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October 18, 2017updated 30 Oct 2017 11:10am

MERLIN MCCORMACK

By Rasika Sittamparam

Duke of London has exploded from a classic car brokerage into a veritable classic car world giant in the space of just four years.

The 21,000sq ft facility in Brentford includes a 30-car showroom, an engine shop and a servicing department among others, and the company has just signed a lease for a third property which will house a paint shop, tyre shop and trim shop. The goal, says founder Merlin McCormack, 23, is a ‘one-stop shop for classic car enthusiasts’.

Although the market is not as profitable as it was a few years ago, it has found a new confidence, says McCormack, who started working at his father’s classic car restoration workshop Romance of Rust (see below left) at the age of eight and by 11 was selling cars on eBay at a profit.

Aside from the blue-chips, cars to look out for are the ‘poster cars of the kids of the Eighties and Nineties, such as the Porsche 930 Turbo and the three-litre CSL BMWs. They were dismissed as not even modern classics and are now coming into their own and going up,’ says McCormack, who is on the hunt for a Porsche 930 Turbo Targa.

Clients keep coming back: ‘I’m always keen to give advice, and if I’ve got a car in that I don’t think someone should buy, I’ll tell them.’

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