine service. Mario and Bernie take the uncompleted DeLorean on a test drive when the engine suddenly overheats due to the faulty Jeep radiator, forcing Mario to order an original unit. Once the new windscreen, right side window, and left wing are installed and all the trimming refitted, the DeLorean is given to Paul for his test drive and appraisal. The car is valued at £13,400 - a profit of £2,000. [15] | |
| 2/6 | 27 May 2014 | Ferrari Mondial 8 | Bernie and Mario argue about buying a Ferrari Mondial 8 to restore. As a means to convince Bernie of the value of restoring Ferraris, he takes him to a Ferrari festival at Spa Grand Prix Circuit in Belgium. There, the duo are introduced to a blue Mondial wrapped in black and red body vinyl as a former track car before buying it for €10,000 (roughly £8,500). Once the Mondial arrives at the workshop, it suffers an electrical problem and the team discovers rust all over the undercarriage. The team is given four weeks and a budget of £10,000 to bring the Mondial back into shape. After all of the body vinyl is stripped, the Mondial reveals more rot and corrosion on its body panels. The rusted front crossmember is replaced with a new steel bar. While Bernie inspects the electricals, the faulty wiring causes a small fire in the trunk. No longer trusting Bernie's mechanical skills, Mario secretly brings in Mario 2, a Ferrari expert, to work on the Mondial, further infuriating Bernie. Leaving Mario 2 to mend the Mondial, Bernie goes out to buy some second-hand parts from a Ferrari specialist. Bernie conducts a ballot on what colour to paint the Mondial and leaves Dan'l to pick the winning vote; the car comes out in light metallic blue, much to the chagrin of Bernie, who wanted the car's original colour. Dan'l brings it back to the spray booth and resprays it as ordered. Because the original wheels use metric-size tyres, Mario grabs another set of second-hand wheels that are scratched up. With no time left to restore them, the team installs the wheels along with the final rebuild before the Mondial is tested by Paul. The car is valued at £16,800 - a loss of £1,000. [16] | |
| 2/7 | 2 June 2014 | Volkswagen Beetle | Bernie and Mario choose the Volkswagen Beetle as their next restoration project. They purchase a rusty blue 1974 Beetle from a car restorer for £450. Mario sets a restoration timeframe of three weeks and a budget of £3,000, which is later on raised to £9,000. Upon the car's arrival at the workshop, the team discovers that the floor panel and front end are rotten. The team waste no time on cutting all the rust and welding new panels. Bernie is keen on keeping the Beetle stock, but Mario sees a larger profit from customising it. Mario purchases a Subaru Impreza for £800 with the intent of transplanting its 2.0 litre flat-4 engine into the Beetle, much to the chagrin of Bernie. The team shoehorns the engine after fitting an adaptor plate and cutting part of the rear end. The Beetle's interior is painted red before the engine and radiator are fully installed, but when Mario fires it up for the first time and does a short burnout, the splines of the old wheel hubs quickly wear off, requiring a new set. Before the new hubs arrive, the team paints the Beetle in Porsche Blood Orange and fits a roll cage, aluminium door panels and floor boards. Mario brings in a pair of Porsche leather seats, but as they are motorised and require additional electrical connections, he is forced to buy another set of racing seats. Paul's testing of the Beetle involves a drag race with a stock Beetle to test its 120 bhp Subaru engine. The car is valued at £11,300 - a loss of £5,100. [17] | |
| 2/8 | 9 June 2014 | Chevrolet Corvette C3 Stingray | Returning to Toronto, Mario and Bernie set their sights on restoring a Corvette C3 Stingray. The duo find a partially restored blue 1973 Stingray with layers of filler on its fibreglass body, missing trim, electrical issues, and a misfiring engine. Despite Bernie's objections, Mario buys it for CDN$14,000 (roughly £7,500). Enthusiasm at the garage turns into disappointment when the team discovers multiple cracks on the bodywork, rusted doors, and a faulty headlamp mechanism, and Mario gives them three weeks and a £4,600 budget to bring it back to form. Bernie and Diego correct the misfiring problem by rearranging the distributor wiring in the proper sequence. Seeing that the headlamp mechanism and power brakes run on vacuum pressure generated by the engine, the team decides to separate the body from the chassis to dig deeper into the engine. Mario discovers that the body's original colour is yellow metallic and decides to have it resprayed as such. Diego constructs a wooden frame to support the body during the separation process, but once it is lifted, the left quarter panel splits open. Upon further inspection, the team discovers that the engine is completely aftermarket. Mario proposes to sell the engine and buy a completely original unit, much to Bernie's chagrin. While the team carries on with the bodywork and the aftermarket engine, Mario locates the Corvette's original engine and purchases it for CDN$750 (roughly £400). Tensions flare up when Bernie realizes Mario was talking to Sat about rebuilding the engine behind his back. After the arguments settle down, the team manages to bring the old engine back to life while the repaired body is primered before being lowered back on the chassis. All electricals and panels are reinstalled before the Corvette is resprayed in yellow metallic, but upon its return to the garage, the engine once again cannot start due to dirt in the carburettor. Diego tries to clean off the dirt by revving the engine, but his method causes the right muffler to explode and damage the bodywork. The team races against time to repair the body panel, replace the muffler, and install the restored interior. Once Paul takes the Corvette for a test drive, he values it at £15,400 - a profit of £1,700. [18] | |
