Was this the ultimate form of education in terms of the cars themselves and the business side or do you still feel like there’s lots to learn? 
I have been lucky enough to have a significant life apprenticeship in business in comparison to my peers, though, at the time, I didn't recognise it. But since setting up my own business, I realise how much I have learned from my father. The hardest part about this industry is not necessarily the capability of building the product, it's the relationships with the owners, and the foresight to predict a problem with the view that the conclusion to the solution has already been created. That experience is what I gained through working with my father. Whilst working in the family business, we took on some of the most important E-Type restorations of that time, and we successfully completed a car which competed on the Pebble Beach lawn in 2022. It was certainly career-defining for everyone involved. Ironically, I think my greatest learnings are yet to come. The more exposure we have with the cars and running the business, I always feel that there will be a learning curve. Some are sharper than others. But this is also what energises me every day; to learn something that I didn't know yesterday and make us better at the job. If we close our eyes to learning, we would just simply be average. 

You've worked at the renowned RS Panels. There must have been huge learnings there? 
Absolutely. Without James and Bob Smith, I think it's fair to say that I wouldn't be where I am now. I owe my entire early career and exposure to some amazing cars to that apprenticeship. It gave me the education I needed to understand the product at the highest level in the world and gave me the restoration principles which I've carried forth and expanded since then. RS Panels gave me the fizz and foundation to develop my knowledge base. We have worked together on significant cars, including the Pebble Beach car, since I left. The key thing about doing what we do is to surround ourselves with people who can do the job without question, and RS Panels are one of the 
suppliers who help enable us to create the best product we possibly can.

Hand-formed bodywork is such a specialist craft. Are there plenty of young apprentices there to ensure those skills continue to flourish in the future? 
In short, no, there aren't enough. However, it's high on the agenda within the industry to sort this out, such as the Bicester Heritage Skills Academy, who are placing talented young individuals in some of the best companies in the country so they can learn from the existing skill sets. Hopefully this will enable the industry to continue at a high level across the next 20 years.