(Image: Discovery+)
Richard Hammond has said he wants to expand his workshop business.
The former Top Gear presenter said he has a new businesses development manager, Roy, who is working to stabilise the Smallest Cog, which specialises in the restoration, preservation and maintenance of classic vehicles.
Ahead of the release of the new season of Richard Hammond’s Workshop, which follows the Smallest Cog team, Hammond, 56, told the High Performance podcast: “I want to grow the business. I want a hub, I want a little roadhouse where people can come and see the cars being worked on, maybe do some storage, maybe even consign some cars for sale.”
Hammond stressed that the business “is a real workshop” and said: “We need some cars to work on ... We are looking for interesting jobs.”
Hammond said some people mistake the business for The Repair Shop and expect £50,000-worth of work to be carried out for free.
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Hammond founded the Smallest Cog in Herefordshire in 2021 after mechanics Neil Greenhouse, Anthony Greenhouse, and Andrew Greenhouse – who had worked on his vehicles for years – faced losing their own workshop.
He invested £500,000 into the business, which is the focus of a Discovery+ television series.
Hammond was brought up in North Yorkshire and left Ripon Grammar School in the middle of his A levels before studying visual arts at Harrogate.
His first broadcasts emanated on BBC Radio York. “It took me about a week just to put one piece together,” Hammond once told an interviewer. “And I only got paid about £10, so I worked part-time in a bookshop and a petrol station and collected chicken eggs on a farm.”