RESTO HEROES
Richard Hammond and the Greenhouse family have produced a thing of beauty (but now they need a kip)
On the outskirts of Hereford sits a faceless, humble unit. Faceless save for a name, and humble only in appearance, the unit is home to the dreams and aspirations of a family restoration business and one of the planet’s most recognisable ‘car guys’.
‘It’s still all a bit new,’ says Richard Hammond as he opens the door to reveal the inside space of The Smallest Cog, the professional workshop he has created with working partner Neil Greenhouse. ‘But my heart has always been in this. My grandad was a coachbuilder. He started as a cabinet maker, went to Mulliners – who, incidentally, made the bodies for the saloon version of the TA21 – and ended up at Jensen Motors through to 1974, so craftsmanship has always been important to me. Restoration really is in my blood, and my passion has always been with classics.’
As Richard introduces me to the team – the Cogs – Inotice a whiff of fatigue. ‘Yes, well, the chaps were up until 4am getting the car finished,’ says Richard as he introduces me to business partner Neil Greenhouse, Neil’s son Anthony and brother Andrew. Richard himself was also on hand into the small hours in readiness for our visit ‘sweeping up.’ The impression you get is that the pain is real… and the passion… and for that matter, the teamwork. ‘It’s a cooperative really,’ says Neil.
The quality that the Cogs Cooperative produces is certainly real, as Richard and Neil pull back the cover to reveal a stunning 1952 Alvis TA21 drophead. This is a car that has been subject to a full but sympathetic restoration having only come in to be ‘lightly recommissioned’ in November 2022.
‘It belongs to a friend of mine, Michael Fenton, and I have known the car for decades,’ says Neil. ‘I was the last person to work on it before Michael parked it up in a barn in 2001. So, today will be the first time this TA has been on the road, under its own power, for 22 years.’ No false jeopardy here then, I can see it in their eyes.
All of this is subject to visual record by a TV film crew, who are seemingly ever present. There’s no doubt that the show they produce, Richard Hammond’s Workshop, has galvanised the process and progress of the restoration work undertaken by the Cogs, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that the workshop i
